On Sunday I am planning on showing million dollar properties to an out-of-town client who is ready to buy. One of the properties will require flood insurance. It is a beautiful log home in the middle of a pecan grove. My question is, “Why bother?” The listing agent has not bothered to return my calls because she must recognize that at this time in the game, the property cannot be sold unless someone wants to pay cash. You cannot get a mortgage loan on the property because the lender will require flood insurance — which is nowhere to be found.
Here is the current state of affairs as reported by the National Association of REALTORS® in an update date June 1, 2010:
Congress, for the third time this year, allowed the National Flood Insurance Program to expire on May 31, 2010.NAR has launched an all-member Call for Action to urge Congress to take immediate action on a lasting NFIP extension. Additional, information regarding NAR’s policy position are available at www.realtor.org.
After May 31, the NFIP will not have the statutory authority to issue new or renewal policies until Congress reauthorizes the program. This will not affect existing policies, renewal policies within a 30-day grace period, or policies purchased prior to the program’s lapse. Also, FEMA allows buyers to “assume” the seller’s existing policy without having to re-issue it (http://www.fema.gov/pdf/nfip/manual201005/03gr.pdf). The purchase requirement for flood insurance may be met with non-NFIP policies; for instance, Lloyd’s of London, Chubb and AIG have offered such insurance, but it can be very expensive and is limited to a certain number of states, with other conditions.
NAR has been working with FEMA, FHA, Fannie, Freddie and the VA to provide guidance, similar to what it provided in April, for lenders as to the steps they may take to meet flood insurance purchase requirement during an NFIP lapse. With updated guidance in hand, lenders should have the assurances that they need to continue to close loans. FHA has already issued updated guidance. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the VA, and other lending authorities are expected to release guidance shortly, and NAR will post the guidance at www.realtor.org.
We encourage you to visit or direct your members to the following resources for additional information:
As I said, it is a drop dead gorgeous piece of property with perhaps a few extra mosquitoes per square foot. I still would like to show it and sell it. But why even bother if the buyers cannot obtain flood insurance?
Mineral Rights Disclosure Law Blocked by Oklahoma Association of REALTORS®
Buyers of surface rights are not being protected in Oklahoma. The REALTORS® have once again blocked legislation to disclose information regarding mineral rights ownership. While in many parts of Oklahoma the surface estate has been separated from the mineral estate, the fact is that in northeat Oklahoma many landowners do in fact still own their minerals. The REALTORS® are flat out wrong in opposing legislation that would disclose knowledge of mineral rights ownership.
According to a recent (6/6/10) legislative recap by the Oklahoma Association of REALTORS® Government Affairs Committee:
For the second year in a row, OAR fought against legislation which would have required surface right owners to disclose mineral rights information to buyers. HB1291, by Rep. Jerry Shoemake, D-Morris, would have required sellers to give buyers disclosure statements on past or current oil and gas production on the property, current oil and gas lease agreements affecting the property and any abandoned wells or lease roads. OAR was concerned about this legislation, because in most cases the surface owner is not aware of this information (especially when they’re not the mineral rights owner) – and this information is not part of the public records filed at the county courthouse. OAR protected sellers from being liable for this information.
As a REALTOR and a Professional Landman, I take a stand for landowners and the purchasers of surface rights. Every prospective landowner deserves the opportunity to purchase the entire bundle of rights available to them when they purchase the surface. If the seller has knowledge of mineral rights ownership, then it should be disclosed. If they have no such knowlege, then that should also be disclosed. REALTORS® should not arbitrarily, whether out of ignorance, unwillingness to learn, or fear of litigation, be severing mineral rights or keeping the mineral estate from being rejoined to the surface estate.
Rogers County Oklahoma horse farms for sale with a barn and a pond may be hard to find if you aren’t working with the right REALTOR®.
However, if you call Debbie Solano, you’ll discover quickly that it’s easy to find horse property in Northeast Oklahoma, because she has already thought about the problem and figured out exactly how to help you find all the horse farms for sale with a barn and a pond you could possibly want, whether you’re looking in Rogers County, or in any other county around Tulsa in northeast Oklahoma.
What’s so special about finding horse farms for sale with a barn and a pond? Most real estate agents sell houses in subdivisions and don’t necessarily specialize in farm and ranch properties. A farm and ranch specialist can narrow the search to find exactly what you are looking for
A REALTOR® specializing in horse properties not only knows the inventory, but he or she can show you how to find horse farms for sale with a barn and a pond if they have been properly coded in the Northeast Oklahoma multilist as having a barn, a pond, and are listed as either a farm and ranch property or as a property that has been zoned “Horse Permitted” in some way.
As you can see, there are all kinds of permutations that will change your property search. If no pond is available on a property, we can always look for farm and ranch properties for sale in Rogers County that have a creek instead. (There are currently 8 farm and ranch properties in Rogers County Oklahoma that have a creek). You can always dig a pond if one is not already available on the property. Add a barn to the search for farm and ranch properties with a barn and a creek and you will find that there are currently 3 properties available.
Or, if there is no barn, then you can always build one later.
So you can always add a pond and/or a barn, but a creek or a river is difficult to replace.
Oh, for those perfect horse properties that have all three features: farm and ranch properties with a barn, a pond, and a creek. Ooops! There are now only two farm and ranch properties in Rogers County with a barn, a pond, and a creek and they are not the less expensive properties.
Are you beginning to understand why you need a REALTOR who specializes in farm and ranch properties?
Horse Permitted Properties:
“Horse Permitted” addresses a zoning question and has little to do with the description of the property being sold. Horse farms for sale with a barn and a pond hopefully will be marked as “horse permitted,” but when the real estate agent is filling out the paperwork, there are only a limited number of selections that can be checked on the listing forms. So if “horse permitted” is missing, the buyer can usually make the assumption that if it is a farm, then it has agricultural zoning — but not always.
And vice versa. Perhaps there is a nice house on a lovely piece of land — perhaps with quite a bit of acreage, that has never been set up as a farm or a ranch. There are many properties in Rogers County that have the potential to become horse farms for sale with a barn and a pond. These properties may be zoned in such a way that horses are allowed or “permitted” to be there.
In Rogers County “horse permitted” would mean Agricultural zoning or RS-60 (which is Residential zoning in rural subdivisions with a minimum of 2.5 acres where there is a limit on the number of horses or other livestock).
Currently there are 8 “horse permitted” properties for sale with a barn and a pond in Rogers County Oklahoma. They may or may not necessarily be horse farms for sale with a barn and a pond; they simply have the correct zoning to be horse farms for sale with a barn and a pond.
A barn does not a farm maketh.
Is the farm registered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture? Is there a farm number? Has the owner been filing a Schedule F? Do the Sellers drive a truck with a Farm tag? Do the Sellers pay sales tax on their horse feed? All of these questions are valid, but irrelevant when a real estate agent is checking Farm and Ranch on the listing documentation.
What is a barn?
When you are looking for horse farms for sale with a barn and a pond you will find that your idea of a barn may be quite a bit different from the listing real estate agent’s interpretation of a “barn.” In our Northeast Oklahoma multilist there are a few very nice garden sheds that are coded as barns.
Then again, is there a distinction between “barn” and “stable?” Not in our multilist. A stable with horse stalls of any kind is a barn. A large hay barn is a barn too.
Run-in sheds and equipment sheds are usually classified as “sheds,” but sometimes are labeled as “barns” by different real estate agents.
What is a pond?
Some farm ponds are small lakes, but in the Northeast Oklahoma multilist they are all ponds. If they have a name on a map, then they are lakes. Otherwise they are ponds.
A lagoon is not a pond. It is a hole in the ground into which sewage is retained when the land does not “percolate” or “perk.” Lagoons have been largely superseded by aerobic septic systems.
Look at the pictures
Confused? Join the club! Just be sure when you are looking for horse farms for sale with a pond and a barn, that you search for farm and ranch properties separately from “horse permitted” properties.
In other words, do separate searches for both categories.
Then again, skip the searches for farm and ranch properties and “horse permitted” properties altogether, since many listing real estate agents do not check either box when they are filling out the paperwork on a particular property.
The broadest search would be to search for acres. Well, scratch that too. Some real estate agents don’t even list the property size.
Just look at the pictures and decide for yourself if what you are looking at are indeed horse farms for sale with a pond and a barn.