12M // Real Estate & Home Builders Guide // May 2016
Quitclaim deed, living trust
transfer home ownership
By Ilyce Glink
and Samuel J. Tamkin
Tribune Content Agency
By Ilyce Glink
and Samuel J. Tamkin
Tribune Content Agency
Q
Q
: I’ve had a shock. I
just discovered that
both names -- mine and my
husbands -- were never put
on our house deed when we
bought the property over 40
years ago.
I just happened to go to
the county website where we
live in Ohio, and saw only
my husband’s name. I called
the ofice, thinking an error
had been made, and was
told no, that only he owned
the property. We were both
shocked.
I need to know how to
remedy the situation. I have
left messages at a local
title company but haven’t
received a call back. The real
estate agent who sold us the
property is long gone. Any
help will be appreciated.
Thank you.
: When we get a
question like this, it’s
typically from an older
parent who has a paid-off
home that he or she wants
to leave to the kids. In that
scenario, the question about
adding someone to title is
really a question about the
best (and least annoying and/
or expensive) way to inherit
property.
In your case, the question
is about titling an asset that
should have been held by
both of you but for some
reason is listed in only the
husband’s name.
What happened to you
isn’t surprising. Forty years
ago, there was rampant
sexism in real estate. It was
generally assumed that the
husband was putting forth
all the money and property
would be titled in his name.
Ilyce remembers going for
her irst loan and being told
that her income (which was
$15,000 per year in the late
1980s) was inconsequential
and didn’t matter.
A
Finding REO lender may
take a little bit of sleuthing
: A house we are
interested in was sold
at a sheriff’s auction. The
big box lender bought
it back. How do you get
information on when the
house will be sold by the
bank, or how do we contact
the bank to let them know
that we are interested in
buying house?
: It seems to be a big
dark secret when
it comes to getting any
information from big box
lenders. Everyone always
wants to know when a
lender’s Real Estate Owned
(REO) department will
put a house up for sale,
but it’s quite hard to get
that information from
the lender directly. We
don’t know why lenders
are so secretive about this
information but we’ve found
that the only real way to
obtain information about
upcoming properties for sale
is to know the real estate
company and agents that the
big box lender uses to sell
these properties.
Let’s start at the begin-
ning: When a homeowner
fails to pay his mortgage,
the lender has the right
to foreclose on the home.
Depending on the state
in which the property is
located, the lender may have
A
THINKSTOCK IMAGE
When you closed in your
town in Ohio, you and your
husband should have been
listed as co-owner, and
chosen how to hold title to
the property. While your
name isn’t on the property,
your husband can execute a
quitclaim deed, which would
transfer the property from
his name into both of your
names, from a sole owner
to join tenants with rights of
survivorship.
If he executes this deed,
and then iles it with the
local recorder of deeds, the
property will be transferred
from his name into both of
your names, and you will be
the co-owner of the property.
We assume you don’t have
a mortgage on the property.
If you did, you could still
transfer the title into both
of your names, but the
mortgage would still be in
your husband’s name alone.
Should your husband
die before you, you would
own the property outright.
If you died irst, he would
again own the property. But
you would be protected and
the property would transfer
cleanly, without going thru
probate.
There are other ways
to handle the situation.
Your husband could put the
property into a living trust,
naming both of you as the
beneiciaries. You could then
name secondary beneicia-
ries, such as your children
(if you have any), and the
property would transfer
without going thru probate.
It’s fortuitous that you
found out now about this
issue. We’d suggest you
talk to a real estate attorney
or estate attorney to igure
out what might be best for
you, your husband and your
children. You should be
able to do this for very little
money, and it will certainly
bring you great peace of
mind.
One caveat is that in some
states, recording a change of
ownership can be expensive
and cause changes in the
assessed value of the home.
If the recording of the deed
is very expensive or will
cause the local taxing body
to re-evaluate the value of
the home, you may have to
igure out what your local
taxing body will allow you
to do to ix your issue. Some
states will allow conveyances
into living trusts for estate
planning purposes without
triggering some of the
negative issues of a transfer
of title by deed.
Good luck.
the right to sell the home at
a sheriff sale without a court
judgment. While in other
states, the lender would have
to go to court, get a judg-
ment against the borrower
with the home eventually
sold at a sheriff sale.
In either case, the likely
outcome would be that
a potential homeowner
looking to purchase a
distressed property could
purchase the home at the
auction or other similar sale.
If the sale does not ind any
buyers, the lender bids what
it is owed on the loan and
gets title to the home. Once
it has title, the lender can
market the home for sale
and even list the home for
sale in the local multiple
listing services.
That’s why it’s important
to ind out the name of
the real estate agent or
real estate company that
represents the big box lender
and see when the home
will go on the market. If
there are other homes in the
neighborhood that were also
sold at auction and associ-
ated with the same big box
lender, you might want to
call the listing agent of those
homes and see if they know
more about the property you
are interested in.
If you don’t have much
luck inding the agent, you
might try talking to real
estate agents that work in
that neighborhood. Those
agents may know the
company that specializes
in sales of REO properties.
Frequently, brokers in
the area know who the
real estate agents are that
specialize in REOs. Again,
the real estate agent you
ind can help you with the
purchase or you can try
to get to the REO agent
directly.
Finally, we should
caution you that buying an
REO property isn’t always
the same thing as buying
a property that is listed
on the market by caring
homeowners. Many REO
properties have signiicant
issues and you should be
careful if you decide to buy
an REO home.
Typically, if sellers go
into foreclosure, they’ve
been broke for some time.
Commonly, you see that
foreclosed owners do not
care for the home during the
last months they lived in the
home. So, you could have
plumbing problems, mold
issues, broken appliances
(or missing appliances), and
deferred maintenance issues
that could cost you dearly.
And, we’ve seen and heard
of cases where pipes have
frozen and caused huge
issues in homes, roof leaks
that weren’t repaired, so be
very careful and plan for
extra expenses.
Dayville John Day Valley
Duke
Warner
Realty
Lori Hickerson , Principal Broker, GRI, P.C. • Sally Knowles , Broker, GRI
Babette Larson , Broker, GRI, Office Manager
215 South Fork Road • Dayville, OR 97825
(541) 575-2617 • (541) 932-4493 • (541) 987-2363
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