The real estate practice provides counsel to clients and their families in all residential real estate matters, as well as in commercial real estate matters. The group handles over four hundred real estate closings per year. Attorneys and staff realize that real estate transactions can involve complications and stress. The group insures that each client is legally protected when conflicts arise with purchasers, sellers, mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers, and real estate agents.
In addition to real estate closings, this group handles refinancing requests and handles thousands of calls from clients with real estate related questions.
Recent Real Estate Blog Posts
- Isaacs, Devasia, Castro & Wien LLP – Real Estate Litigation Attorneys
- Isaacs, Devasia, Castro & Wien LLP – Residential Real Estate Attorneys
Buying your first home
In buying a home, you have made what may well prove to be the largest financial transaction of your lifetime. The purpose of this article is to help the first time homebuyer in achieving this goal with the fewest mistakes possible.
To begin, here are a few “pointers”, as well as questions, often asked when contemplating the purchase of your first home.
- Is it a buyer’s market or a seller’s market?
It is important to pay attention to trends in the local housing market. Knowing whether it is a buyer’s market or seller’s market can help you time your real estate transaction and capitalize on property prices.
A buyer’s market occurs when real estate inventory exceeds market demand. In other words, there are plenty of homes for sale and not as many buyers. This provides a buyer with more leverage over a seller.
A seller’s market occurs when the demand for homes exceeds the available real estate inventory. Under these circumstances, it is the seller that has more leverage over a buyer
2. Are there tax benefits involved in owning a home? What are they?
Potential buyers often become nervous over whether or not a purchase of a home will stretch their income too thin. Not to fear! What people tend to forget is that mortgage interest and real estate taxes are deductible items on both federal and state income tax returns. Discount fees or points paid to a mortgage lender may also be deductible at specific times. In calculating the dollar benefits from tax deductions (mortgage interest, real estate taxes and points, etc…), consult your accountant.
Your accountant can recalculate your most recent tax return figuring in all the deductions you would be entitled to if you owned the house in question. After calculating your tax savings, divide that number by 52. The result will be the amount of money you could add to your weekly budget. Obviously, the effects cannot be immediately felt at closing, but in the long run, the new homeowner will end up with “new found” spendable income at “tax time” or said savings can be spread out over the entire year.