Being an FHA home buyer in Silicon Valley is a challenge right now, especially if you want what everyone else wants: a nicely updated and remodeled home in a good area with no “issues”. (Issues meaning things like high voltage lines, busy roads, flood plains, or being too close to stores or spots not everyone wants to be near.)

The Problem with Condominiums and FHA

I need to start by explaining that things aren’t always the way they look.  We tend to think of condos as looking like apartments, with no yard, for example.  We think of townhomes as a two story or more home with neighbors on the sides but no one above or below.  And we think of houses as freestanding buildings with a yard around it.

That’s really how things look.  But how these different types of homes are owned may be another thing altogether.  For FHA home buyer purposes, this makes a huge difference.

Some townhouses and even some houses are not owned the way they look, but are held in condo ownership.   A good example of this is The Villas of Almaden, a beautiful &  gated community at Meridian and Coleman in San Jose’s Almaden Valley. Structurally, many of the buildings are houses – but they ar “condo ownership” and are stored under the condo label in our local MLS. What makes these buildings be condos? Practically speaking, in addition to their own space for their particular unit, the owners also own a percentage of everything else, such as the pool, grassy areas, tennis courts, private roads, etc. They also have a share of the liabilities of the condo community, too. 

If you are an FHA buyer and you want a San Jose area condo (or any home which is held in condo type ownership), you have to make sure the complex is FHA approved. We had the option of getting individual units spot checked until February 1st, but that has now been eliminated. Getting an entire complex approved takes time, perhaps 60 days, and money – and most buyers don’t want or cannot take on that kind of financial liability (and most sellers don’t want it either). Here is the link for the HUD site which will list for you the condo communities which are FHA approved.   So it is important to know if the townhouse you’re looking at is owned like a townhouse or owned like a condominium.  It can be painfully disappointing to think that a home can be bought with FHA backed financing, only to later discover that it can’t due to the type of ownership and lack of approval of the asociation.

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Last week I got an email from someone who’d seen a Silicon Valley house she liked from a real estate agent whom she didn’t like.  She wondered, “do I have to buy the house with that agent?” 

The answer, of course, is not always clear. It depends on your relationship with the agent.  It may also depend on why you choose to buy the home with someone else’s assistance.

(1) Your relationship with the real estate agent

Did you sign a buyer broker agreement with that Realtor? If so, you may owe a commission to her if you buy the home through someone else.

Did you write an offer on that property with the agent? If so, again you may owe a commission to him if you hire someone else to help you purchase it afterwards. 

In many cases, there is a verbal contract that you are working with a Silicon Valley real estate professional exclusively. This does “count” too but it may be easier to change your status if it’s a verbal agreement.

(2) Problem agents, problem consumers.  Do you want or need to break the relationship with your current agent? 

Is your agent giving too pushy? Doesn’t seem to know what he or she is doing?  Too hard to reach?  Too busy to really assist you? Or doing something else that you perceive as a “red flag”?  Sometimes agents should be fired. 

You most likely can break that agency relationship with a problem agent if it’s a verbal contract only and you haven’t written an offer on the property in question, but you must  clearly tell him or her that you are not going to continue working together and then have a gap in time between then and when you do write an offer on the home (at least a few days, if not a few weeks).  You can break the agency relationship verbally or in an email or both, but it needs to be clear so that there is no misunderstanding. A call or voice mail followed up by an email would be very clear.

You can terminate the agency relationship  very nicely and graciously, of course.   It is not necessary to tell him or her why you are electing to discontinue the relationship, but he or she will certainly wonder so you may nicely share your reasons.  I would just say try to be pleasant and thank the agent for the time spent.

Sometimes there are a few problem consumers working with ill-will who think that they can work with an agent, see a lot of homes, and then simply either go directly to a seller or listing agent or bring in an out of area friend or relative to write up the offer and close the deal.  If a consumer does this not because of a difficulty with the first agent but just in order to save money (or get a rebate) etc., it is possible that the first salesperson will cry “foul!” and press to be paid a commission.  The lawsuit in this case would be what’s called a “procuring cause” lawsuit.  Procuring cause means that the first agent was really the reason why the consumer purchased the home, and therefore is entitled to a commission (which the buyer might be forced to pay if doing a last hour agent switch).

A good example of a procuring cause lawsuit is the case of Jerry Seinfeld, who had to pay his agent $100,000 when he bought a home without her because he could not reach her one day.  Impatience will cost you!

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Recently I’ve had the uncomfortable experience (a couple of times) in which potential clients were overly secretive about their situation. One was in Los Gatos, another in San Jose.

I’m going to be blunt here: it is really hard to help when we, as agents, don’t know what is truly going on. It’s not a whole lot different than keeping important things from your doctor or lawyer. If you want help, it is imperative that you tell your hired professionals what is going on.

For that matter, if you are interviewing agents to list your home or to help you to buy your next home, expect those agents to ask you about your needs and motivation. Hiring an agent (and the agent agreeing to take you on as a client) is a two way relationship. Both sides need to be clear and honest with each other.

Let me give you an example. Years ago, I had some prospects (not yet clients) in Monte Sereno who inquired off and on for years about selling their home. At one point, it became a “hurry up” situation. Luckily, they told me the truth: one of them had been diagnosed as terminally ill. The sick one did not want to saddle the survivor with selling the home after the death.

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A real estate agent is someone who’s taken a course (or more) and passed a state exam and is licensed by the state to sell real estate.

A Realtor (pronounced REEL-TOR, not real-a-tor) is an agent who’s ALSO a member of the National Association of Realtors, which is a voluntary trade group. Realtors promise to abide by and take very seriously their Code of Ethics. Ever wonder what is in it? It’s not short and is quite comprehensive. Take a look:

http://www.realtor.org/mempolweb.nsf/pages/code

Please understand that not everything that is legal is also ethical – Realtors have a higher standard of practice. Often non-Realtors (at least in Siliocon Valley) are not full-time agents but dabble in real estate. Realtors are usually full-time and work as professionals.

Finally, if you have a problem with an agent who’s not a Realtor, you have to complain to the state. With a member of NAR, who is almost always also a member of the state association (CAR – the California Association of Realtors) and local (either SILVAR – the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors or SCCAOR – the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors), you can take action locally for most any issue and do not need to go all the way to the state level. Agents work hard to remain in good standing with the local, state, and national boards.

In the San Jose area, most of the large realty firms are “all Realtor” offices. Usually becoming a member of NAR, CAR and either SILVAR or SCCAOR is a requirement for joining the company. In other areas and in other states, in can be different. So it’s mostly the independents where you’ll find a real estate licensee who’s not also a Realtor. But ask!

When you interview an agent, then, the first question to ask is this: are you a Realtor?