Ellis Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin
comment: I greatly appreciate your article that discusses private insurance coverage for an assessment. I am a realtor. I always encourage buyers to add a clause to the contract requesting minutes of meeting from at least the last six months. very important. Also, I never knew about my ability to insure against some private appraisals. Thanks for keeping the readers well informed.
Ellis Wissam replies: There is a lot of innovation going on in real estate, but a few things are constant: Always look at the financial statements of the condo or co-op (and at least a year of meeting minutes) before buying a property. You will discover more about the building board’s priorities and how decisions are made. Glad you found this useful.
But remember that private evaluation insurance coverage is only for items covered by the terms of that policy, and won’t cover you for maintenance, improvements, and other common special evaluations. Only risks that are not covered under the association’s insurance coverage may be permitted.
comment: A water heater is not called a hot water heater because it heats cold water, which is clearly not hot water.
Ellis Wissam replies: thank you for your comment. you are right. We checked the site of your local home improvement store and found the following options: commercial water heaters, tank water heaters, electric tank water heaters, gas tank water heaters, commercial tank water heaters, hybrid water heaters, and more water heaters in non on cabinets.
To your point, there were no hot water heaters for sale.
s: With all the recent climate-related disasters, we increasingly hear that we should have copies of important documents just in case it burns out completely or floats away. But, we can’t copy everything!
What is the most important handy/accessible document regarding a property? I’m thinking of title, title deed, deed of trust, mortgage payment letter, proof of ownership. Does this change if there is a mortgage on that property?
I guess what I’m asking is this: Is there such a thing as a real estate “go” bag?
a: Twenty years ago, we might have answered this question by suggesting that our reporter copy all relevant documents and put them in a locked box in a bank. The idea that these documents will be safe there.
Today, it’s much easier to scan your important papers (not to mention photos) and create a cloud-based storage system. You can copy those scanned documents and keep copies elsewhere in the cloud as well, creating a backup system should one of the clouds crash or otherwise become corrupted.
What should you check? Start with executed copies of everything your attorney or title company gives you in closing: the mortgage documents, closing statement, and other paperwork you signed. If you’ve been given warranties for a new home or appliances, you can scan them as well (or at least the page with numbers on it).
Keeping these well-organized documents in the cloud will serve you well over time. You can start a home file and keep these files, as well as the scanned copies of your tax return and other important documents, securely. Just be sure to use a very strong password that contains lots of letters, numbers, and symbols.
You should also have a scanned copy of your last mortgage statement so that you have the current loan balance, the lender’s phone number, and the loan account number. It wouldn’t hurt to have a copy of your home insurance policy with photos or video of the outside of your home and photos and videos of the inside of your home. If your home has suffered a complete loss due to a hurricane, hurricane or flood, you will need sufficient evidence of what your home looked like and all the personal belongings you once owned in the home.
Best of all, the cloud makes this information accessible wherever you are, from a variety of devices.
Contact Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin through their website, BestMoneyMoves.com.
