James Y. Kuang Realtor Blog Real Estate San Gabriel Valley Homes For Sale: February 2019

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Deals Done in the Dark Persist in Spite of Disclosure Rules

Anonymous home deals continue among cash buyers in some luxury corridors, despite disclosure laws that have tried to end such transactions.

Three years ago, the federal government issued disclosure rules to crack down on anonymous cash buyers in luxury markets like Miami and New York City in an effort to sniff out money laundering using real estate. Title insurance companies were required to report the identity of the buyer in any residential transaction of $300,000 or more that involved a “shell company,” with a corporate name and without a mortgage. The U.S. Treasury Department has since extended that rule to 12 more metro areas, including Dallas, Chicago, and San Francisco.

However, a Wall Street Journal analysis of New York City shows the new law has had no real impact on luxury purchases. Eighty-four percent of condos costing $10 million or more were purchased using a corporate name, an increase from the 78.5 percent in the year the rules had gone into effect.

Initially, the new disclosure rules may have alarmed some buyers. But once the buyers understood their names and identifying information could still be kept confidential, they were no longer as worried, brokers say. Information on the buyer is turned over to the U.S. Treasury Department to be matched against a government database of suspicious financial activity. But it is not made public.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

Any questions or comments, feel free to contact James Y. Kuang at (626) 371-5662 or by email: james.kuang@coldwellbanker.com

$10,000 Cash Savings Guarantee! - VIP Buyer Program: www.VIPBuyingToday.com

Limited Time VIP Buyer Bonuses:

BONUS#1: One year home warranty policy ($497 value)

BONUS#2: Lifetime notary service (in office)

BONUS#3: Financial Impact Analysis

www.EasyHomeResource.com

www.facebook.com/JamesYKuang

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Could That Home Be Contaminated With Meth?

It could be a home buyer’s worst nightmare: They purchase a new property only to discover later it is contaminated with methamphetamine, which is linked to health problems and can be very costly to eliminate.

In more than half of states, home sellers are required to disclose whether to the best of their knowledge a property has ever been used as a meth lab. But many laws stop short of letting buyers know if meth was ever smoked inside the property, which can also cause problems.

When produced or smoked inside a home, meth can seep into the walls, carpets, and heating and cooling systems. Even slight traces of the drug can cause headaches, nausea, and childhood developmental issues.

Home buyers shouldn’t assume meth-contaminated homes are just foreclosures, either. Police have found drug labs in luxury single-family properties and luxury high-rise buildings as well.

It’s not easy to clean up a home after it has been contaminated with meth. “Think about [meth] as going into a house with heavy smokers,” Kirk Flippin, owner of Texas Decon in Seguin, Texas, which cleans up former meth homes, told realtor.com®. “Nicotine will adhere to the walls. That’s what methamphetamine does.”

How can a buyer detect meth? The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration offers a drug lab registry of meth contamination properties, where law enforcement agencies have reported they found chemicals at these locales. But obviously not all properties where meth has ever been present will be on that list.

Signs that a property has seen meth use tend to be subtle. Experts say buyers should look for burns in the carpet or patches of dead grass outside. That could indicate where chemicals may have been dumped.

"[In] 95 percent of the places I've walked into, you'd never know," says Flippin. "I usually don't smell anything, I don't see anything."