Any Condominium created in New Hampshire after September 10, 1977 is governed under New Hampshire RSA 356-B, the Condominium Act. In the event of a conflict between the Declaration and By-Laws of your Condominium, the provisions of RSA 356-B shall control. This is why you will see the words, as the same may be amended from time to time, in condominium documents and/or your deed. If a new law is enacted under the statue your condominium is automatically governed by it.
To create a condominium is a lengthy process and it starts by completing an Application with the Office of the Attorney General. There will need to be a Declaration and By-Laws created. These are sometimes referred to as the condominium instruments and the law specifies many of the items that must be included in them. Generally speaking, the Declaration is the document that creates the condominium and the By-Laws spell out the day to day operation of the Association
One item that many owners become confused about pertains to the Master Policy of Insurance and what it covers. Pursuant to RSA 356-B:43, the unit owners association or the board of directors is required to obtain a policy that provides fire and extended coverage in an amount equal to the full replacement value of 100% of the structures within the condominium. This means that you do not purchase the insurance to cover the interior of your unit, the association does. You pay for this coverage as part of your dues. You would, however, need to purchase a separate policy to cover the personal belongings inside your unit. This is not a new law or requirement, it has been in effect since RSA 356-B was created in 1977.
The reason for this law and the requirement for the association to keep the property fully insured is to protect the unit owners. What if unit owners were allowed to purchase their own individual coverage and their were a fire or loss in one unit and it turned out that individual owner had no insurance. There would be no funds available to restore the unit and this would be a detriment to all adjacent owners.
Check back often for more information about condominium ownership in New Hampshire.
A 10-minute closing may sound like it’s great for the borrower, but will the consumer really benefit from faster closings. It may sound like it would be consumer oriented, but is it since it changes the fundamental process of a closing.
The borrower may be able to sign their name on 30 documents in less than 10 minutes when they don’t read anything that they are signing, but should they. One can suppose that they may have read those documents in advance.
An online closing is a different medium, so signers should still read what they are signing and ask questions. The mortgage industry has a lot of moving parts and sometimes it is the closer that makes the difference and drives a company to success. It is nice to still have that one on one contact with your borrower.
Sometimes an owner of property may think they will save some money by preparing their own deed to transfer their ownership interest. Perhaps they just want to add their spouse to the deed, which sounds pretty easy to them. They should not do this unless they have legal knowledge and fully understand what they are doing. Here are some examples of problems that can be created:
You decide to add your minor child to the deed and then decide to sell the property. The minor child does not have the legal capacity to convey an interest in property. You find out that you will need to go to court and have a legal guardian appointed for the child.
You add your spouse to the deed without stating the tenancy. One of the parties dies and the other decides to sell the property. The surviving spouse assumes they automatically inherited the property at the death of their spouse and only finds out they did not a week before the closing was to take place. You will need to file probate which will take months and perhaps cost you your sale.
You prepare your own deed and fail to have owners release rights of homestead.
You prepare your own deed and leave out some of the names, use the wrong names, fail to include a trustee certificate, fail to get park owner consent, the deed is not properly acknowledged or executed.
There are many ways to create title issues when you don’t fully understand the process. Contact us and we can see that your deed is prepared properly.
Here are eight housing predictions from the experts:
- Prices will continue to rise, but more slowly. In 2016, prices rose every month up until October. The prediction is that price increases will hold steady because homebuyer demand is stronger than it was at this time last year.
- Affordability will worsen because the share of homes affordable to someone earning the median income is not. This trend will be intensified by a continued shortage of low to moderate priced inventory and rising mortgage rates.
- Mortgage rates will be volatile. By historic standards the rates are still low, but may be rising a bit. For 2017, the Fed’s anticipate there to be three hikes, making it the best time to buy or refinance now.
- Credit availability may improve. The president elect and his team have indicated that they hope to roll back much of the post financial regulation which came about as a result of the Dodd-Frank Act. This act regulates the financial market and rolling it back could open up banks to lend more freely to a wide range of would be buyers.
- Supply will improve, but remain short. Declining inventory was a defining feature of the housing market in 2016. This led to prices increasing rapidly and discouraged some would be sellers from entering the buying fray. There are some signs that the coming year may see a bump in housing supply, at least on the new home front.
- More millennials will become homeowners and renters. According to Zillow, half of all buyers are under the age of 36. Millennials are adults born after 1980 and are not the largest adult generation and make up the greatest percentage of the workforce.
- Competition will grow fiercer. In 2017 sellers will maintain the edge over buyers as demand is expected to increase. In 2016, according to Redfin, the typical homes stayed on the market for just 52 days.
- Political uncertainty will be replaced with policy uncertainty. The president elects pledge to spend more on infrastructure, to cut taxes and to crack down on immigration could impact the housing market. However, opinions vary widely on this.
