Episode 35: Important Things in Real Estate - Transaction Coordination

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There are hundreds of steps, checklists, and to-do's in the Real Estate transaction process. How do you make sure you don't miss something that could get you in trouble? You trust an incredible Transaction Coordinator, like our very own Cathy Alvarez. She's full of wisdom from almost 40 years in the business and she's here to hold your hand all the way through the end.

The Question: Why is a Transaction Coordinator valuable?

What does a transaction coordinator do in Real Estate?

In the words of Cathy Alvarez, a transaction coordinator “ takes your transaction from the second you begin working on it, whether it be a listing or a sale, and we watch you and hold your hand all the way through the bitter end.”

Seller Disclosures

What disclosures do you need in the state of California for a standard transaction?

Cathy says, “ For a seller you're looking at somewhere between 20 and 50, depending on the transaction.”

What is a disclosure?

In the dictionary disclosure means, “to reveal, to make known”.

So, that means, the seller has a responsibility to reveal, or to make information they have about the house known.

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And you bet if the seller doesn’t say anything about the home the neighbors will. If it the seller’s role to disclose everything they know about the home from the eye of a homeowner.

What liability is there if a seller DOES NOT disclose everything they could potentially know?

If something is not disclosed, it could come back on them in the future. And nobody wants to deal with that. It’s highly important that the team you’re working with ensures all the disclosures are done properly to begin with, and that information is passed along to the buyer.

Do mistakes happen?

Yes! Of course. Nobody is perfect. And when that happens you disclose your mistake, and correct it.

What if the seller repaired something?

Lori gave an example, “if you're a plumber and you did plumbing then you should disclose everything you know about the plumbing.”

What if the seller paid for repairs?

“If you're just a homeowner, and you had plumbing done by a plumber, then you need to just provide the receipt and documentation so the plumber can then disclose that information for you.”

What is important for a buyer in the disclosure process?

It is important for a buyer to look for everything the seller has stated. The buyer doesn’t make disclosures. The buyer is there to hold them accountable to the writings, invoices, information, and work that has been done is in fact done.

It is the agent’s job to ensure the buyer is aware of all of the things the seller has provided to them in the disclosures and the proper inspections.

What are buyer inspection elections?

The transaction coordinator will send the buyer inspection election and receipt for reports. Cathy said, “The buyer inspection election isn’t something that we do right upfront. Usually, once you’ve met with them and you’ve done a full physical inspection with the buyer, then you’re able to go over that inspection.”

So depending on the results, you may want to dive deeper. You may decide you want to have an air conditioning tech, plumber, roofer, etc.

Cathy summarizes, “The buyer election form, Inspection Election Form, we basically then go in and say I have chosen to do the following. Then I will follow that up with the receipt for reports. Towards the end of your transaction, I will give you a rundown of all the reports that you've received, checked, and that you have in your possession.”

How is the Buyer Inspection Election valuable to the buyer?

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Lori Alvarez loves the buyer inspection election document. She said that it, “gives a buyer an opportunity to see all of their options.” With the numerous options, boxes to check, inspections to decide, it puts the buyer in control.

She also loves that the receipts report allows the agents to ensure they’re received information from a qualified professional.

What is a big mistake agents make?

Agent’s think they can do it all, know it all. An agent is not a plumber. They may have knowledge from over the years, but they are most likely not professional. It’s important that a professional plumber or whichever discloses the information to the clients about what is going on with their potential plumbing issues.

How has transaction coordination changed over the years?

Well, here’s a fun fact. Cathy has been in the industry for 38 years. When she began, there was one page for the transaction. The entire transaction.

What is Cathy Alvarez’s background?

Cathy has had the pleasure of running a large company here in California as a manager a few years back. She taught hundreds of agents how to interpret a contract and the disclosures. She’s now a Transaction Coordinator for various agents, lover of checklists, and spreadsheets and enjoys waking up at 4:00 am.

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What is the Agent Visual Inspection Document (AVID) disclosure?

It’s a fairly new disclosure, since 2016. The AVID allows an agent the opportunity to walk through the property and note what they see. "Not to interpret what you see. But what you actually see. There's a crack, there's not the reason why there is a crack, but there's a crack.”

The document is not to give an opinion about the house, it’s to disclosure what you physically see.

“I see a toilet. I see windows with blinds. I see a crack in the wall. Yeah, I see cracks in the concrete. That is the stuff that you disclose.”

How long does it take to prepare a disclosure package?

Whether it’s for the buyer or the seller, a proper report could take a 2-3 hour process per package.

What happens are the disclosure package is completed?

The agent will sit down, call or have a zoom consultation with the seller or the buyer. The agent will go over the details of the disclosures and ensure they understand how they are to disclose information. Lori likes to say, “when in doubt just disclose. Just share it forward. you'll protect yourself. you'll protect the buyer or seller in the process and protect my license.”

A license is everything to an agent. It’s what keeps them in business, and in Lori’s case it’s what keeps her family in business.

Amy Cruz chimed in for the buyer side and said, “We want to know as much as we can possibly know about the home before we are fully committed to it. So just making sure you're reading, checking through every single one of those boxes and asking questions if there's something we're unsure about.”

“though disclosures sound difficult, they actually made our lives easier.”
— Cathy Alvarez

Overall, Cathy says that, “though disclosures sound difficult, they actually made our lives easier.”

Who reviews the documents?

It’s passing through multiple eyes. The transaction coordinator, the buyers agent, the sellers agent, the administrative office, team administration, and possibly more. So with Lori Alvarez and Team you can rest assured the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed.

When the office administration reviews the documents they are looking at it with a brokers compliance checklist perspective. They’re not looking to only protect the buyer or the seller. They are and Amy's eyes, and my eyes, even our admins eyes. And Nathan's eyes, so everyone has seen it. Lori shared, “They're looking at it from the perspective of we want to protect our agent, we want to protect our buyer, we do want to protect their buyer and seller. But mainly the agent and the brokerage is their first book.”

Lori’s tip: “No question is a stupid question when it comes to real estate, don't assume anything. In life in general, always ask questions, questions just make you smarter, better, more aware of what's going on around you.”

Lori Alvarez and Team is known for having the most thorough disclosure packages in the business. We are proud of that. We make sure our clients are taken care of and that everything is done properly.

In conclusion

Huge shout out and thank you to Cathy Alvarez for all she does for the team, making us rock, and having a cool last name.

Cathy Alvarez is great. And she always encourages our clients to email, call, text or reach out at anytime when they need to understand the process. She’s organized and kind, and at the end of the transaction you receive this big beautiful document of everything from the 30-60 days of your journey with Lori Alvarez and Team. Cathy proudly stated, “You will get a full package of everything you signed, absolutely everything that you signed with us and with our team into one neat little package with one neat little link. And that makes it so much easier. And I honestly do not know of any other company that does that.”

We definitely did not cover all of the disclosures and reports in this episode because we’d be here for days. There are about 51 different disclosures.

If you want to learn more about disclosures or natural hazard reports check out our last episode covering more with Jason Hellawell.

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Our podcast is geared towards our current clients. We love to give our buyers and sellers great information. Wondering about something we haven’t covered? Send us a message. 

Lori Alvarez has been in the Real Estate Industry for almost 15 years. If you’d like to contact her call her at 909-227-4196. She loves helping families find their home sweet home.

909.227.4196 | KW Realty, DRE 01794115 

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