Cash Purchases (Real Estate)

[Riggerjack]

I was reading "just made a offer on a short sale" and started to reply, then thought this could use a new thread. There seems to be alot of confusion in RE sales, compounded by differing laws/traditions in differing states. For reference, I'm in Western Washington.
I just bought the 5 acres next door for cash earlier this year. Now, I cheated a little, in that the seller sold me the lot I'm on right now, and both of these lots were carved out of the same original 10+acre lot. I paid title insurance and all the fees on my 1st 5 acres, and saw no need to do it again on the 2nd. This was an all cash, no Realtor deal. no title company, no lawyers, no escrow, we met at the county courthouse, filled out the forms paid our fees, and i gave Jill her cashier's check.
I would not recommend this to anyone, but Jacob, I could see you getting comfortable enough to try it your self.
Jill had been trying to get me to buy the 2nd lot since just after we bought the first one back in 2008. i made a very low ball offer twice, and after a year and a half, she came back and accepted it. Part of the offer is that we would do this as a simple cash sale, no realtors, and each would pick up our own fees.
Then we had to figure out how to do this.
It turns out, after you are sure you want to buy it, you can type up a warranty deed, fill out a form at the county treasurer, and get the deed recorded.
In our case, that was us spending under 100 bucks for recording, Jill paid excise tax on the sale, and the deal was done in about 45 minutes including lines and filling out forms.
Seems simple, huh? So why don't I recommend this to everyone? Well, there are alot of services out there, and if you don't know what they do, you can't rationally decide to go against the grain, and without them.
First the realtor: Realtors are paid by the seller, and the amount like EVERYTHING in RE is negotiable. Fees generally run 6% for a home, and 10% for vacant land. This fee gets split between the seller's agent and the buyer's agent. The split is in the MLS listing, in the section you buyers don't get to see. now both the seller's agent and buyer's agent then get to split that commission with their respective brokers. If a property is listed with an agency, they WILL get their fee, regardless if they have anything to do with the sale. The buyer's agent will help you write up the offer, present it to the seller's agent, and back and forth ad nauseum.
Once a deal is reached, a check for earnest money is written to the escrow agent. And there are home inspectors to theoretically find all that can go wrong. Look into this on your own. Google's your friend.
Mortgage brokers and bankers. If you want to know more about this, read "mortgage news daily" online. It is a mortgage professional's site. Things are not broken down for you, but you can pick up alot by reading it.
The title search and insurance. This in Washington is usually combined with the escrow service. And in all the real estate professions, these are the ONLY people i've met who were professionals. But i'm judgmental, and my experiences are not typical. YMMV.
Title insurance pays for the fight if someone tries to claim the deed to your newly purchased property. There is one payment, and the insurance is good until you sell/finance/refinance the property. There is an industry for title insurance, because it is demanded by the mortgage industry. Bypass the mortgage, you'll have to decide on the title insurance on your own.
Escrow services. These are the folks that make sure the i's are dotted, the t's are crossed, and most importantly, everyone gets paid. in a cash deal, I didn't think they were necessary. Make up your own mind.
County treasurer collects the excise tax, county Auditor's office will record the deed. There's no way around these folks, as you want their belief that you own the land. That is after all why you are buying.
Somewhere in here, there can be surveyors. I've never used one. the corners have always been marked on any property I ever bought. Use one if you need one.
So that's pretty much what I know. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them. RE is a hobby for me, not a profession. if I don't know, I'll tell you. If I do tell you something, this is simply my understanding, not gospel, and subject to error. In all cases, YMMV.

[tlaloc]

Strangely appropriate timing.
I am in western Washington as well and am a first time home buyer. I'm actually in the process of making a bid on a HUD home, have you had any experiences or insigths with HUD? If so, I'd love to hear.
The wrinkle in this is that my wife and I will be making a "cash" offer via a loan from the first bank of my father in law. I'm not asking about the financing aspect, since that's a highly personal thing that people tend to be polarized about, but mostly the cash aspect.

[Riggerjack]

So, I was just reading over the initial post, and realized I hadn't said anything about HOW I decide what property to buy.
The first step is watching MLS listings. This gives me a pretty good feel for what goes for how much, where. In particular, I'm looking for a site that gets me more than just available listings. I want sales histories. And if you can find it, how long a property has been on the market. I LOVE redfin.com. Also, J.L.Scott is great, here in the NW. Look around, get comfortable with the sites and the market.
Next is Google maps and various other map sites. Aerial photography from different times gives you alot of perspective on a neighborhood, and neighbors.
Check with your county Assessors office. I can find in Snohomish county, the sales history back to 1999. The size, bed/bath #'s, the foundation type, roofing type, lot size, sq ft/floor, often an old picture, (handy to see how the property looked before they manicured the lawn for a sale.) i can find a map with overlaid aerial photography, showing property lines. (beware, these are approximations!)
Then the planning dept will show me who's applied for permits in the area, and what for. Nice to know that the house next to the big patch of woods is in fact 6 months from being the house next to the subdivision... also good to know if the current owner is selling due to plans that fell through. if everthing's remodeled, but no permits were pulled, that's another flag...
The health dept. will tell me water and sewer/septic info. All the way down to asbuilts from the septic system installer.
The dept of Ecology has the well information. depth, draw, etc.
The County Auditor is my favorite, though. I search by owner name, as far back as I can find. I search by parcel number, by plat number. I can find the marital history, buy and sell dates, often times how much, refi history, pending liens, etc. The Auditor has it all.
Now you are asking why would I want to know this? It's not that I'm a voyeur, it's so I can look into risks and help decide on an amount to offer, should it go so far.
I do all this before I so much as drive by the property. It saves me time. It gives me an idea of what I'm looking for in a drive by. It helps me find the properties I'm REALLY interested in.
Then, I put the case before my wife, the skeptic. She looks at all these properties for their flaws. She doesn't have my enthusiasm, and usually shoots me down. But that's also a good thing. it is always good to have a pessemistic eye look things over to dispel any grand ideas early on. It focuses my efforts on the very best deals, rather than merely good deals.
Good luck!

[dragoncar]

Do you get access to these records online, or spend an inordinate amount of time in the offices? If online, what service do you recommend (very few cities offer the data online for free).
I'm contemplating a move to a new city and it looks like a condo purchase might be in my future -- simply put, it's the best deal compared to renting. I've never bought property before, and I want to be hyper vigilant about the HOA funding, assessments, etc. Any tips on dealing with this? Is the only way to get access to the financial records and minutes really to make an offer? I could pay with cash, although I'd prefer to finance given my income tax rate and the potential to walk away if things go really bad.

[jacob]

I like redfin too, but they don't seem to cover the Oregon coastline?! Are there any equivalent substitutes for that area?

[George the original one]

In Oregon, the county assessor's office is where the deed information is kept. The state also has a library of those deeds. If the county is with it, they'll have the records online; if not, then the state has them online.
To protect the county's interests in revenue, you will not have mass access to the records (e.g. you can't download them all in one shot). The county may also withhold some info that you can get by visiting in person.
Information about wells (flow & depth) is recorded in a state database. Oregon DEQ also has maps of contamination.

[Riggerjack]

I'm sorry, I thought I was clear. This is all done online. mainly in Snohomish county. they have nearly everything available online. i've gone back to search through the microfiches in the recording dept, and i'd only consider that after a deal was made, as part of the due dilligence. too much time. but it's always good to go back through the history of the deed. just too time consuming to do on every potential deal. i look at alot more properties than i can afford to buy...