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Wake County Property Tax Proration at Closing

It really isn't all that complicated.

Seller pays property tax through Closing, the date of deed recordation.

Buyer pays the balance for the year starting from the day after closing.

Wake County Property Tax year is the Calendar year, January 1 through December 31.  Your Closing Attorney will divide the tax bill by 365 days, and multiply the result, the property tax per day by the number of days for which each party is responsible.
And the total is the party's share.

If the tax bill has been paid already, Buyer will credit Seller at settlement for their share. 
If the tax bill has not been paid, Seller will credit Buyer for their share.

It seemed to be worthy of a quick breathless 60 Seconds in Real Estate Cary NC video blog:

Someone will get a true bargain here!  The price is lower and the location is great. 

My friend at SunTrust Banks says it qualifies for no down payment mortgage funding.

Mark wanted to fix up a neglected home.  I think he did a real nice job on this project  705 N Estes Drive in Chapel Hill has been updated with granite, extensive bamboo floors, a new tub and tile in the Master Bath, and a host of other touches to bring it alive.

See the slideshow on Flickr.  Over 100 photos!

See the Interior Real Estate Show.

See the Exterior Real Estate Show.

He added the new roof, new flooring throughout, granite in the kitchen, all new paint, and just lavished personal attention throughout the project.  Mark took it seriously and was “hands-on,”  working at the job every day.  He personally laid the rustic stone walkway.

The results?  2640 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, $385,000 in one of  the prettiest mature neighborhoods in Chapel Hill, NC.

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Call or email me for your tour.

MLS #984276

Mike Jaquish, Realtor

919-880-2769 

Keller Williams Realty Cary, NC

I tell my Sellers clients we will have good photos of the home before going on the market.  I  post the photos immediately upon entering the home in the MLS.  Our MLS software requires that the listing be placed on “Active” status prior to media uploads.  That causes a couple of minutes delay.  That is the only acceptable delay, I think.

It only takes about 5 minutes to get a couple of photos up with a listing, and about half an hour to post the 12 quality photos the Triangle MLS allows. Ensure that your agent has a decent digital camera.  Camera phones are not acceptable for marketing your largest single investment!  Does your agent hire a professional photographer instead?  Either way, the photos should be uploaded simultaneously with the entry of the listing on the MLS.

I have two good digital cameras, with one in the car at all times.  And with multiple batteries.  A picture is worth a thousand words of marketing, indeed!

Some agents pursue land and lot sales, because they think it should be “easier.”  Dangerous thinking.  It isn’t “easier.”  It is “different” from selling a modern house in a modern platted tract.  Raw land is just that:  Raw.  Undeveloped.  Possibly unresearched.

Typically, many professionals have been involved in due diligence ironing out issues before a platted subdivision is released to sell lots and build homes.

In raw land assessment, the Realtor assumes some of the due diligence responsibility.  Misrepresentations about material facts regarding land that the Realtor has never seen, never walked, never thoroughly researched can be costly to the Buyer and a source of great liability for Sellers, and the agents who are involved.

I like working with land, doing the research, probing the history and current status of the property, and walking a tract to learn about it.  I truly enjoy walking 2, 2o or 200 acres with a landowner who can tell me stories that I won’t find at the Wake County Recorder’s Office.  Land is more of a mental puzzle than typical home sales.  And, as much as people bring their emotions to their homes, land owners do the same with land that has been in the family for generations.

Books have been written about land sales.  The National Association of Realtors has a “Realtors Land Institute” devoted solely to the practice of selling land.  I am a member of RLI, and try to absorb as much learning as I can from their newsletters, mailings, and the knowledge base shared by other members.

“Under all, there is the land.”

Forbe’s ranking of the Raleigh/Cary metro area as #1 in the USA for Business and Careers was just the ticket.  It comes on the heels of last May’s BusinessWeek.com mention of Cary as one of the Best Affordable Suburbs in the South.

BW.com author Maya Roney called me for a quick interview last spring after finding me on ActiveRain, and featured my humble opinions in that piece.  That was fun.

But this evening’s news from Forbes was even better.  In the current economic and real estate climate, it was reassuring!

We are #1 in the USA in Best Places for Business and Careers.

How do you beat that?  Well, you can’t!

How did we get that award?

High educational demographics, NC State University, North Carolina State Government, RTP, a growth-oriented climate conducive to business, affordable real estate, and a geographical climate conducive to comfortable living all play a key part.

I’ll testify to it.  I’ll blog about it!  I think I live in a vibrant and forward-thinking area!

With over 3,000 photos posted, and over 8,000 views of photos, I have to say I really have enjoyed my first year using Flickr. I have the Flickr Pro account, that offers me unlimited monthly photo posting for only $24.95/year. A bargain, I think.

Flickr has served me many ways:

I can take photos of neighborhoods and send them to folks who make inquiries.

A lady called me from out of town and asked me to check on real estate she owned, without ever having seen it. 60+ photos later, she had seen it, and felt a lot better.

Flickr lets me post photos, and easily link to them in emails and blog posts.

When I do a Cary, NC, neighborhood profile blog, I can link to the Flickr photo slideshow for that blog, and visitors can see all the photos I have taken in the area. I can do the same thing for listings, offering photo sets for the home, far above the limits of the MLS and Realtor.com.

The features on Flickr are simple to use, fairly intuitive, and responsive. I have uploaded as many as 115 photos in one batch. It takes a few minutes, but sure beats anything else I have tried.

That wariness is warranted.  Agents are taught to “capture” visitors; that it is good business to “capture” them to be able to stalk them for business.

Just the term “capture” seems to indicate an adversarial stance from the beginning.  It seems to promote that increasing wariness of consumers.  “Capture” seems symptomatic of treating the visitor like a commodity, rather than a valued and trusted client.

So, I don’t do it.  You can visit, search, save, and email listings as long as you like.  No P.O.W. camp here.

Similarly, I don’t use toll-free 800 numbers for call-ins for listings.  Agents are encouraged to do that because Caller ID block doesn’t work on 800 numbers.  So the Listing Agent can “capture” your phone number whether you agree or not.  Ouch!

If you want details regarding neighborhoods or a listing, read my blog, or please call or email me.  The information is free, and freely given.  Would I like to be your agent, or sell the listing?  Sure.  But not under duress, or snatching your number through a subterfuge of toll-free convenience.

I think that is Cary, NC Real Estate done right.  At least, it is how I would like to be treated.

That Mortgage Preapproval is good for YOU!  To protect YOU!  To keep YOU from being hurt.

Too many folks hurt themselves by getting under contract on a home purchase when they can’t actually buy a house.  And then the problems start…

It is sad to see someone lose a home on a financing contingency.  It is painful to see someone who is struggling financially get into a contract, pay for inspections, surveys, put earnest money at risk, and not get financed due to obvious existing credit issues. 

It happens.  Hopes are dashed.  Very sad.  I see blog posts about it all the time.

Get pre-approved with a legitimate, reputable lender, either a mortgage banker or broker.  Press to know that they have done a thorough job in the process.  Be ready and confident you can buy, and that your desired property is affordable for you.  This is not the time to rush through the process.

If a few lenders cannot give you a preapproval letter, listen to the reasons why.  There may be simple issues that you can cure in a matter of weeks or months.  Or it may take longer.  If you sincerely want to help yourself, that good lender will be glad to offer some guidance to help you buy a home as soon as possible.

Make your real estate experience a pleasure.  Don’t waste your hard-earned money on a home you can’t buy!