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Suit Up With Baez
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Suit Up With Baez
Episode 4: Real Estate Title Secrets Unveiled with Maria Valvano
Have you ever walked past a house and wondered about its history, or who might have lived there? Maria Valvano, CEO of Realty Resource Solutions, shares this curiosity, and she's taken it to professional heights. On our latest episode, we're thrilled to feature her journey from a kid intrigued by property deals to a titan in the realm of real estate and title insurance. Maria divulges the fascinating stories behind properties, the significance of an accurate chain of title, and why due diligence is the bedrock of investment security.
The world of title insurance may seem as cryptic as ancient runes, but Maria Valvano demystifies it with ease, shedding light on the meticulous process behind title searches. She discusses the hurdles that can hide in the fine print, like unexpected liens that can trip up the unprepared, and stresses the importance of a proper 40-year lookback for purchasers and a 10-year period for those refinancing. It's these crucial details that keep the pathway to property ownership clear of obstacles, ensuring that what lies behind the walls of your dream home doesn't become a nightmarish tale.
Finally, we tackle the emotional and legal intricacies of probate and the absolute necessity of current estate planning. With Maria's expertise, we underline the emotional and legal strife that can ensue without transparent property title transfers and up-to-date wills. She shares poignant anecdotes of probate cases gone awry, reinforcing the message that clear estate plans are vital to safeguarding one's legacy. Join us as we navigate the complexities of real estate, illuminated by Maria’s years of experience, and take to heart the importance of expert guidance in this crucial field.
Welcome everyone to episode four of suit up with bias here with the host.
Speaker 3:Alex bias and Maria Valvano glad to be here. Thanks for having me, guys.
Speaker 2:Yes, super excited. So you are the CEO of RRS, right? What is that for again?
Speaker 3:So it's realty resource solution. So what does that mean? We have solutions to your problems, your real estate problems. We didn't create the problem, but we're going to try to help fix the problem and we have the resources to do it. That's why we named it realty resource solutions. We shortened it up for RRS title. You know, sometimes people say RRS title S is for savings, S is for solutions. That's what I'm for, so I'm excited to be here. Hello, out there in the YouTube world. Youtube the public all the platforms out there.
Speaker 2:Other platforms?
Speaker 3:Yeah, Great to be here.
Speaker 2:So, maria, tell us about yourself. We're really curious to know about you.
Speaker 3:Oh god, well, it's quick and short.
Speaker 3:However, you want to say it, yeah, so thing about me is I was a strange kid growing up. I was one of those kids from an early age when everybody was going to like Disney World and Disneyland. I was looking at, you know, motels for sale. I'm like, yeah, we should buy that motel. And my mom's like, whoa, shouldn't you be like worried about like Disney World and Disneyland? Like, no, I think that's a good deal. Mom, like you know, she's like um, should you be like playing out in the playground? I'm like, mom, that that lot it's vacant. Like who owns that? Maybe we should like buy it, maybe we should put something up. And you know, from a from a young, young age, I was always into real estate, always thinking about you know, look at that house. You know why can't we live in that house. You know what do we need to do to get into that house?
Speaker 3:You know why are people going to certain areas. So, like I said, like as a kid I was always interested in real estate. I was always interested in figuring out. You know, how do we get that house, who lives in that house and how do I, how do I help them get that house?
Speaker 2:This is your calling.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I tell you it was a calling.
Speaker 2:What, what age was this happening Like? Oh, I was going through your mind.
Speaker 3:This is a God honest, true story. We were in Florida, we were going to Disney World, we were driving and my little sister was like we're gonna see Mickey great. And I legit looked over and I saw a four sale sign for a motel that was in Daytona, right across from from the beach. And we said my mom get that number down Like let's go, dad, like let's go.
Speaker 3:You know, and then we had gone on another vacation up by Lake George. We're up there and there was a farm for sale and I'm like dad, like we should look at this, like we should buy the farm, and my dad's like we left the farms to come to this country. Now you want to go back to the farm.
Speaker 3:I was like no, there's opportunity, there's opportunity. So ever since I was a kid, I was always drawn to real estate. I didn't get here right off the bat. I started in the real estate world with a solo practitioner who was only real estate, and that's where I learned a lot about the residential aspect of it. Then, from there, I jumped over to the development side, which was like a lot of commercial.
Speaker 3:I learned a lot about the development, what goes into the zoning, why some areas are residential, why some are commercial. And then, while I was working at the development company, I came across somebody from my past and he said, listen, you know, my brother has a title insurance company. I think he'd be perfect. And me being a 20-nothing year old, I said no, no, I got a job, I'm good, I'm good. And he said, listen, just come meet with my brother, see what he has to say.
Speaker 3:I met with him and he did one of those young Showed me the money.
Speaker 1:I was gone, that was it.
Speaker 3:I was hooked on title after that.
Speaker 2:Title. I mean title, was that right? So I was introduced to Maria, I think by an attorney, I think. Was that introduced me to you and run me afterwards. I know finding out that run me also works with you, yeah, so Maria is my go-to for all titles. I'm a huge fan of Maria. She's a beast of what she does and one point is like that serves that you give is. It's incredible. Thank you, you know so but what got you into it? Going into title.
Speaker 3:I loved it because I love the story.
Speaker 3:I love the history of it. So for me it was a way to combine everything I have, like this thirst, this passion to know, to learn, to find out. Why are certain things doing, trending certain areas, yeah, why are things happening here or not there? And a little bit was a little bit sociology, theology, and it all kind of played into it and I kept on going. But you know, but why, but why, but why? And then you start reading the history of the house, you start going, okay, wow, you know, in 1812, there's a railroad that went through here, and you know there was a company that was here, that had a factory, and then that company shut down.
Speaker 3:And the history of it All is really something that I gravitated towards and for me and I've always, always said it it's information, information, information, information, knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, knowledge. I mean that's the great denominator right there, like that, right there, when you have you arm yourself, when information and knowledge, you're unstoppable, you know what you're getting into, you know what kind of investment you're gonna make and you know exactly where, where you fit into. The grand scheme of thing, and that was for me it was. It's really a history, it's a storybook and it tells the tale of you know, how did this house get here? Who lived in this house? What's what? You know what? What is it's?
Speaker 2:so exciting. Yeah, it's a fingerprint. That's the thing about world estate, that every day it's like so exciting because you're gonna get yourself into something new, learning something new, and it's non-stop learning. I always say that this is college for life. That's what I say exactly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know everybody looks to Netflix and Erin goes oh, let's see what's trending on Netflix. I don't know. You gotta see what's trending in the title industry. There are stories upon stories. There's good stories and bad stories, and all of it is real, which makes it even more than close to close to the vest. You know God, you know that could happen to my mom, my dad, my aunt my cousin or I wish that happened to my mom, my aunt, my cousin.
Speaker 3:So we hear all that. We are the good, the bad and our job is really chooses, bring to light All the possible information we.
Speaker 2:I got a question for you, a million dollar question Is it mandatory that every person that's purchasing a property to order title is a mandatory?
Speaker 3:so that's a great question, okay so the only time you have to have to have to have to buy a policy is if you're getting a mortgage, if you're getting a mortgage, your lender will require you to buy a lender's policy.
Speaker 3:You say, maria, why, why, why? Well, if I'm going to lend, you think of it this way if I'm gonna lend somebody $500,000, $600,000, $800,000, $200,000, I'll lend you five bucks. I want to know who I'm lending to, what I'm lending, why I'm lending. Where can I get my money back? Am I gonna get it back in two days, five days, 30 years? Yeah, you know, are there judgments? Am I first in line, second in line? You know who out there also has their hand out, because you know they lent so-and-so money. So the lender will always, always, require you to get a lender's policy.
Speaker 2:Have you ever come across any lender that does not require it? No, every lender that you may come across.
Speaker 3:Every, every lender. That's their security blanket. They, they want to know that we're going to give you $500,000, that this is a secure investment. No one's just gonna. If you find somebody who's gonna hand over $500,000, tom the quality when it's a cash.
Speaker 2:No, that it's not mandatory when it purchasing cash.
Speaker 3:If you pay, if you pay all cash, all cash, you do not have to get an owner's policy.
Speaker 2:I am honestly. I have not come across anyone that's not. That's not order, a title To be on a side research.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're. So if you have an attorney, your attorney will most likely tell you Get an owner's policy. If you choose not to get an owner's policy, they will most likely make you sign something saying they told you to get an owner's policy. You went against their better judge, right. You decided not to get, so that you cannot come back and say, well, I didn't know, I didn't know, you didn't tell me, you know where's, you know I have no insurance. Now I have no recourse. There's actually a break and chain, and now you know.
Speaker 2:It's very important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, before we keep going on, let's just step back a little bit. What does the title company do?
Speaker 3:So, yeah, we, we tell the story. We, we tell you the footprint of your home and there's two aspects of it. There's the abstract part of it, which is the story. We start at chapter one and we go straight to the day that you close and that tells us when was your house built, who owned the property. It tells us when there were, there could have been, violations, that that is a municipal search. So the municipal searches are the HBS, the housing and building, the CFO, emergency repairs is your street report, your fire searches. So there's two parts that go into your title report.
Speaker 3:It's the abstract, the story the history of it and then the municipal search, which is Was there a deck on this house? Oh, there was a deck. Okay, when was it when? When was it built? When was it taken down? When was there an addition? So we put that all together and we give you that story. We say here here's the story of your house. Take a look at it, tell me, if this is the story, this is the book you want to buy. And if this is not the book you want to buy, go back and say well, what, what chapters don't I like in here? Let's see if we can fix those. Can we, can we change those?
Speaker 2:chapters, so the when, when you do these titles. So how far do you go back? Is it a Pacific time or you just go back from day one? It was built?
Speaker 3:so with a purchase, if you're buying a home, we go back 40 years 40 years. We go back 40 years and sometimes we take it back a little bit further if we don't like something in the chain.
Speaker 3:You're gonna say okay you're saying well, what does the chain mean? Well, you know, we take it back and we, the chain is the chain of title. Who's owned this property? Maria Balvano owned this property. You know, alex own this property, angelo own this property and we follow the chain and we make sure that chain is correct and For the purchases it's 40 years. That's, that's standard. We will take it back if we don't like something we don't see.
Speaker 1:For refinances we go back 10 years 10 years Gotcha okay, and usually when You're doing title right, what are the common things that come up that are usually problems it from your experience.
Speaker 3:So there's two things that usually come up. It's a lot with the municipals and what people don't know. Title companies don't ensure municipal searches, really. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:I really thought it did so. It doesn't at all.
Speaker 3:It always it's 50-50 no, we do not ensure municipal searches in the searches we provide, it's for information purposes only. You're gonna say, maria, why? Why because if I could tell the future Wouldn't be here. I'd be giving you lotto numbers.
Speaker 2:I would tell you a lot of sense who's winning the world series, who's good.
Speaker 3:So for us, what we do is we take it back and we can only tell you what's been recorded and what's been filed. So, if you think of it this way, you bought the house. There's a deck Okay, great, this deck. I Don't like it. Actually, a tree fell on it. There's a who's really windy the other day tree fell, ruin the deck.
Speaker 3:We're gonna take it down. Now the deck is gone and now there's a patio. I can't control what the next owner is gonna do. I can only control what happened Backwards. I can't tell you what's gonna happen. If I could like I said I want to be here I'd probably be married to George Clooney and Living at Lake Cuomo or something. Yeah, sure with title insurance.
Speaker 2:So okay, so now I understand. So. So what does so? When you order the policy, the insurance, what is it ensuring exactly?
Speaker 3:we're ensuring everything that happened up into the point that you closed on. So everything going forward. Everybody who owned the property prior to you were they a bona fide purchaser at that time? Were they able to buy the property?
Speaker 3:Were they the right person to convey. Sometimes I can't just say, oh yeah, you know what? I wanna sell the White House. I have. No, I can say it, I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it. When we do our searches we have to make sure that, maria Valvano, I own this house. I can sell this house. I have the authority to convey title. I can sell this house to.
Speaker 1:Alex or.
Speaker 3:Angelo. So that's what we do. We make sure that there's no breaks in the chain. We go back and say, actually, you know what? Maria doesn't own this property. It's actually owned by her sister.
Speaker 3:Her sister inherited the property she had no business being in this at all. So that's what we do we go back and we make sure there's no breaks in the chain of title. We also provide you with information as far as what municipal searches are out there that are actually, what permits are out there that are actually recorded with the municipality, what's open and what's not open, what violations exist.
Speaker 2:Gotcha. So I do wanna tell the public that when you're purchasing a home, title is very important it's one of the most important roles and when you're purchasing or selling right title. So there's deals that sometimes don't go through right and sometimes because we're waiting for the title report to come in. I actually wanna share a story that happened to me before. Wasn't with Maria, it was with another title coming before I met you, so I had this buyer. The buyer was buying property, actually all cash. He, of course the attorney, told them go, order a title. So they ordered the title. Title report came like three weeks later.
Speaker 2:So this seller basically it came back that he owed to the IRS $150,000. So it was interesting because this seller was actually leaving the country, right? So I was only representing the buyer. We didn't know the seller but, based on what I was hearing, it was like he was trying to leave the country and he was just wanting to go. So he owed $150,000 to the IRS. Of course, right, maria, if you owe to the IRS, can you close on the property?
Speaker 3:No way, you gotta pay. No way, guys, you can't close. You can't close, you don't.
Speaker 2:You can't run away from the IRS. The IRS first thing that come after is the properties, right, exactly, it's the biggest asset of everyone. So he thought he was gonna get away with it. So, because he owed $150,000, we were cutting clothes because he didn't wanna pay. The guy was stubborn. Also, it was already going. He basically was not walking away with much now, right, so he tried to run away and he was gonna get away with it. Luckily, my client, of course, ordered the title and we didn't close. So sometimes you order a title report guys. Sometimes we weigh on the title report. People think it's like what happened with the lender. Sometimes the title guys. That's their job to make sure the title is clear.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you bring up a good point. In addition to the chain of title, can that person really sell to you? Are they authorized to sell? That's the other thing too. What judgments are out there? Did this guy have a fight with, maybe, a painter? Maybe there's a mechanics lien and this guy owes a painter $60,000. And it happens, it happens, it's out there, things happen, things happen. Credit cards you know right.
Speaker 2:I've been seeing credit cards talking about credit cards. I had a client that only. I think it was like $25,000 until the credit card and the credit card went and put a lane. But was this like recently started happening or this has been going on for a while?
Speaker 3:So this is something that's trending. It's with the market. When things look, we've always said it when it's interesting, when money gets tight, people start to fight. Right Things start to happen. And now you know the credit card bills start going up a little bit. Now, all of a sudden, you know people aren't as friendly anymore. So with the credit cards now these guys are like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, it's $25,000.
Speaker 3:Like that's you know that's gotta get paid. So they'll hit the property with a judgment and they'll say, listen, you gotta play this off before you move forward. But these are things that come up. You know you have the credit card companies, you have IRS.
Speaker 2:You don't know what's gonna come up on a title report until they order. You know because I, you know most people. When you go and meet them and talk to them, they try to hide things. Right, happens all the time and they don't. They believe that they're still selling homes in the 80s 90s. Right, I wasn't born in the 80s but I've been hearing some crazy stories from there of the 80s 90s where things people were getting away when they were doing these sales. Now, it's not like that. I feel like it's so strict. These sales titles every day. I feel like it's more, which is good for every side.
Speaker 3:Because, at the end of the day, you know what was happening. Back in the day, the 80s and 90s, people were hustling, and then not only were they hustling, but they were fraudsters, right. So now everybody's hustling, hustling. I need to make a buck. I need to make a buck. I gotta get mine, I gotta get it whatever.
Speaker 3:As in they're cutting corners. They're not really. They're not really telling the truth. You know they're bending it, they're cutting a corner here and there. They're not really fully telling you the truth, not fully telling you. Oh yeah, well, kind of got a permit, like what does kind of mean Either you did or you did it. Right. For women it's easy Either you're pregnant or you're not pregnant, like that's it. Like that's it. Like either, it's an open permit or it's a closed permit. That's simple.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you something, man, just on that trend. How has the title industry evolved since you started? So now is it more stricter, or there are more regulations. So what we?
Speaker 3:did. We learned from the past. We learned from all these fraudsters. We learned from all these guys that are coming out trying to make a fast buck. We learned to all these guys that were price gouging. So we take all that and we try to apply it and we try to give it to you guys, the consumers, the consumers. We try to save you guys and protect you guys as best we possibly can.
Speaker 3:You know how many times did you hear somebody that they got price gouged or they got fooled, they got bamboozled? It wasn't really what they said. It was supposed to be a four bedroom but it turns out it's only three. There's a partition in the middle. So from all that the regulations have tightened up, from all that we learned and we said we got to do better. We got the people deserve better. We got to give them the best information we possibly can. So from the 80s and the 90s, things started to tighten up a little bit. The information became a little more available. It wasn't just like, oh, check that box over there, or it could be. You know, when that file happened over there, they did try to centralize the information.
Speaker 3:So we have access to it. Is it always 100%? No, there's still municipalities out there that we know. We have to send in two separate searches and come back and cross check them because the information's not accurate enough for us.
Speaker 2:You know, one thing I want to point out is that right now, when we go to list properties, some of these people, some of these sellers of ours, have bought the properties in the 80s, 90s, early 2000. And it's funny that when we go and order let's say when the buyer goes and order, the title search, title report and report comes back they always end up buying the property with open violations or open permits or open, and then they go ahead and tell me, like I bought it, like this, I got to sell it like this. I'm like no, it's not like that. I wish it was like that. You know what I'm saying, but it's not like that, guys.
Speaker 3:I tell my mom and dad the same thing. I'm like guys, I'm like this, this, this, like we got to fix all this, these old schoolers, they don't get it.
Speaker 2:They don't get it. I'm gonna be honest with you. They don't get it. Old schoolers, we in a different century now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, you got to ramp it up a little.
Speaker 2:The sales are more professional and it's always at best interest for both sides. That's the way I see it, Because when you want to buy a property, what a title that's not clean.
Speaker 3:No way, it's not fair to you. Look, nobody ever wants to feel like they got screwed right. Nobody likes that feeling Exactly.
Speaker 2:that's the word.
Speaker 3:Nobody likes that feeling. Nobody likes to feel like, oh, I just got screwed, I just got bamboozled, somebody pulled the fast one on me, so like, nobody likes that feeling. So that's our job. We've got to make sure that that doesn't happen. We have to make sure that we do our due diligence, that we give the information that they need to make an educated decision. We have. There's a I don't know if you guys have ever heard this there was a school in Tuckahoe out of Bronxville area.
Speaker 3:It was Concordia College and Concordia College was taken over by Iona. Before Iona took over Concordia, concordia was selling some of their property in and around the campus, in and around that area. Now that area is a nice area right it's Tuckahoe Tuckahoe Schools your neighbors with Bronxville. It's a great little area. The market there is very, very hot. This developer came in, made Concordia an offer. Concordia said okay, we're gonna give you a package deal. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna give you this property, this property, that property and that property. Look at it. I said okay, I like one two and three.
Speaker 3:Number four I don't really like too much. How come you don't like four so much? Number four is historical home. So historical homes are way harder to develop, way harder to renovate. There's so many-.
Speaker 2:To get it approved in all that, Get it approved.
Speaker 3:but he looked at it and he said you know what I like? One, two and three. There's money there. One, two and three, I like that. I'll take number four and deal with it, because I know what I'm getting myself into. I know I have the information, I know that this is a historical home, I know that this might be tied up and this might end up costing me X amount of dollars, but I know home one, two and three are gonna make me some bucks.
Speaker 3:It's still. You know, they're still trying to get approved, they're still fighting and everything else. But he knew he had the information.
Speaker 2:It wasn't just somebody who went in for a walk Before he got into it. Exactly so, as long as you share the information and the buyer agrees to it, as long as they know the information, we're all protected.
Speaker 3:Right, as long as you know, that's my job. My job is to educate you and give you all the information, all the knowledge, so that you can base your investment. These are big investments. We're saving $500,000, $600,000, $800,000. It's half our savings that we're trying to put down for the American dream. We want to make sure it's secure. We want to make sure that we're not getting screwed, that we didn't buy, just you know, a dollar Lotto ticket and didn't hit the jackpot on it.
Speaker 2:I want to share this too. You know Les Brown. Are you guys familiar with Les Brown? He was actually. I was actually listening a lot to Les Brown. I'm a huge fan of Les Brown.
Speaker 2:He actually said a story that really stuck that to me. So he actually bought a property for his mother. I believe it was in the early 90s. So he bought the property for his mother All cash excited. After buying the property, two weeks later they called him. The sheriff called them, let him know they're gonna have to infect the property. He was like wait, what happened? I just bought this property all cash from my mother. So apparently he had a lien of $45,000. And if he didn't pay it within like a couple of days, they gave him three days to pay that. And that time I'm not sure where he was at the situation. He had a bluesy in the house, guys Wow. And it was a gift to his mother. So me, I love my mother to death. I mean we all do right Buying a gift for your mother and they come in snatch because he didn't do a title search. Guys, title search are huge. Les Brown is huge today. So I mean he could probably buy 10, 20 houses now.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying, Easy easy, easy, easy.
Speaker 2:But it happened to Les Brown. You know, huge motivational speaker, I'm a huge fan of him and it happened to him. So, guys, title search are important and I'm happy that banks you know it's required. It protects everyone.
Speaker 3:It protects everyone. Like, think of it this way you don't want to give somebody $500,000, $600,000, just to know that somebody else has a stake in that home. This is a big investment. You want to make sure it's ironclad At least I do. I want to make sure I'm not getting something like a lemon. So do your homework, like when we were kids. Do your homework. Do your homework, do your homework.
Speaker 2:Do your homework. These properties are. It's important when you definitely do your homework, especially if you're buying cash, Always do your tax. Some people are just a couple of thousands. You're going to save you a lot of headaches, a lot of time and, more than anything, protect your title of your property.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, absolutely. We had some guy. He just didn't want to buy an owner's policy. Oh he was. Yeah, he was buying all cash. He was buying a package deal in the Bronx, a few homes, and it turned out that one of the tenants there one of the tenants there claimed that he owned the home. He said, no, this is my house, oh no.
Speaker 1:This is like yeah, no, this is my mom.
Speaker 3:This is my mom's house, this is Lisa, it was not too long ago, jesus, you hear this guys, yeah, 2024.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not too long ago.
Speaker 3:Now, whether it's true or not. I don't think so. I think he's a fraudster. I think he's just a fraudster. I think he's just trying to stir the pot a little bit and he doesn't want to get out. But he was trying to make a claim and say no, no, you know. But if he had the owner's policy he would have known. Where was he in this chain, like does he have a claim or does he not have a claim?
Speaker 2:You hear that, guys, that's huge. Yeah, that's a really. Do you have any other stories that that we have some?
Speaker 3:At least one that this. So we, like I said, when money gets tight, people start to fight. Right, people start to fight Everybody loves everybody until they don't. Okay, we had a gentleman who was pretending to be a fraudster and pretending to be his father. Men have they name after themselves. So, junior or senior.
Speaker 2:I'm not a fan of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, don't do it to yourself.
Speaker 2:I was like leave it. You know, I love my son. I'll tell my wife, no, I'm never putting my name on him, you know. But yeah, because of that. But go ahead.
Speaker 3:So the.
Speaker 2:Sorry.
Speaker 3:The son says he's going to sell his dad's house. The house, the last deed of record was from 1978. Okay. So the house was from 1978. After the closing junior has to give his ID.
Speaker 2:Oh geez, well, yeah, he was born, his ID says 1978.
Speaker 3:You're like um, how did you buy this house if you were born in 1978? And the deed is from 1978. So he was pretending to be his dad.
Speaker 2:He was pretending to. Was his dad dead already or he was yeah?
Speaker 3:His dad was somewhere in Florida at the time. Oh, and there was and there was no power of attorney. There was no power of attorney. There was none of that. There was no power of attorney. There was nothing. He was going to pretend he was senior and he was braces, going to sell the property, pocket it and maybe go to Hawaii?
Speaker 2:Who?
Speaker 3:knows where he was going. Yeah, so this is. These are the things like everyone thinks it's oh no, I had a closing, so we asked for proof of ID.
Speaker 2:Yeah, every time we go to close, everyone asks for an ID. You have to verify their identification because like that's, that's not there.
Speaker 3:You know, people will pretend no, I'm Maria Valvano.
Speaker 2:What did he say after you guys caught him? I'm curious about that.
Speaker 3:Everybody just stalled out and I looked at the attorney and you know the seller's attorney and I'm like you didn't.
Speaker 2:Verify this.
Speaker 3:You didn't ask your questions Like you didn't, oh that looks so bad, like what?
Speaker 3:happened Like what happened here. But this is this goes to my other point when you're buying a home, you want to go to professionals. Go to a professional real estate attorney who does this, not does this on the side, but does this on the regular. You know, I say it all the time, like if I'm having a problem with my heart or something, I'm not going to a foot doctor, I'm going to go to a foot doctor. I'm not going to go see a foot doctor, I want to see a cardiologist. Same thing with real estate. Same thing If you're going to buy a home, go to a real estate attorney, go to somebody who does this for living, does this every day, knows what to look out for a professional.
Speaker 2:When you say attorney, guys have to make sure it's a real estate attorney.
Speaker 3:A real estate attorney, not a real estate attorney.
Speaker 2:Because people go things a attorney. They go to any attorney.
Speaker 3:Yeah, not a patent attorney, Not a probate attorney, real estate attorney.
Speaker 2:Real estate attorney. Guys, I have the story, since you mentioned that, my first sale that will never forget, my first sale, that was about eight, seven years ago. We had the closing and it was my first thing. It was taking forever. It was like three hours in there.
Speaker 2:Now, you know, I'm new, I'm nervous, I'm like yo, what's happening, what's going on in here? So, apparently, so, the person that was selling, right, um, he was senior and he had his. So basically, his son son put his father's name come to his full name, but his son had IRS problems. So we were at the closing. They made the Sun, because the Sun lived in Florida. They made a son do it in after David from Florida. I don't know how they did it, got it, I mean, within seconds, we got it done.
Speaker 2:But because that his grandson had the same name as him and he'll IRS money, I got all these IRS problems. Well, one was my clients. I don't know why it's so Tight. It wasn't closing if they didn't get the after David sign from the grass because grandson had the same exact name as the, as the, as my seller, and he was not able to close until that thing was soft. So we basically had a way an extra 24 hours till the letter came in the after David. So he had a go get after David sign saying that it was him, that all it, not his, not the seller, because they put the same name guys. That's how serious it and because of that that story I didn't want to believe. I'll tell my wife no, I don't want to have, I love myself, I don't want to be his problems. You got to be a man.
Speaker 3:I'm telling you, I always try to identify myself. I use a middle initial, whatever it is, I don't want anybody pretending to be me. I don't want to be anybody else. Yeah that's it. Like no, I don't need anybody else's debt, I got my. That's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean we had a recent story with One of the people that we were calling. They had actually signed some papers and those papers they didn't read what they were signing the sellers and they essentially gave the rights to partial I believe it was for Alex. They gave partial rights to the the profits of this, of the of. If they were to sell the home, they would have to give them profits from it. I believe it was like assignment.
Speaker 2:On which property is this?
Speaker 1:remember that you had a call with a seller that was calling out to you to basically inquire about helping him list his property after he had basically Been told that it was gonna be incredibly hard because no attorney was willing to Take on it because he had signed some papers.
Speaker 2:So basically, this was was he was. He was actually setting the property right and I'm not sure what happened that because I was an industry. You know. A seller called me. Really don't know exactly what happened in Details, but based on what he told me, basically was that he didn't go to closing, basically, and they came and put like a lien on the property so he won't be able to sell. So I told the seller I was like you're gonna have to hire an attorney and also to have a title company when you could basically negotiate to get that lien off of your property. You could be able to sell. So what happened was that they put a lien on his property. The buyer that was purchasing his property. He didn't sell it to them.
Speaker 3:Oh, so I got a little like a breach of contract.
Speaker 2:Exactly that's what it was a breach of contract and they came and put a lien on. They actually put an address. It's actually on New York City. So yeah, it was basically recorded on his property. So you know you can't when anything that's you. Let me know about anything that's recorded on your property like liens, anything you can't sell until you clear those things you gotta, you gotta get it cleared, you gotta get it cleared, or the other.
Speaker 3:The other thing is like as a title insurance company when those things come up, and sometimes you have somebody so eager they just don't want to listen. I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it we tell you all the information. Then, from there, you still want to buy it. Well then, you have to buy it. You just inherited this headache, so now you. Now you have to deal with you that IRS lien or that judgment or whatever it is.
Speaker 3:Now we're here to help you, but we can't be your mom and dad. We can't tell you don't do that. You're grown, you gotta make the decision. We give you all the information. You decide that this is still what you wanna do. All right, that's on you now.
Speaker 2:I'm a huge fan of. I usually help a lot of families that are going through probate. Those titles are crazy. What do you recommend any families that are out there looking at us? What do you recommend? Or any basic advice you give people that are going through probate and it's always on my experience with probates, I have a lot of stories for them but what do you recommend before it gets into probate or before things happen by the time it gets to the probate?
Speaker 3:Really just make sure everything is up to date, make sure your will is up to date, make sure people know where the will is. Tell them be vocal and say when I pass, probate this will tell them what your wishes are. Let them know. And the best thing to do is really just probate it. Probeat the will. This way there's no confusion. There's no. Oh well, they said I was supposed to get mom's cups, or I was supposed to get the fur coat, or I was supposed to do the. Probate it, let it go through the court system. And this way there's no excuse. There's no, nothing.
Speaker 2:I'm more than a hundred percent of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, we read these wills, they come back. We read these wills and you look and they'll say Maria Valvano gets nothing and she knows why. I'm like whoa, like this, you know, like you look at some of these things and you're like, wow, like there was some serious like family problems here, like there's like there, yeah.
Speaker 1:I was gonna ask, like before you went on, like, could you explain probate to the viewers at home, just in case they didn't know what probate was? But you did a good job Pretty much.
Speaker 3:So basically, like Alex and I, we've had a few deals where it has to go through probate.
Speaker 3:When somebody passes away, what are their wishes? What do they want done with the house? Who gets the house? The other thing that I just wanna touch on is, even if you inherit the house, even if your mom or dad, whomever leaves you something, whoever says, okay, you know what I'm gonna give you the house in on Madison Avenue. That's great, that's fantastic. But you still have to transfer the title into your name. So we see it a lot.
Speaker 3:We see it a lot where somebody passes away 1962, the house is supposed to be left to somebody. Now they're trying to sell and the house is still in the deceased's name and you're like I get that you inherited it, but you still got to transfer title into your name, transfer it into title, let time pass. And now, when it comes time to sell, it's not like you're jumping through hoops, trying to go through probate, trying to get the letters all over again. So just everything is be aware, be vocal, ask questions, keep up the date, keep up the date with everything, just keep up the date. One person does something wrong and now, all of a sudden, you know what. I don't want my sister in the will anymore. Update your will, update it. Update it, update it, update it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got those. Probably stories are crazy, but it's one that stuck out to me that was crazy. I mean it was crazy. So a person that died, he had four kids but he also raised a daughter that wasn't his. He left the whole property just so his daughter, so the stepdaughter that he raised, and not the other four. He did a will and left it just one. So now they all suing her.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it happens.
Speaker 2:But it was a will and that's it. It's a will and the Corbett approved it, and they still suing her again.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, it happens. We have a property, it's crazy.
Speaker 2:These probably things get sad sometimes how families get destroyed over it. I think it's best just to have a will to let the person that actually worked for that property make the decision.
Speaker 3:Let them make the decision.
Speaker 2:Whatever they decide they want to give it to just one child, let them make the decision, because then they get better to leave it to the person that you. Actually they probably feel like they've been appreciated more than everyone else. So these pro-bay stories are very sad. It's a topic that's very sad because I've seen some horrible stories. But, as a professional, what we got to do our job.
Speaker 3:We got to do our job, you know get the title company in get Maria in there.
Speaker 3:Look at the Carvella State. The Carvella State, I think, is still being probated. Carvella died years ago and that estate is still being probed. Yeah, yeah. So keep everything up to date. Everything, let everybody know what your wishes are. Go let the court say. You know what, alex, you're going to be the executor, maria, you're going to be the executor. Do it, do it, do it. You'll save your family a lot of time. Money aggravation A lot of times we see these properties fall into foreclosure because they've drained the estate, because they're just pulling. They're pulling equity out. Nobody's making any payment, so they're pulling equity, pulling equity, pulling equity, and now they're in foreclosure. Your parents work so hard to buy that home.
Speaker 1:Don't let it go down the drain.
Speaker 3:Don't let it go down the drain. You know, save it, preserve it. You know, whatever it is, let the courts decide. Let the executor is the executor. For a reason they appointed him or her as the executor. Executor for a reason. Let them make the decision. You know like that will set the will called out. This person said basically like you know why you're getting nothing. You know why. You know why.
Speaker 2:You did something. We'll say this clearly.
Speaker 3:That's it. You did something. You did something wrong. They didn't like what you did. Now you're out, like that's it.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you answered this already, but what if they don't keep up to date and they don't have a will right? What happens with the estate if they pass away and they have multiple family members?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So now what ends up happening is they've died without a will. They still have to go to surrogates, and now they have to instead of issuing letters of a testamentary. So if you die with a will, they'll appoint Alex as an executor, or they'll appoint me as an executor. If you die without a will, they, the court, will have to appoint an administrator. So somebody has to come forward. Yeah, somebody has to come forward and say okay, you know what? I wanna be the administrator for my parents' estate, do all the paperwork. I have to name all the heirs, all you know my brother and my sister, grandkids, you know who's married, not married and go through the whole family tree, give an estimate of what the estate was worth, and then the court will issue letters of administrator to somebody me, whoever it is and then from there they'll go ahead and have the authority to sell the property.
Speaker 1:Okay, and what if this person, like, let's say, hypothetical right, let's say if no one really cared about this person, right, that died and they didn't even really know that they died, right, and everyone was just like living their lives. What happens with the estate? If they had no will, no one really cared for that person, and the estate is just hanging around there.
Speaker 3:Well, the question is who steps forward right?
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:So who's gonna step forward and say, okay, you know so-and-so passed away, let me step forward and save the house, or whatever it is. Some people say you know what, I don't care. She was rotten, she was miserable. She never gave good candy out at Halloween, like.
Speaker 1:I don't care. She's the worst. Who cares yeah?
Speaker 3:And then the property falls into you know foreclosure. It's abandoned.
Speaker 2:Tax leans Tax leans.
Speaker 3:Right, exactly.
Speaker 2:That's what we wanna smash the house really quick.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what ends up happening.
Speaker 2:It goes to the city, to the state.
Speaker 3:It's one of those things where now you're buying a tax lien, you know.
Speaker 2:Maria, let me ask you something. So our podcast is more like to uplift others too. What's one like? What is one advice that you will give to the public For an entrepreneur, someone that wants to go through your role, as well as the title? Sure, what is one advice you will give to someone that's upcoming? So uplift them.
Speaker 3:There's a saying right If you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life.
Speaker 2:It's true.
Speaker 3:You gotta love what you do and you gotta be willing to share. So what do I mean by share? You have to share your time, you have to share your knowledge, you have to share your experience. You can't be selfish when you're an entrepreneur and if you don't love sharing your time, your knowledge with people, you're not gonna be successful. Successful people are out there because they wanna help. They don't mind working the extra hour, the extra two hours. They don't mind grinding it out. They don't mind saying hey, you know what, Leave that light on because I'm gonna be here a little bit longer. Don't shut down just yet. Leave that light on. I got a little more work to do because you know that you're helping somebody. If you don't go with that attitude, if you go with that attitude, I'm just in it for the money. You'll never make a penny.
Speaker 2:You'll never make a penny Better than what you said. It's like extra and that's when Maria she's that person like she go beyond and I appreciate that. I'll say it publicly. You do a lot for us and we appreciate all the help, all the support you give us and I highly appreciate it.
Speaker 3:I mean I love it, I love it, I love it.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 3:I love it because it helps. Now I'm learning, I'm educating my clients, and now they're gonna tell their clients hey, listen, this is what I found out. And then they're gonna back oh my God, yo, yo, alex knows what's up, he knows what's up, so you look good and everybody. You remember that old commercial like if you don't look good, we don't look good For guys to sue. Well, that's reality. Resource solution. If you don't look good, we don't look good, so we want you to look good.
Speaker 3:We want you to look good, you know we want you, whatever the kids do, swipe right or left. We want you to swipe and say or click yes, good, yeah, that's awesome, like these guys know what's up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you definitely give off that energy whenever we see you anywhere, especially in the convention that we just went to. Everyone was just around you asking you questions and you were so eager to give out all these answers, just so enthusiastic about everything.
Speaker 3:I just love it because I don't want anyone to ever feel like they got screwed right. You don't want to go, like you know.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of real estate, right, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:You just don't want that. You don't want to do that. I hate that so much. It's the worst.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's best to just be honest. Transparent, it's going to come to like, especially in real estate. See, I got a lot of story, I hear a lot of things and it's like you know, is it really worth it? Are you really sleeping good? No, it's not worth it. So, guys, thank you for Maria, thank you for coming to our podcast.
Speaker 1:We appreciate you. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:It means a lot to us. It's a suit up with bias podcast. Please like, subscribe, comment and stay tuned for our next video, guys.
Speaker 3:Thanks guys.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you.