When you finally find the home that you sense is right for you, you start planning for the future. You imagine yourself in it celebrating holidays, bringing your relatives together in it, and even expanding your own family while living there. Because there is so much emotion tied up into the house, it can be […]
4 Reason Why You Need Title Insurance Before Your Closing
Before we go into why you need title insurance, we will first establish what it is. If you are new to buying property don’t feel bad if you have never heard of it. Simply put, if you are buying a home, title insurance is a means to guard you financially if there are problems (or […]
A PITI-ful Mortgage: Understanding the 4 Major Expenses in a Mortgage Payment
Practically everyone who purchases a home in Chicago has a mortgage. Although most first-time homebuyers know that financing the purchase means that they will be making a monthly mortgage payment for decades, they don’t always understand that these payments are more than simply a percentage of the sale price. In this blog, we’ll explain the […]
Estate Planning Considerations for Young Families
The word ‘estate planning’ conjures images of prosperous retirees who’ve spent their lives building up wealth and now want to make plans to pass it on to loved ones. Rarely do you think of young families needing to preserve assets and create inheritances. The truth is that estate planning is valuable for anyone at any […]
Four Common Encumbrances in Real Estate
When looking to buy or sell real estate it is important to make sure that there are not any problems that could get in the way. These can often be discovered through a title search or other effort. Understanding common types of real estate encumbrances will help you to know if property you own or […]
Durable Powers of Attorney Explained
A power of attorney is an estate planning document through which you can grant someone else (called your “agent”) permission to make legal, financial, and/or medical decisions on your behalf. The person who creates the power of attorney is referred to as the “principal” in the arrangement it creates. When acting on the principal’s behalf, […]
RESPA Violations FAQ
What is RESPA? RESPA refers to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. It is a federal law passed by Congress in 1974 and intended to protect those who are purchasing real estate. It essentially aims to prevent unfair practice by brokers, real estate agents, closing service providers, and others involved in the transaction. What are […]
Five Situations in Which You Need to Update Your Estate Plan
Good estate planning isn’t a one-and-done deal. We’ve heard far too many stories of parents, grandparents, husbands, and wives who sit down with an attorney to make an estate plan on one occasion and then never touch it again. When they pass away or become incapacitated, their loved ones are often left with more questions […]
Understanding the Quitclaim Deed
There are many types of deeds and they are not all used for the same purposes. Different situations call for different deeds. Deeds of trust, special warranty deeds, general warranty deeds — the list could go on. In today’s blog post, we are exploring one particular type of deed: the quitclaim deed. Quitclaim deeds are […]
Wills vs. Trusts: Which Do You Need?
If you are new to estate planning, you’re probably familiar with the terms “will” and “trust,” but you might not be sure what exactly these estate planning tools really do or which one is right for you. Wills and trusts are the most basic elements of an estate plan. They have one major shared goal: […]
