The Perfect Property Podcast: An Atlanta Real Estate Guide
Before the Closing Table with Real Estate Attorney, Harold Hudson
Summary: In this episode of The Perfect Property, Juli St George chats with Atlanta Real Estate Attorney Harold Hudson. Harold is a closing attorney at Hudson Law Firm and, with 31 years of attorney experience in Atlanta, Harold brings lots of expertise to the podcast! He and Juli talk about the role of a real estate attorney and closing attorney in a real estate transaction.
Harold explains what a “cloud in title” is and goes over some issues that often come out in a title exam. He also talks about what happens in Georgia when someone doesn’t pay their mortgage as well as the importance of having a will if you own property. Finally, he and Juli discuss the important and dangerous issue of wire fraud and some safeguards against it.
What You’ll Learn:
•The role of a real estate attorney (0:24)
•Issues that come out in a title exam (1:40)
•Title insurance and why you need it (5:17)
•How much is a title insurance policy? (8:44)
•What are “clouds” on titles? (10:48)
•What happens in Georgia when someone doesn’t pay their mortgage? (13:13)
•The importance of having a will when you own property (15:25)
•Wire fraud (20:57)
•Safeguards against wire fraud (27:22)
•Tricky closings (28:17)
•How long is a typical closing and how much does it cost? (31:07)
Key Points:
“Title insurance is almost like uninsured motorist coverage… If somebody hits you and it’s their fault and they don’t have enough insurance, you’ve got some of your own insurance. And that’s exactly what you’re doing when you buy title insurance.”
“Title insurance is a function of the purchase price.”
“If you’re going to borrow money from a bank or a mortgage company to buy a house, that company (the lender in the transaction) always gets title insurance for themselves. It’s called a lenders policy.”
“The more expensive the house, the more expensive your owners title insurance policy is.”
“A cloud is really just sort of an industry term for an issue that comes onto the title, some type of title defect or a cloud. Those terms are used interchangeably.”
“In Georgia we have a process of foreclosure that is called nonjudicial foreclosure.”
“And so what happens in Georgia is that first Tuesday of the month in every county in the state of Georgia there’s a foreclosure sale at the county courthouse steps. And so the property is sold at the foreclosure sale and the money from sale is used to pay the loan off.”
“These criminals, what they’re doing is they’re sending out these fake instructions… They find out when the real estate transaction is going to close and a few days before that closing, they send a bogus email… And they say, ‘Okay you’re going to have to pay $5,000 for your closing. Go ahead and send us the wire so we can get this thing done.’”
“Having an agent instruct you on how to deliver wiring instructions or how to deliver the wire itself and having a savvy agent that can warn you at appropriate times during the transition process really really helps.”
“A lot of buyers don’t understand that it may not be a really super happy event for a seller.”
“We give bottles of champagne as part of the celebration to the buyers, the sellers, to the buyer’s agent, the seller’s agent, and the loan officer when they come to the closing. So, it’s a happy occasion.”
“A typical closing is about an hour, about 60 to 70 minutes.”
Links:
Juli’s Email: juli@theperfectproperty.com
Juli’s Phone Number: 404-668-8975 (call or text)
The Perfect Property Website. www.theperfectproperty.com
https://linktr.ee/julistgeorge
Summary: In this episode of The Perfect Property, Juli St George chats with Atlanta Real Estate Attorney Harold Hudson. Harold is a closing attorney at Hudson Law Firm and, with 31 years of attorney experience in Atlanta, Harold brings lots of expertise to the podcast! He and Juli talk about the role of a real estate attorney and closing attorney in a real estate transaction.
Harold explains what a “cloud in title” is and goes over some issues that often come out in a title exam. He also talks about what happens in Georgia when someone doesn’t pay their mortgage as well as the importance of having a will if you own property. Finally, he and Juli discuss the important and dangerous issue of wire fraud and some safeguards against it.
What You’ll Learn:
•The role of a real estate attorney (0:24)
•Issues that come out in a title exam (1:40)
•Title insurance and why you need it (5:17)
•How much is a title insurance policy? (8:44)
•What are “clouds” on titles? (10:48)
•What happens in Georgia when someone doesn’t pay their mortgage? (13:13)
•The importance of having a will when you own property (15:25)
•Wire fraud (20:57)
•Safeguards against wire fraud (27:22)
•Tricky closings (28:17)
•How long is a typical closing and how much does it cost? (31:07)
Key Points:
“Title insurance is almost like uninsured motorist coverage… If somebody hits you and it’s their fault and they don’t have enough insurance, you’ve got some of your own insurance. And that’s exactly what you’re doing when you buy title insurance.”
“Title insurance is a function of the purchase price.”
“If you’re going to borrow money from a bank or a mortgage company to buy a house, that company (the lender in the transaction) always gets title insurance for themselves. It’s called a lenders policy.”
“The more expensive the house, the more expensive your owners title insurance policy is.”
“A cloud is really just sort of an industry term for an issue that comes onto the title, some type of title defect or a cloud. Those terms are used interchangeably.”
“In Georgia we have a process of foreclosure that is called nonjudicial foreclosure.”
“And so what happens in Georgia is that first Tuesday of the month in every county in the state of Georgia there’s a foreclosure sale at the county courthouse steps. And so the property is sold at the foreclosure sale and the money from sale is used to pay the loan off.”
“These criminals, what they’re doing is they’re sending out these fake instructions… They find out when the real estate transaction is going to close and a few days before that closing, they send a bogus email… And they say, ‘Okay you’re going to have to pay $5,000 for your closing. Go ahead and send us the wire so we can get this thing done.’”
“Having an agent instruct you on how to deliver wiring instructions or how to deliver the wire itself and having a savvy agent that can warn you at appropriate times during the transition process really really helps.”
“A lot of buyers don’t understand that it may not be a really super happy event for a seller.”
“We give bottles of champagne as part of the celebration to the buyers, the sellers, to the buyer’s agent, the seller’s agent, and the loan officer when they come to the closing. So, it’s a happy occasion.”
“A typical closing is about an hour, about 60 to 70 minutes.”
Links:
Juli’s Email: juli@theperfectproperty.com
Juli’s Phone Number: 404-668-8975 (call or text)
The Perfect Property Website. www.theperfectproperty.com
https://linktr.ee/julistgeorge