Latest / Buying Local Podcast / Real Estate Law Made Simple with Dan Wade | Buying Local #65
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome everybody to Buying Local.
- 0:02I'm your host, Matt Noth from 5 Tower Media.
- 0:05And today we have a wonderful guest, Dan Wade.
- 0:09Welcome, Dan. Hey, you're welcome.
- 0:11Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
- 0:13Yeah, of course. Thank you for coming on.
- 0:16Just before we, you know, get into our conversation, why don't
- 0:19you tell the viewers a little bit about who you are and, you
- 0:22know, maybe, maybe something exciting that you're working on?
- 0:26Sure. So, yeah, So my name is Dan
- 0:28Wade. I'm an attorney with Ian LO
- 0:30Anderson and we are primarily a real estate law firm that has
- 0:34four offices from Glens Falls all the way down to Albany.
- 0:37So we make it very convenient for our clients to close.
- 0:42Some recent stuff that's been happening is, you know, I've
- 0:45been working on scheduling a vacation for later this summer
- 0:48to go to Alaska with my family. So we're looking forward to that
- 0:52a lot and doing some dog sledding and some train riding.
- 0:55So it's going to be a lot of fun.
- 0:57We're looking forward to it. My son's getting ready to go
- 1:00into the lacrosse season, so we're excited about that.
- 1:02And we also just found out that his robotics team qualified for
- 1:06the New York State finals, so they'll be competing in that
- 1:09coming up in a couple weeks. So we have just a few things
- 1:12going on. Yeah, sounds like sounds like
- 1:15you got a lot on your plate. That's awesome though.
- 1:17That's that sounds sounds like a lot of fun stuff.
- 1:20I mean, as you know me, I'm a big lacrosse head too, so I love
- 1:24that. Lacrosse seasons, you know,
- 1:26here. Yeah, yeah.
- 1:28So which position did you play? I played defense, so I had to.
- 1:32Yeah, he plays committee, so you'd be going against each
- 1:34other. Yep.
- 1:37Well, that's awesome. Yeah.
- 1:38So you touched on a little bit of your law.
- 1:40Could you just explain, I know you kind of cover real estate
- 1:44law, title law. Could you, yeah, just explain
- 1:48kind of all the areas that you, your practice deals with?
- 1:52Sure, Yeah, absolutely. So what happens if somebody's
- 1:54selling a house or buying a house, they're going to meet
- 1:57with a real estate agent and they're going to end up signing
- 1:59a contract. And then within those contracts
- 2:02built in our provisions for attorneys to review those and
- 2:05sort of guide the clients through through the process.
- 2:08And that's kind of partly where I come in is I'll review the
- 2:11contract, I'll draft an approval letter that goes along with it,
- 2:15and I'll discuss those items with the clients so that they
- 2:18understand what they're getting into, what's expected of them,
- 2:21and just sort of set everyone's expectations so that everyone
- 2:25understands is on the same page as how the transaction's going
- 2:28to go. As far as that.
- 2:30We're also going to handle ordering any kind of title
- 2:32search that's needed to review the chain of title and any liens
- 2:36that are against the property, open taxes, things like that, to
- 2:40just make sure that everything is taken care of and that the
- 2:43title that the client receives, the closing is a good title that
- 2:47they would be able to sell if they need to sell the property
- 2:49in the future. So yeah, just things like that.
- 2:53And if inspection though a certain way and they need to
- 2:57request any kind of repairs or credits, that's something that
- 3:01will help negotiate on their behalf as well.
- 3:04We also prepare final figures and documents and attend the
- 3:07closing on the client's behalf. Love it.
- 3:11Yeah, I've. I just want to preface.
- 3:13I mean, I've had the chance to actually, we just had our last
- 3:18podcast was on gold, all of Gold Star and the referral group and
- 3:23the networking aspect of that. So I've actually had the chance.
- 3:27Dan's also a great gentleman, superb networker, also can be
- 3:32found in the Gold Star referral groups.
- 3:36But the one thing that I really noticed about you is that you
- 3:39really take the time to educate your, I guess clients.
- 3:44Why? Why do you feel that's that's
- 3:46kind of separates you with that educational piece?
- 3:49Sure. I think it's important because I
- 3:51just think it's good that people know and understand fully what
- 3:56the process is going to entail. And part of that is, you know,
- 4:00better information for clients, then you end up having better
- 4:02clients. And if those clients had a good
- 4:05experience, then you know, from the networking side, hopefully
- 4:08they they speak with other potential clients who then could
- 4:12come my way. And it's also about, like I
- 4:15said, setting expectations and managing people's emotions so
- 4:19that they know what to expect and when to expect it.
- 4:23You know, for some of the clients that I work with and
- 4:25some of the agent partners that I work with, I have prepared a
- 4:30very colorful flow chart that shows how the real estate
- 4:34process is supposed to go. And that helps the clients out a
- 4:37lot because then they know when to expect certain things to
- 4:41happen. And also when they're asking
- 4:43questions, they want to make sure that they didn't miss a
- 4:45step or that they they haven't missed an opportunity to ask a
- 4:50question or to take advantage of an opportunity that might be
- 4:52important to them. So you, you touched on the
- 4:56motion piece, how much of your day-to-day is kind of, you've
- 5:01seen yourself stepping away from that lawyer stuff and more kind
- 5:06of being a shoulder to cry on? Does that happen happen often?
- 5:09Yeah, I mean, does happen as part of the job, right.
- 5:11So I mean, for me, like I, I'm an empathetic person.
- 5:15So I care about the people that I work with and I care about the
- 5:18clients that I represent. And I want them to have a good
- 5:21experience. I want their lives to go well.
- 5:24I want everyone that I work with or come into contact with, I
- 5:27want them to be successful. So I just want to help put
- 5:30everyone in that best position as possible.
- 5:33Yeah. And sometimes that takes, you
- 5:34know, you get to learn a lot about clients a lot of times,
- 5:37and you learn about their whys, like why are they doing what
- 5:41they're doing? And everybody has their
- 5:43different reasons. One of the things that I really
- 5:45love about this job is that you come into people's lives with
- 5:50all different chapters that they're going through and people
- 5:53have many different chapters throughout their life.
- 5:55Some people are expanding their family because they're getting
- 5:57ready to have a family. And so maybe now they need to
- 6:00have more space for children that are going to be coming
- 6:03along. For other people, it might be
- 6:05they've gotten older and their kids have graduated college and,
- 6:09and are about to go out on their own and now people don't need as
- 6:12much space. So maybe now they're looking to
- 6:14sell and, and downsize or, or move and start to go in the
- 6:18different direction and different chapter of their life
- 6:20towards retirement. But all those chapters have
- 6:23meaning to people and they're all important to people in their
- 6:27own way. And it's to connect with people
- 6:29and learn about that process and, and why they're doing what
- 6:33they're doing. And you get a little glimpse
- 6:35into their life and they get a little glimpse in the mind.
- 6:38And it's really kind of a fun experience.
- 6:40Yeah, that's great. You, you said that you were an
- 6:42empathetic person. You know, me knowing you
- 6:45personally, I could definitely attest that.
- 6:48But starting out, did you always, was this your calling?
- 6:51Did you always know you wanted to be doing this stuff?
- 6:54Is this you know? Yeah, yeah, Actually, no, my, my
- 6:58first, my first choice of career was going to be veterinarian.
- 7:03That's what I thought I was going to be until one day I was,
- 7:07I was, I was called out to hold the lead line of a of a horse
- 7:12that had gotten injured. And I start to wobble like this
- 7:16a little bit. And so I'm like, well, I don't,
- 7:19I don't know if veterinarian's going to be in the cards for me.
- 7:23And that was right around, right around, you know, my senior year
- 7:26in high school. And, you know, I was fortunate
- 7:28enough that I had an open period.
- 7:30And so I took a business law class in high school, which, you
- 7:35know, proved to sort of, you know, kind of spark that next,
- 7:39you know, thing that I wanted to do.
- 7:40And, and I enjoyed it. I really liked it.
- 7:44Sometimes I would debate with the teacher about some of his
- 7:48questions and the and the wording of his questions.
- 7:50And so I'm like, OK, I think this lawyering thing might be
- 7:54the thing I want to do. Yeah.
- 7:56Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, But doing real estate, so
- 7:58then even beyond that, going to law school, you know, you can in
- 8:03theory have a concentration, not everybody does.
- 8:05So often times when you go to law school and you're like, OK,
- 8:08I'm not not 100% sure what area of law I want to fall into, but
- 8:13eventually real estate sort of, you know, caught my eye and
- 8:16became something that I really wanted to do.
- 8:19Awesome. So could you just explain a
- 8:21little bit of how you connected with this current role you're in
- 8:25now? Sure.
- 8:28Yeah, Yeah. So my previous job, so out of
- 8:30law school, I took a job in the southern part of the state and
- 8:35as part of that job I did a lot of work representing banks in
- 8:38collections and bankruptcy and landlord tenant work, but also
- 8:43did a lot of work with them in Closings and title review.
- 8:47So reviewing of title reports. So in learning why title in the
- 8:52way that it's written is important.
- 8:54And so then when it became time after, you know, a few years of
- 8:58doing that, we decided to move back up to this area, which is,
- 9:02you know, closer to where I grew up.
- 9:03I grew up outside of Schuylerville and now I live
- 9:07outside of Queensbury. And it, it was an easy move to
- 9:12move back. But when I got a chance to move
- 9:13back, I said, why don't I shift my career a little bit and use
- 9:18what I know about title, use what I know about, you know,
- 9:21wanting to connect with people and be part of the community and
- 9:26helping people buy and sell homes seemed like the perfect
- 9:29fit to do that because I could review the title work.
- 9:32I could make sure that the transaction goes the way it's
- 9:35supposed to go and hopefully give clients a good experience
- 9:38and and represent them well. That's awesome.
- 9:42Yeah. I love, love hearing, love
- 9:43hearing kind of how people start and where they end up by, you
- 9:47know, me being 22, I'm just starting out my career.
- 9:50So, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel is, you know,
- 9:55only getting brighter. So just taking a step back,
- 9:58getting back into like the actual real estate.
- 10:01What? Because again, I I don't own a
- 10:04home just yet, but when? I.
- 10:08And Yep, and you're going to be the you're going to be exactly
- 10:11the first time I'm calling up. But what's the biggest mistake
- 10:15you see with first home time buyers?
- 10:18Yeah. So right now, you know, when
- 10:212020 happened and the world shut down the way that it did, and
- 10:26real estate really did the opposite of what a lot of people
- 10:30thought was going to happen during that time period.
- 10:32And the real estate market just took off, right?
- 10:36So little supply, lots and lots of demand.
- 10:42So buyers had to take steps to make their offers sort of stand
- 10:47out from other people's offers. And some of the ways that buyers
- 10:52would do that during that time period is they would agree to
- 10:55waive inspections of, of a property.
- 10:59And you know, when my attorney had on that, that always makes
- 11:02us a little cautious, a little nervous, because unless you're
- 11:07licensed in that area and really have a, a good education and a
- 11:10good working knowledge as to everything that goes into a home
- 11:14and all its systems. You know, a licensed inspector
- 11:17is really a vital piece of the real estate buying and selling
- 11:22process. Because again, it gives you more
- 11:25of that information as to what the home really looks like, what
- 11:30it, how it functions, what if anything doesn't function, what,
- 11:34if anything might need to be, you know, repaired immediately
- 11:37and what might need to be repaired at some point in the
- 11:39future. So a lot of people were going
- 11:42into that process a little bit unknown during that time period.
- 11:47And so that's, you know, that's, that's one of the things that
- 11:50that I see that makes me sort of like cringe a little bit is when
- 11:54I see instances where people have had to waive inspections.
- 11:59Now I know and I understand that there are reasons and there's
- 12:02time and place for why they may happen.
- 12:04And of course, I'm going to still represent my clients to
- 12:07the best of my ability, but it does take one of the things away
- 12:11that we have to, to, to get that additional chance to, to educate
- 12:16the clients and work with them. Awesome.
- 12:19Could you explain a little bit of I guess the practical ways of
- 12:24the dues of what to do during that home buyer process?
- 12:28Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
- 12:29So there, there are like several things that you see like either
- 12:32on the seller's side or the buyer's side where there's like
- 12:35here's here's like some things that you probably shouldn't do
- 12:38or, you know, and it happens really on both sides for, for a
- 12:43lot of the sellers. Like is it particularly in the
- 12:45winter time, like down? It's, I saw it a couple times
- 12:49this winter where the sellers, they signed a contract.
- 12:54Maybe they moved out of town, maybe they already live out of
- 12:56town. And I'm not really 100% sure
- 12:59why, but they, they turn the utilities off to the property at
- 13:04the beginning of the process. So now you have a property
- 13:06that's sitting, you know, in the winter in upstate New York,
- 13:11which is not never a good recipe, right?
- 13:14Which you haven't owned a host yet.
- 13:15But I'm pretty sure you probably know what happens to water when
- 13:18it freezes. Those pipes can burst.
- 13:21And you know, if those pipes burst, they can it can cause a
- 13:25lot of damage in the home. Water is probably one of the
- 13:29bigger things that can cause a lot of damage to the home.
- 13:32So one thing is to not do for a seller is, you know, don't turn
- 13:35off the utilities. What should happen is is you
- 13:39know, right before the closing happens, a buyer's going to
- 13:42reach out to the utility company and they're going to ask for the
- 13:46utilities to be transferred over into their name so that the
- 13:49buyer will just take over the, the use of the utilities and
- 13:53also the cost of the utilities. So there's there's no need for
- 13:56the seller to to reach out necessarily and have the
- 13:59utilities turned off sort of. And gently with that, you don't
- 14:03want to have a seller turning the heat off 14, turning the
- 14:07heat so low that you risk a situation where you know, the
- 14:11the pipes could could freeze as well.
- 14:13So just that's something that a seller should try to avoid as
- 14:16well. Yeah.
- 14:19If you don't mind me just interrupting, what what would be
- 14:23the recommended recommended temperature, the lowest if you
- 14:28were to leave your home? Do they?
- 14:29Do you have a number? Well, it kind of depends on how
- 14:32your home is set up, right? And you know, if you do you have
- 14:36a basement, do you have a crawl space?
- 14:38Do you not have any of those things?
- 14:42Because, you know, I think people have like their nest
- 14:46thermostats and they have their other thermostats, right?
- 14:49So you want to keep it at a level where you make sure that
- 14:51wherever the pipes are located that they're not getting near
- 14:54that that freezing temperature. Another thing that I have seen
- 14:58people do from time to time, like people who are renting
- 15:01apartments or maybe you have a house where the pipes are under
- 15:05the house, but you don't have necessarily have really good
- 15:08insulation under there or you don't have a basement with any
- 15:11kind of heat source to that area.
- 15:13You know, if if it's always a good idea that to insulate the
- 15:15pipes if you can. There's also heat tape that
- 15:19people can use to put on pipes. But another trick that you can
- 15:22do is, you know, you can leak and trickle, you know, you can
- 15:26trickle the faucet so that the water is moving.
- 15:30So if the water is moving, then it then it can't freeze.
- 15:33So I've I've heard of people doing that as well in areas
- 15:37where they don't have those other abilities to, to keep the
- 15:39water warm enough. Great.
- 15:42Yeah, good to know. Especially like those like it's
- 15:44that those really older houses that that don't have the same
- 15:47kind of insulation type situations.
- 15:51Yeah, good to know. Let's jump to the opposite side
- 15:56of that question then. So things like on the buyer's
- 15:59side and a lot of these, you don't want to jeopardize any
- 16:04kind of funding situation with your loan if you're taking a
- 16:08mortgage. So you don't want to like change
- 16:10jobs in the middle of a transaction if you can help it.
- 16:14Likewise, you don't want to change your marital status
- 16:17because that creates new legal rights and obligations and and
- 16:21things like that. So, you know, there are people
- 16:24who they're getting engaged and they want to buy their first
- 16:28home together. So just sort of keep that timing
- 16:30in mind that you either want to buy the house before your
- 16:35wedding or you wait until after your wedding to buy the house,
- 16:38but try not to schedule your wedding in the middle of your
- 16:41real estate transaction. Number one, that sounds
- 16:45extremely stressful and I wouldn't recommend it, but #2
- 16:48there's also legal rights and obligations that pop up in there
- 16:52that that could change in the middle of the transaction and
- 16:54could potentially slow things down for a second with your,
- 16:58with your lender if you can help it, am I right?
- 17:01Some of the things that also things we see with buyers is
- 17:04after the closing, your D gets recorded.
- 17:07And when your D gets recorded, it becomes a public document,
- 17:10meaning it's on public record at the county clerk's office.
- 17:14There are companies out there that watch for deeds to get
- 17:17recorded. And when they get recorded,
- 17:19these companies send these new homeowners these very official
- 17:24looking, very scary letters that make it sound like something
- 17:28terrible happened and that they need to urgently have a
- 17:32certified copy of your deed in order to prove you have
- 17:35ownership of the property. And these companies will offer
- 17:38to provide that service and also provide a property profile
- 17:42assessment for a very inflated cost of I've seen anything from
- 17:46like 85 to almost $200. And what's crazy is that, you
- 17:52know, a certified copy of a deed, essentially the county
- 17:55clerk is doing is they're comparing the original versus a
- 17:58copy and they put a raised seal on the copy.
- 18:01That's really all a certified copy is.
- 18:04Most county clerks will do that service for 5 or 10 bucks, so
- 18:07you don't need to pay $200, number one.
- 18:09Number two, you shouldn't need to pay any more money for copies
- 18:12of your deed. The deed's going to be on public
- 18:15record with the county clerk #1 #2 your attorney's office will
- 18:18be more than happy to e-mail you a copy of your deed that they
- 18:22have on file as well. So other things for a buyer,
- 18:28when you're getting close to a closing, it's really good idea
- 18:31that whatever bank you use to house your money, that you have
- 18:35that bank somewhat in the general vicinity of where the
- 18:38closing is going to take place. And that's, you know, for the
- 18:41most part, because you're going to need that money for the
- 18:43closing. So you want to be able to make
- 18:44sure that you can get that money drawn on on a relatively
- 18:48quickly, quick basis if needed. You know, people like to use
- 18:52wires and wires can be used from time to time, but wires are also
- 18:57inherently risky. You know, there are
- 19:02unfortunately, there are, there are bad people out there and
- 19:04there are bad people who will try to infiltrate different
- 19:08systems and different real estate companies.
- 19:10And if they are, you know, the scary situation could be, you
- 19:15know, I send you in an e-mail wiring instructions or maybe pay
- 19:21off instructions to send a wire to you.
- 19:23Don't think nothing of it. You just go ahead and and send
- 19:26that wire out. But little do you know is that
- 19:29somebody has intercepted my e-mail, did a quick Photoshop
- 19:32now, but they're wiring information in the letter where
- 19:36my information was. And now you're sending money to
- 19:38who knows where, right? So best practices are, yeah,
- 19:42maybe we'll send you wiring instructions.
- 19:44But then we do require that you call and speak with a human from
- 19:48a trusted phone number that you have for us or for anybody that
- 19:52is asking you to wire so that you have that verbal
- 19:55confirmation as well and you had a additional layer of security
- 20:00for protecting your money so. Yeah.
- 20:05This time of year, we're in the middle of February right now as
- 20:07we record this. And so a good thing for home
- 20:12buyers to know or homeowners to know is in New York State, if
- 20:16the property is your primary residence and you know, you meet
- 20:19certain other requirements and criteria, you can register your
- 20:22property for free with the New York State Department of Tax for
- 20:26the New York State STAR program and that STAR program.
- 20:29What that does is when your school taxes get paid, you'll
- 20:32get a rebate check back, you know, usually within a month for
- 20:37for me, it's a couple 100 bucks that comes in October.
- 20:40It's like money that you forget about.
- 20:43But it's nice little perk that New York State gives to
- 20:46homeowners who are using a property as your primary
- 20:49residence. Now you can only register one
- 20:52property because you can't have more than one primary residence.
- 20:55But if you have a primary residence in New York State, you
- 20:58have something to look into. Go onto the website and see if
- 21:00your property has already been registered.
- 21:02If not, then go ahead and register it.
- 21:04It's free. Huh.
- 21:06And are there any like qualifications?
- 21:08Do you need like income to qualify for?
- 21:11That, yeah, the big, the biggest one is you have to, not, you
- 21:15have to make less than $500,000 per year, which for me is no
- 21:20problem at all. Well, under that, maybe someday
- 21:24that'll change, who knows? So, but yeah, that's, that's the
- 21:29primary, that's the primary thing.
- 21:30It just has to be your primary residence.
- 21:33Awesome. Yeah.
- 21:35I just had I, I know we're closing, getting close to the
- 21:39closing time, but just a couple more questions.
- 21:43I know we're, you know, in the North Country, is there in I, I,
- 21:49I was just wondering because I know a lot of people with camps
- 21:51and, you know, the Adirondacks being in their backyard
- 21:54practically are there do the camps or where they call them
- 21:59seasonal homes? Do those bring up any unique
- 22:02legal challenges compared to, you know, a residential home or?
- 22:07Well, I have so from a real estate it depends I guess part
- 22:12of it depends like do they exist and near or touching any water?
- 22:19Are there any docks in the property because you have
- 22:22boating rights and dock slips and things like that to come
- 22:25into play. Is it part of the Adirondack
- 22:30Park? So we would be coming or the
- 22:32Adirondack Park Agency and you know, various rules and things
- 22:36there. A lot of things with the with
- 22:39the camps is just, you know, people want to make sure that
- 22:42they do their due diligence and have them inspected.
- 22:45You know, not a lot of camps are hooked up to any kind of town
- 22:49water or town sewer, right? So they have their own
- 22:52independent, well, they have their own septic.
- 22:54So you want to make sure that if you have an inspections done,
- 22:57that you have the water quality test done and you have the
- 23:01septic tested as well. You know, the property's up near
- 23:05Lake George, that's that septic's got to be inspected
- 23:08anyway. That's part of Bolton's town
- 23:10ordinances now. So yeah, things like that.
- 23:14And just be mind, you know, mindful of different structures,
- 23:17how they're different, right? Also, if you have an insurance
- 23:21guy, they might be insured a little bit differently because
- 23:25it's not going to be occupied full time.
- 23:27So it might be all the things that you can do there with your
- 23:29insurance guy. Talk to them about that.
- 23:32A lot of camps don't have basements.
- 23:35So, you know, you have different things like that.
- 23:37You want to make sure the property is properly winterized.
- 23:40Of course for the like that all the things we talked about at
- 23:43the beginning with any kind of burst pipe situations, you want
- 23:45to avoid that if possible. So, yeah, so those are just like
- 23:50a a few of the things that are a little bit different from maybe
- 23:54a residential home in downtown Glens Falls.
- 23:58Great. And Dan, thanks again for coming
- 24:01on. I know we're getting short on
- 24:03time, but if people were looking to learn more about you, you
- 24:07know, learn a little bit more about you or even get in contact
- 24:11with you, where can they find you and get a hold of you?
- 24:13Sure, couple different places. One they could go to the website
- 24:17of the firm that I work for it. The firm again is INL Anderson,
- 24:20PC and the website is www.ia LAW ny.com.
- 24:30So that's IA Law, ny.com, or they can reach out to us by
- 24:35phone and that's 518-371-8888. Great.
- 24:43Awesome. And thanks again, Dan.
- 24:47But yeah, to everybody else who's listening, thank you.
- 24:50I really enjoyed this conversation, Dan.
- 24:52I know, I know there's people out there just like me, you
- 24:55know, getting ready to buy their first home.
- 24:58So this was very informational. So thank you.
- 25:02And. Thanks again man for having me,
- 25:04I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you.
- 25:06And yeah, just thanks to everybody else listening.
- 25:09You can find us at buying local dot US.
- 25:12We're we're going to be on Spotify, Apple Rumble and
- 25:16YouTube. And yeah, thanks for listening
- 25:20and we'll we'll hear from us next week.
- 25:23Thank you. And and when you're ready, I'll
- 25:25be ready.