Robert Darrow, @properties

Posts Tagged ‘Government’

Another frequently asked question Your Guide often hears: How can I find if a building is FHA approved?  This one is easy!  Check out the HUD website and search function at:

https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/condlook.cfm

The Condominiums page allows users to search for FHA-approved condominium projects by location, name, or status.

Simple, no?

One of the most regularly asked questions of Your Guide seems to be about the boundaries for some of Chicago’s more popular schools.  Most writers want to know the exact boundaries or streets for a Chicago Public School.  I’m surprised that the questions gets asked as often as it does, since the Chicago Public Schools offers a website that offers a great way to search for a school.

Head over to the Chicago Public Schools Locator Website at: http://schoollocator.cps.k12.il.us/ 

From there, you can pick a school by name, and view the street boundaries on a map.

Or you can input a property address and ask the system for the schools that serve that address.  This is a great tool to use if you – as a buyer – are thinking about a particular house, and are curious about the schools that serve the family that lives in that property.

As I said before, I’m amazed that this question gets answered as often as it does, as a simple Google Search with the words “chicago public school boundaries” returns the best result first in the list of results!

The City of Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) requires the City Comptroller to set the rate of interest to be paid on security deposits held by landlords. The rate is calculated annually based on a formula tied to actual market rates.

The new rate for 2010 of 0.073% applies to all residential rental agreements in which the lease term begins from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. The amount of interest paid on security deposits is determined by the rate in effect on the date the lease term commences.  Owner-occupied buildings of six or fewer units are not required to pay interest on security deposits.

City code requires that a general summary of the RLTO and a separate summary on security deposits, including the required rate of interest, be attached to each lease.  Revised summaries containing the new rate of interest are being printed and will soon be available from CAR. Copies of the revised summary will be sent to each CAR office as soon as they are printed. These revised summaries should be attached to each lease executed during 2010.

Your Guide’s mind reels knowing that there’s an entire city bureaucracy devoted to making sure Landlord don’t screw their tenants out of their 66 cents (on a typical $900 security deposit.)

Residents in Chicago and Cook County should be on the lookout for their Property Tax Bills this week.  Your Guide’s arrived yesterday.

Normally your first installment tax bill is half of last year’s bill.  Not so, this year.  Check out a friend’s Facebook status update:

Sneaky State of Illinois. First installment property taxes are out and the State decided that the first installment should be 55% of last years total and not the 50% it has been for decades. I’m sure they just accidentally forgot to publicize that. Spineless, sneaky bums – throw them all out this election!

From the Sun Times article:

Get ready to dig a little deeper, Cook County homeowners.

Under a new state law, you’ll be forced to pay slightly more of your property tax bill up front so county agencies, municipalities, school districts and other local governments can improve their bottom lines.

Sweet.  Illinois Tax Payers have to send along more money up-front so taxing bodies can have more money sooner, all while the State of Illinois is more than six-months behind in paying it’s bills. 

Homeowners that have their taxes paid from escrows should check the status of their tax bills.  You can do so at the Cook County Treasurer’s website at www.cookcountytreasurer.com. 

The following information is provided as a courtesy to any interested and qualifying unit owner wishing to pursue a property tax rebate.

$35-million in parking meter proceeds from a reserve fund was set aside this year to give property owners a property tax rebate. Chicago property owners with yearly household incomes of less than $200,000 are eligible for $50 to $200 grants.

Information on the rebate is available at the city clerks website or by calling 312-742-5375.

The forms for filing for the rebate can be found at:

http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/PropertyTaxReliefWeb/resources/images/taxGrantForm_English.pdf

** Update: In the Apture window that pops open, click the curved arrow in the upper-right of the window to open the form in a separate window.

Homeowners who apply will receive a grant up to $200 based on their income and the size of their property tax increase.

This is a back-handed way of trying to alleviate the burden of the parking meter price increase for in-city residents.  Your Guide thinks that the city must be hoping nobody knows about this little benefit since information on this

Your Guide sees that the post on Cook County Tax Bills arriving in tax-payers’ mail boxes is the most popular post here at YWCG this week and last.  Emails and comments all seem to be along the same lines:

How in the world did my tax bills go up?

There are a lot of articles out there published by experts on taxation in Cook County.  And all of them offer great insight.  But the answer is stunningly simple.  Let me share this with you:

Cook County figures out how much money they want to spend FIRST.  And then they figure out your bill.

The rest of the complicated math you find on your bill is just smoke and mirrors to hide how complicated the formulas are that divide up everyone’s share.  Other factors that contribute to what your tax bill added up to include:

• There is an eternal struggle between commercial property owners and residential property owners – shifting the burden back and forth between the factions over the years.  Strong leadership representing residential property owners introduced an assessment cap several years ago.  That shifted more taxes onto commercial property owners.
• Support for that property tax cap waned a couple years ago.  The assessment cap is expiring.  And now residential tax bills are going up while commercial property owners are getting a break.
• Even though your residential property is probably worth LESS right now, your tax bill is for LAST year.  And that was before property values started falling.  Next year your tax bill MIGHT be lower.  Caveat:  The highlighted rule above.  If the County wants to SPEND more, you’re going to PAY more.

Your Guide hears that the Cook County tax bills are being printed this week and should hit taxpayers mail boxes next week.  These are the second installment for 2008 bills.  Your Guide hears that these bills will be due and payable on December 1.

Remember that you can check the status of your tax bill at the Cook County Treasurer’s office at www.cookcountytreasurer.com.  Do a search for “Payment Status.”  Some reasons why you should check this yourself include:

• Make sure your lender paid your taxes if your mortgage has a tax escrow.
• Check your address and make sure your mailing address and name are correctly listed.
• Check your exemptions to see that you are getting proper credit for the Home Owner’s Exemption, the Senior Citizen Exemption or other tax exemption.
• Look for any old balances you or your lender may have overlooked.

If you are a home owner in a new construction home, you might not have received a tax bill before.  If it’s about time for you to get your very first tax bill, you can search out your Property Index Number (PIN) at the Cook County Assessor’s office at www.cookcountyassessor.com. Do a search “By Address.”

It appears most experts are predicting a 4% increase in those tax bills.  Considering that your home is probably worth less than it was a year ago, remember this clever trick in Cook County…

The County figures out how much money it wants, first.  And then divides the grand total amongst property owners based on the inscrutable tax formulas published at the Cook County Assessor’s office.  So even if values of homes in your neighborhood have plummeted, your share of the taxes has probably stayed the same.

Read more at the Sun Times.

Regular reader and commenter Mike Wasserman (www.wasserlaw.net) read my post on Monday and commented:

I definitely feel your pain all the way around on this post. sadly, there is probably a 120 way tie for “worst mortgage broker in the world” and that is a problem for all of us. we used to keep a list in the office, but it got too long. we work VERY hard now to make sure that our clients understand that chasing the last 1/4 point discount on a mortgage loan by directing business to unreliable lenders is a very risky proposition. when properly counseled, most (but sadly not all) rethink their positions.

Ordering zoning certs the week of closing? really? they are good for 12 months anyway. why would anyone leave that sort of thing to the last minute? we get ‘em early on in the process to avoid these very sorts of problems. again, just not worth it.

If only it were that easy…

When the City of Chicago started the Zoning Certification program, the City allowed offices to stop by City Hall and grab a box full of the forms required to request your certificate of zoning.

And you were allowed to mail in your form with the required fees.

So it was customary for an agent such as myself to request a certificate of zoning at the time I took a listing.  But the City – in its infinite wisdom – has enacted every bureaucratic hurdle possible to ensure that the process is more difficult now.  Oh, and costs more.

But in the subsequent years, the City has totally screwed up the process by:

1. Raising the fee to $75 from $50.
2. Making the form a 5 part carbon form and requiring all 5 carbons be submitted.  Photocopies are not permitted anymore.
3. Not allowing offices to come and grab stacks of the forms.
4. Not accepting applications via US Mail.  In person only.

So now it’s not possible for agents to take care of this seemingly minor paperwork, and we often depend on our attorneys to send a messenger to City Hall to fetch the certificate of zoning.

This means that the certificates won’t be ordered until a property goes under contract.  And worse, since lots of attorneys work on a “Just in time” basis, Zoning Certs aren’t ordered until the week of – and sometimes the day of – closing.

One of my clients had a suburban real estate attorney who didn’t know a zoning certificate was required, and had to physically go to City Hall during the closing to get the zoning cert.  Always a barrel of fun when sitting in a Title Company.

Woke up this morning to see all my colleagues’ Facebook status updates looking forward to a great week.  Bah Humbug in August.  Here’s how my week is shaping up…

Tech Support

Spend some time on the phone with Tech Support with Top Producer because my Blackberry crashed over the weekend, and I can’t figure out how to re-install my Top Producer database.  That should take less than an hour – don’t you think?

Zoning Certs

I have a closing this week that will require a Zoning Certificate.  But I know that my attorney did not order a Certificate of Zoning early.  And a co-worker writes to me to say:

The City of Chicago Zoning Department has initiated a work slowdown to protest Mayor Daley’s recent layoffs. This means NO zoning certificates until they return to a full working schedule. So if you plan on closing next week or maybe even in the weeks to come I am sorry to say that won’t be happening. Without the zoning certificate the deed cannot be recorded and a buyer utilizing a mortgage will not be fulfilling their obligations outlined in their agreement.

The last several hours have been quite informative regarding the issues at the zoning office. At this point things are still not 100% clear but we are getting some better information.

The “slowdown” may not be a planned/purposeful “slowdown” but rather a slowed down process due to understaffing in the zoning department or an increased demand on the services offered by the zoning department.

Bottom Line: if you are working on a real estate transaction that will require a zoning certificate make sure it has been ordered 10+ business days in advance of closing for multi units and 3 business days in advance for single family homes. If the mortgage commitment date is extended make sure there is ample time to obtain the zoning certificate before the closing date.

Worst Mortgage Broker in the World

I set up one of my faithful and loyal buyers with a top performing Mortgage Broker.  He turned in his application and package dutifully.  But one day the buyer saw an ad in the paper for a fly-by-night Mortgage Broker with a slightly lower interest rate, and went with him at the last minute.

That mortgage broker has blown the closing date.  Twice.  And each time requires a week to re-schedule.  And I think he’s changed the interest rate anyways – which is why we blew the closing today.  He didn’t comply with Federal Regulations notifying the buyer of an interest rate change.

Oh, and because I’m in the mood for sharing:  Your Guide’s Opinion for The Worst Mortgage Broker In The World…

Mike White  -  Market Mortgage Corporation
Professional Mortgage Services
1211 West 22nd Street Suite 802
Oak Brook, IL. 60523