Wills in real estate in COVID-19 era
3 min readProtecting properties with solid wills during COVID-19 period? Looking for a home before applying for a mortgage. Many first-time buyers make the mistake of viewing homes before ever getting in front of a mortgage lender. In some markets, housing inventory is still tight because there’s more buyer demand than affordable homes on the market. And in a competitive market, you could lose a property if you aren’t preapproved for a mortgage, says Alfredo Arteaga, a loan officer with Movement Mortgage in Mission Viejo, California. How this affects you: You might get behind the ball if a home hits the market you love. You also might look at homes that, realistically, you can’t afford. What to do instead: “Before you fall in love with that gorgeous dream house you’ve been eyeing, be sure to get a fully underwritten preapproval,” Arteaga says. Being preapproved sends the message that you’re a serious buyer whose credit and finances pass muster to successfully get a loan.
Your house should always be ready to show at any time because you never know when a buyer is going to come check it out. This means you should not leave dirty dishes in the sink and the dishwasher should be empty. You should also not have dust bunnies rolling around in corners and bathrooms should be sparkling. People who are house hunting are imagining a fresh start and this requires bringing back a few elements that will make your home more appealing. If you have doors hanging off of hinges, holes in walls, or children’s toys scattered all over the yard and in the living room, this is a huge turnoff for buyers because it gives the impression that you do not care about the existing condition of the home.
If on-line sources are to be believed, a variety of electronic “do it yourself cheap” will kits have been picked up widely, with members of the public latching on to claims that they are simple and cheap and don’t take a lot of time to prepare. It can only be a source of wonder as to how many of them are actually being completed and signed anywhere near properly. For estate litigators, this may be the source of work for the future. Discover more details on wills during Coronavirus.
Video-witnessing should therefore be a last resort for those cases when there is no other option for getting a Will signed. The government have issued guidance on the steps to be followed. All parties need to be present at the same time by way of a two or three-way live video link. The witnesses must be able to see the will-maker signing the document, not just their head and shoulders. The Will/Codicil then needs to be taken or posted to the witnesses to add their signatures, again via further live video session(s) with clear sight of the witness signing.
Start Investing: Investing is one of the best ways to increase your net worth, but a lot of people stay away from it because they’re scared of losing money. So instead of investing, they keep their money in a savings account. That’s great, and you should have some money in a savings account for emergencies, but the truth is: Money in a savings account loses value over time. See, the average savings account has a very tiny 0.06% APY (annual percentage yield), while inflation is around 1.7%. That means that each year, the money you have in a savings account is going to have less and less buying power. So, what can you invest in to stay ahead of inflation? Here are some options: Real estate, Peer-to-peer lending, Exchange traded funds (ETFs), Stocks.
A lot of discussions have taken place over the past seven months or so in light of COVID-19 and the market reaction to it. The purpose of this client briefing is to share some observations with you from our recent experiences across our deals in the United Kingdom: Lenders are currently showing a degree of flexibility in their approach to defaulting and/or potentially defaulting borrowers. This is prevalent specifically in scenarios where the relevant events of default, and/or potential events of default, have been triggered by events outside the control of borrowers or where the loans were fundamentally performing pre COVID-19. Find extra information on https://techbullion.com/wills-and-covid-19-safeguarding-your-assets-during-a-global-pandemic/.