Question: After being shown several lots in the Wickenburg area, we decided to buy one of the lots. We signed the contract drafted by our real estate agent. A few days after escrow was opened, we contacted the homebuilder to set up a time to meet at the lot, but after some confusion, he said [...]
Real Estate Law Blog
Three bills have already been introduced in the 2012 Arizona legislative session regarding short sales and foreclosures. All three bills are pro-borrower, and attempt to reduce or eliminate a borrower’s liability for a deficiency after a short sale or foreclosure.The first two bills attempt to change the deficiency calculation as it relates to foreclosures of a [...]
Question: We live in a rural area in west Phoenix. There is a chain-link fence on the property line between our backyard and our neighbor’s backyard. Our neighbor has built block walls on the sides of his home and now wants to enclose his backyard with a block wall replacing the chain-link fence between our [...]
Under this new Arizona real estate law HOAs may charge a homeowner no more than $400.00 as a fee for preparing documents related to the disclosures an HOA must deliver during the sale of a home. Additionally, the HOA may not collect this fee earlier than the close of escrow and may only charge the [...]
Question: After signing the purchase contract for the short sale of our home, the closing was scheduled thirty days after approval of the short sale by our lender. The lender approved our short sale with one requirement, namely, that the closing occur within fourteen days. The buyer was concerned, however, about qualifying for a new [...]
Question: My backyard fence is 8 feet over into my neighbor’s property and my neighbor wants me to move it.Since I have only owned my home for six years, my neighbor says that I have no adverse possession rights to the 8 feet, although my home is more than 20 years old. The fence looks [...]
by: Adam D. Martinez While you cannot know what changes the future will bring in your life, you can be certain that change will come. Some of the most common changes in life include the acquisition of money and property, marriage and divorce, the birth of children, and death. An effective estate plan can [...]
Combs LawGroup PC is currently seeking a highly motivated Real Estate Associate with 2-4years experience in residential/commercial transactions and litigation. Candidates must have exceptional academic credentials along with strong oral,written and computer skills. The firm offers a competitive salary and acomplete benefit package. Qualified candidates should e-mail their resumein confidence to jerri@combslawgroup.com.
Question: My husband will be teaching as a visiting professor at Cambridge University in England next year. Our plan is to return to Arizona after one year so we will be renting our home in Chandler. We do not want to rent to smokers because we do not want the smell of smoke in our [...]
Question: I would like to use most of the money that I inherited from my grandmother to buy investment homes at foreclosure sales. Recently, I bought my first investment home at a foreclosure sale. I then decided to form a limited liability company (“LLC”), and I transferred the title to this investment home into the [...]
Question: We stopped making payments on our Scottsdale home 10 months ago and moved into an apartment in Chandler. Currently, the home is in mortgage default and is sitting vacant. We are just waiting for our mortgage lender to foreclose. Currently, our homeowner’s insurance is set to expire next month. We were wondering who [...]
Question: When we purchased our home from a bank we were required by the bank to sign a twelve-page addendum to the purchase contract written by the bank. The addendum stated that the bank was not responsible for any problems with the home due to the fact that it was being sold “as is”. [...]
Question: For over seven months we have had our Glendale home listed with an Arizona real estate agent because we are hoping to move permanently to our summer home in Prescott. Our son would like to live in our home while he attends graduate school at Arizona State University. Our real estate agent has agreed [...]
Question: We live in a beautiful Ahwatukee subdivision. Our home’s back yard is adjacent to the community park owned by our homeowners’ association (“HOA”). Recently, the HOA planted three large ficus trees in the community park without any notice to us. These large ficus trees now obstruct our view of the community park. According to [...]
Question: Because of the collapse of the Arizona real estate market, my wife and I have bad credit problems. Unfortunately, we will be losing our Scottsdale home to foreclosure before long, but we want to rent a home in our same neighborhood for one year. However, we are having problems renting any homes in our same neighborhood because of [...]
Question: We leased space in a small shopping center for our pet grooming business. We wanted to make tenant improvements in the back area of our leased space totally approximately $25,000. Before making the improvements, we learned that the shopping center was in foreclosure, so we contacted the lender (a national bank) and explained to them that we wanted [...]
Question: I was awarded our family home in Glendale in my divorce, however my ex-wife had the right to live in the home until it was sold. I found a buyer for the home and the sale of the home was scheduled to close last week. But just prior to closing, my ex-wife recorded a document saying that [...]
Question: Our investment group is purchasing a home in Surprise as a short sales. The intention is to rent the home after the short sale closes. The seller, however, would like to rent the home back from us. Our understanding is that a sale of the home back to the seller after a short sale is illegal, but [...]
Combs Law Group has had a contract with the Arizona Association of REALTORS® (“AAR”) to administer the Hotline program since March 1, 1988. This program has been available to all Arizona Realtors® since Chris Combs took the first Hotline call. From 1988 to 2011 there have been at least 50,000 Hotline calls from Hotline members; at least [...]
Question: Next year, our son will be graduating from Arizona State University. He recently told me that he has borrowed $40,000 in student loans for down payments to purchase three homes in a Queen Creek subdivision, in the past year. He is saying that in the next three to five years home values will appreciate rapidly, [...]
Question: We purchased a small home with a mortgage loan a small home on Bethany Home road in Phoenix, five years ago. After the closing, we were able to change in the zoning of the home to permit my husband, who is a chiropractor, to convert the home into a small office building for his chiropractic practice. However, [...]
Question: My sister and her boyfriend moved in together about 3 months ago. They signed a one-year lease to rent a Scottsdale condominium. Last week the boyfriend beat up my sister quite badly, and the police had to be called. My sister obviously no longer wants to live with him. However, there are nine months remaining on the lease, and [...]
Combs School of Real Estate Presents: Landlord-Tenant Disputes SeminarWhat Every Property Manager Needs to Know 3-Hour ADRE-Approved CE in Real Estate Legal IssuesThursday, August 18th 1:30 – 4:30 1:00-1:30 Check-InSeminar Fee: $15 pre-register; $20 event day registrationREGISTER ON-LINE Location:3200 E. Camelback Rd.; PhoenixNorth American TitleCommunity RoomSEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS Landlord-Tenant Law Arizona Residential Landlord Tenant Act Commercial Statutes [...]
Question: We purchased an ”as-is” a home in Show Low last summer. We had a home inspection which was satisfactory to us. In the fall when we turned on the furnace we discovered that there was no ductwork leading from the furnace to the vents. When I telephoned the seller to complain, he said that he never used [...]
In Hogan v. Washington Mutual Bank, CV 10-0383 (July 26, 2011), the Arizona Court of Appeals rejected the argument that Arizona real estae law requires “presentation of the original note before commencing foreclosure proceedings” against a home.This Hogan decision is the first Arizona appellate decision rejecting the “show me the note” defense of borrowers, and is [...]
Combs Law Group is happy to annouce some very good news…. After extensive negotiations between the National Association of REALTORS® and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the FTC has ruled that listing brokers representing sellers in short sales are not required to make the MARS disclosures.See FTC press release dated July 15, 2011. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/07/mars
Question: We attended a Scottsdale estate planning seminar last month. The Arizona attorney presenting the seminar talked to us after the seminar and recommended a revocable living trust for our personal residence and other assets, and an irrevocable trust for our insurance policies. My husband thinks that the attorney is trying to make more money by charging for [...]
Question: We would like do a short sale of our Mesa home. We are both licensed real estate agents in Wisconsin and we would like to list and sell our home ourselves. A real estate agent in our community advertises “experience as short sale negotiators.” We have never done a short sale, and we would like to hire this [...]
Question: We purchased a new home last year in Flagstaff from a homebuilder. We were given a one-year written warranty from the homebuilder. Shortly after moving into our new home we noticed a large crack in the living room. The homebuilder spackled over the crack. Then three months later the same crack reappeared, and again the homebuilder spackled over [...]
Question: We have a limited liability company (LLC) purchases homes at foreclosure sales, makes repairs, and then “flips” the homes to new buyers. When our LLC purchases a home at a foreclosure sale, we generally have not inspected the home and we do not know the condition of the home. We do know the risk of not having any [...]
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