Seaport Real Estate Group Blog

What is title insurance and should I buy it?

What is title insurance?

Traditional insurance policies protect insureds against future losses. For example, a car insurance policy will protect the driver from future accidents, and a health insurance policy will protect an insured from future health problems. However, title insurance is different because it protects insureds against claims for past occurrences.

Who does title insurance protect?

Two different types of title insurance exist. A real estate owner can choose to purchase title insurance, and lenders can elect to do so. Lenders will require title insurance by mortgagors to secure their security interest in the property. Furthermore, a property owner will purchase title insurance to protect their investment in their property.

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How to increase your chances of getting an offer accepted

Communicating with your client.

Your client needs to be made aware that offers are getting bid up. They should not look at properties at the top of their price range. Search for homes 20% less.

-         Make sure that all the fields are filled in and logical.

-         Cash offers carry more weight.

-         Place yourself in the shoes of the listing agent and seller.

Communication with the listing agent.

Use the phone and have conversations with the listing agent backed by texts, a bomb-bomb video, and then email. Get the agent extremely comfortable with you.

Ask the agent if there is anything important to the seller. I.e., closing date, leaving furniture, etc.

Ask the agent if there is a board form with which they are most…

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Preparing for a home inspection

How to prepare for your home inspection

So, you’ve listed your home, found a buyer, and accepted a purchase price. The sale of your house is almost a done deal, but it’s not quite time to pack the moving boxes yet – you still have to make it through the home inspection.

In a typical real estate transaction, the home inspection occurs after the buyer has signed a purchase agreement and before the final closing date. Most home buyers choose to make the closing contingent on the results of the home inspection, meaning that they can back out of the sale if the inspector finds something that is not to their liking and the seller is unwilling to repair it or lower the purchase price to account for it. As a seller, you will want the home inspection to…

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New London County Multi Family Market Rent/Bedroom

The vacancy rate in the New London Submarket has remained stable over the past year, but at 2.6%, is somewhat below the long-term average. While developers have been active in recent years, nothing has been delivered over the past 12 months. But construction has started back up, and about 340 units are underway, which will substantially expand the existing inventory. Rents have increased by an impressive 7.9% over the past year, which significantly exceeds the average annual growth of 4.0% over the past decade. Investors have been active in the New London Submarket over the past three years. The market price, which is an estimated price of all properties in the submarket, has risen dramatically over that time period and now stands at $152,994/unit.

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5 things we recommend you do in the Fall to increase curb appeal

When starting a home search, many buyers often judge a home by looking at the photos online. Or their realtor may suggest doing a drive-by before setting up an appointment to check out the area and location. That's why curb appeal is so important. It is the first impression made upon potential buyers. 

Here are 5 things we recommend you do in the Fall to increase curb appeal. 

1. Fall Cleanup - Over the summer, the weeds, sure enough, took their toll on your garden beds, and summer plants have flowered and died and dropped their share of vegetation on the mulch. Cleaning the garden beds, weeding all those pesky unwanted plants, and then putting a fresh layer of mulch will make your garden beds stand out and pop.

2. Power…

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Seller Beware

Caveat Emptor – Latin for: “Don’t buy a house right now”

Sage advice indeed. Unless your circumstances warrant it and you’re ok parting with a few extra shekels you may never see again. Not to worry. Prospective buyers in most price ranges have largely backed away from the buffet table at this point. They haven't had much choice in the matter.

The purpose of my rant today.

The tide has turned, kind of…

It’s not a great time to buy or sell. Excluding those under duress without the luxury of a choice, or the ultra-wealthy paying cash.

For most, it hasn’t been the best time to buy for quite a while, but obviously a great time to sell throughout the “Covid-fueled, no inventory” seller’s bonanza we’ve witnessed over the last few…

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Everything Is Not Okay (And That's Okay)

There is overwhelming news and media coverage regarding today's real estate market. It seems that, based on most coverage out there, it's both a great time to buy and a great time to sell. Social media is the same narrative, everything is great for everyone. When the world is telling you to have your cake and eat it too, something isn't right. So what is the truth? 

Let's take off the rose colored glasses for a moment and look at the numbers and what's driving them, interest rates. In less than a year, rates went from historic lows in 2021 to 30-year highs today. To illustrate the effect of rates on today's market, let's examine what your mortgage payment will be in three different mortgage scenarios. Fair warning; you will be grossed out

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Investing in Commercial Real Estate? Here's What to Know | Whiteboard Wednesday Ep. 5

The following is a transcription of the video above:

Hey, welcome to Whiteboard Wednesdays. I, as always, am Kyle Schrader, this is my friend Jeff Rizer We're here today to dip our toes into the commercial world and talk about the basic formula for commercial real estate valuation, which is the IRV formula: income, rate, and value. So what is it?

So one thing quickly about Seaport is the way we separate ourselves is marketing, research, and valuation. And one of the tools we use is this IRV formula. So with a lot of like uncertainty in the markets, one of the things that I think and what a lot of reports show is that commercial real estate is a great investment, even though interest rates are continuing to rise.

The three-year outlook…

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Bait and Click

Finding a home usually starts the same way for everyone; online. You head on over to your home search site of choice, be it Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, or any one of the million options out there for you, the consumer. On the face of it, nothing could be more simple; find a house you like, and in a couple of clicks you're in touch with the listing agent of said house and on the road to home ownership. If only it were that simple.

The click you make to contact the agent does more than you think. It most certainly contacts an agent, but more importantly, that click turns you from a home buyer to a product to be bought and sold. That click makes you a lead, and leads are worth big bucks to brokerages, agents, other lead generation companies, and…

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So, you wanna be a landlord...

So, you wanna be a landlord….

The realities of dealing with a nightmare tenant

By Buddy Kane

For those of you that read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and utilized this playbook to acquire rental properties prior to Covid, interest rate hikes, and the vanishing of real estate inventory, Bravo! You’ve done well in acquiring rental properties that now command increasing rents and low vacancy rates. It’s good to be you. Life is even better when using other people’s money to pay your mortgages down while collecting cashflow from a hard asset in an inflationary environment. Not to mention the eventual capital gain potential over the long term. This is the good news.

That being said, it’s important to be aware that every sparkling…

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