Real Estate Law USA.com

I called the California Bar and Real Estate department and they said this company has been reported by several people as a SCAM. They were formally ShortRefiNow who was operating illegally. There are 2 attorney’s "working" here, but when I requested to speak to them I was told they were "unavailable". The Bar association said that if there are any non lawyers working there and being paid by my money, then it is 100% ilegal. DO NOT WORK WITH THIS COMPANY. They will take your money and get you no results. You won’t even be able to reach them after you send them your money.

My friend is an attorney in California and he is interested to get a realtor license (not really selling houses but just to know more about the real estate industry). He heard lawyers don’t need to go to classes to take the realtor exam. Questions: 1. is this true? 2. What materials he needs to purchase to prepare? 3. how many hours roughly for a person with law background to spend preparing this test? Thanks very much.

: (1) the ceiling in the living room is stained in several places; (2) seller has three cats and two dogs, the house is fully carpeted, and the entire house has a noticeable pet odor; (3) the home was remodeled to enclose a patio to create a family room; and (4) the property is over 20 years old and has the original heating and air conditioning system. Millhouse does not inquire of the seller or inspect the property further regarding these conditions. Millhouse does not discuss these conditions with the home buyer, and does not provide any written disclosure to the buyer.

Did Millhouse satisfy his duties under the Easton and under the Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement Law? If your answer is “yes”, please discuss and explain what broker Millhouse did correctly and why. If your answer is “no”, please discuss and explain what broker Millhouse should have done and why. Please include in your answer a one or two sentence summary of the duties of an agent/broker under Easton.

I passed the principles class 1.5 years ago and have attempted the state test a couple of times. I finally passed but during my attempts California changed the requirements for the license. As I already started the 2 year clock to pass the test, does this grandfather me in or is every one who failed prior to the law change, screwed?

I just posted this question in the "taxes" section, but since it has to do with real estate, I will post here too:

In California, would you buy a property with a Mello Roos tax? Why or why not?

Is it hard (or harder) to sell a property with a Mello Roos tax? Why or why not?

I understand it is California law to disclose this tax if it applies to the property, and I wonder how people feel about buying or selling these properties.
Do you feel it is a bad investment?

My wife and I are going through divorce. Our home is under both our names and the monthly mortgage cannot be paid without a dual income. I’m trying to work with our bank so they can modify the loan to where I can stay in the home and make the payments on my own, since she will be out of the picture shortly. But if the bank can’t help me, we will be forced to short-sale or foreclose on the house.
My thinking is if I can buy a new home that I can afford on my home before defaulting and foreclosing on our present house, I won’t have to wait five years before being able to buy a new home due to a bad FICO score. What do you think? Will the bank try and come after the new home to recoop their losses? I live in California and am not aware of the real estate law here.

Do buyers in California pay commission to his/her Real Estate agent? or it is the seller’s responsibility to pay buyer and seller’s agent commission?
If so ,is that a law?

My mother in-law was working with a person in L.A. He paid her mortgage out of his bank account, under the impression that he would be able to get her loan done. When he figured out that he couldn’t get the loan done, they set-up an arrangement for her to pay back the money.
Well, the bank then took the money out of HIS account for the next two payments. When he realized this, he called the bank and said it was fraud. They took the money back, and she was suddenly three months behind, and got a pre-foreclosure notice.
I know that the California Department of Real Estate has some pretty strict standards and rules. Can she sue them for some sort of malpractice? If not, what can she do?
She has proof that the money was co-mingled, and her 740 FICO score has now been dropped to the low 600’s.
I am looking for help from someone with experience in this field.
We live in the San Francsico Bay Area, and this guy’s office is in Irvine, Ca. Please help!!
To those who have answered………….
He did not LOAN her the money. He told her he would pay the mortgage. I have personally paid for the mortgage to be caught-up and up to date. She was taken advantage of because of her age. AS far as the responsibility factor is concerned. A cheap, filthy, mortgage broker who will lie through his teeth should take responsibility for thinking that he can take the easy way out of everything. My wife is a real estate agent, but she doesn’t mess with loans. We were on vacation when this happened. We came back and thought it was taken care of. Now, months after the fact, I have paid $6,500 out of my own pocket, and he is telling everyone in his company that he doesn’t know her. This gives everyone in the mortgage business a bad name. THis is just unethical, and from my research co-mingling money is ILLEGAL. That is exactly what happened here, and I need to make sure. My lawyer says I can get DRE to revoke their license with my proof. But I hate to
mess with someone’s livelihood. I just think that his responsibility factor with all of this is just sad. So, to those of you wanted more info……..I hope this is enough for you.

I am a CA Real Estate Agent dealing in residential sales. I have a client who is going to rent out her 2nd home and she would like me to put in the lease contract "Landlord can force tenant to move when the tenant misses the payment two times." I have minimal rental experience, but to me this seems like it is against the law (going around tenant/landlord laws). Is it enforceable if written into the contract, or is it against the law to include this in the agreement? Thanks, any help would be appreciated!

I signed an offer on a house and waived my loan contingency because my agent said we were qualified through Countrywide. The broker never gave us any of the loan info and then once we went to finalize the financing she then sent us to B of A except we can’t qualify through them. So then she wanted us to try another bank. She still hasn’t given us the info on Countrywide and I have signed a cancellation that requests the cancellation per mutual agreement . It has been sent to the seller who hasn’t signed it. And it has been 3 weeks! I have $4700 tied up in escrow and could lose it if I back out because I can’t get financed.

I don’t know where to go or what to do. Does anyone know about real estate laws in California? Or where I can report these people? I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to someone else and that I get my money back?
Just because I have never bought a house before doesn’t mean I should be taken advantage of or given a bait and switch. I waived the loan contingency on their advice because I was told I already had a loan all set and we were ready to buy.