Estate Planning Essentials: Safeguarding Your Home and Building a Legacy with Realtor Alisha Askew

Can proper estate planning really save your home from financial ruin? Join us in this eye-opening episode as we sit down with the remarkable realtor Alisha Askew to explore the often-overlooked connection between real estate and estate planning. Through her invaluable insights, Alisha demystifies common misconceptions about the current real estate market, notably clarifying the misunderstood interest rates and the critical importance of being well-informed. She passionately underscores how homeownership isn't just a financial milestone but a legacy-building investment for your family.

Listen closely as Alisha shares compelling real-life stories that highlight the dire consequences of inadequate estate planning. From a client losing his home over a mere $10,000 in unpaid property taxes to another who couldn't adapt to unexpected life changes, Alisha's experiences reveal the essential need for proper documentation and planning. Learn how her collaboration with McIntyre Elder Law provides clients with the professional guidance they need to navigate these complex issues. Don't miss this crucial conversation if you're looking to secure your financial future through intelligent estate planning and real estate investments.

Transcript

Samantha Gordon: 0:08

Hello, attorney Samantha Gordon, here with Alisha Askew, lovely, amazing realtor, who's going to answer some questions for us today, and we're going to tie in how real estate and estate planning really work together when you're thinking about either developing an estate plan, maybe making changes to your estate plan, also thinking about how long-term care can kind of affect your estate plan and what you really think is going to happen in the future. Thank you so much for being here. Yes, absolutely, thank you for having me. Yes, awesome, all right, so we're going to dive right in First question what are the common misconceptions that people have with real estate or about real estate?

Alisha Askew: 0:46

The common misconception that people have with or about real estate is probably the lack of education. Right now we are in this awkward state of real estate because people are thinking that the interest rates are high, but technically, according to the historical average, the real estate interest rate has been 7.73% and we are below that, you guys. So I understand that home prices have risen because Charlotte is a hot market and it's been affordable and so people are moving here, but I would say the lack of information about what's possible for home ownership and what does it look like and the benefits that come along with it. Would you rather be paying someone else's mortgage and them living off of your hard-earned money, or would you rather be paying your mortgage so that way you can leave something for your family and build your legacy? That's one of the biggest questions.

Samantha Gordon: 1:52

Yeah, a home is a really great investment, like people you know there's like always talk about investments and investing your money in stocks and you know stock market, whatever, but really you can invest your money in your home Absolutely Like, and it's yours and you can be proud of it and it gives you a sense of pride and you know. Yeah, with the interest rates, I feel like there is a lot of mixed information and individuals can be very uninformed as to what that actually means that there's a high interest rate.

Alisha Askew: 2:19

Absolutely.

Samantha Gordon: 2:20

Definitely All right. And how have you seen estate planning either hurt or help a real estate transaction? And if you have direct examples, that would be awesome.

Alisha Askew: 2:28

So yeah, absolutely, unfortunately, yes, absolutely. And so that's one of the reasons how I came across McIntyre Elder Law was because I have helped a tremendous amount of clients and referred them to the firm because they are just phenomenal with the information and the education that they put out into the community. So they're always first at the top of my mind whenever I come across a client who is facing some kind of life hardship. And so, unfortunately, when I realize that there is a lack of planning for my clients who are looking to sell their home because they purchased their home, you know, they live in their home, they love their home and they think that their home is going to be able to take care of them in their financial future, but without the proper documents and planning in place, unfortunately that home cannot serve them in their needs.

Alisha Askew: 3:25

And so just a quick two examples. So one one gentleman I was helping he was in a nursing home facility and, because of the insurance that he had set up, um, he was facing, facing a financial hardship with his home. He was behind on his property taxes only $10,000, you guys but unfortunately, since he did not have the proper estate planning in place, he place, he could not sell his home, and so they had to foreclose on his home, and he lost his home over $10,000 and someone else bought it for well over that 10,000.

Samantha Gordon: 4:04

And now he's enjoying all the money that he's put into his home. Absolutely he thought that would be a legacy for him.

Alisha Askew: 4:08

Absolutely. And so just another example a client that I was working with, you know we, we're young, we're healthy, we're alive, we think that you know we're going to live until a certain age and still um be in in in good health, and of course that's definitely the goal for everyone. But sometimes life plays out differently, um, and if you don't act properly and accordingly, time can pass by and then it's too late to make certain changes, and that comes to like your mental well-being and alertness. So one client I was helping, he was taking care of his wife and she had dementia for several years, but it came to a point where she had to be placed into an assisted living facility and unfortunately, there came a point to where he needed to sell his home in order to continue taking care of his wife in that facility. He was not able to sell his house because he did not have the proper documents in place that allowed him to sell the house while his wife was still alive and in that facility.

Samantha Gordon: 5:15

So just a few little things about yeah, like when you're married, you don't think about oh, I wouldn't have legal authority to sign for my spouse. That doesn't make sense. Like we're married, of course I have legal authority. That's not true.

Samantha Gordon: 5:25

So, unfortunately, in that situation and if I've had I had a husband come to me last year and unfortunately his wife became incompetent. She could not make her own healthcare decisions due to a health situation that happened and we actually had to pursue a guardianship through the courts for a judge to appoint him to be the guardian of his own wife, to make legal decisions for her. When, if you had a power of attorney in place a general, durable power of attorney, which is a financial power of attorney that appoints someone your spouse to manage your financial affairs, for you to be able to sign off on real estate transactions to close on a home, that document is cost effective, much cheaper than a guardianship and it allows Alicia to do her job well and to help individuals handle those real estate transactions. And without that, then you have the situation that we just talked about, unfortunately.

Alisha Askew: 6:15

And that's why I love this law firm, because they have solutions that they're bringing into the table, the difference between the two that Samantha just talked about the power of attorney and the guardianship. She said cost difference, but not only that, but the ease I remember you mentioning that to me about that, your client, but the ease, the level of ease, because, guardianship, there are some hurdles that you have to jump through, but that's why you hire great people to take care of that for you. But just by putting those things in place it can make your life a lot easier and less emotional.

Samantha Gordon: 6:48

Yes, by having the document in place, you can say hey, I'm their power of attorney, I can handle this Like I got this. It's not going to be. You know a little. You know real estate transactions can sometimes be a little bit stressful depending upon what's going on, but it takes all of that extra added stress that is super unnecessary in that transaction, especially if you have to go through a guardianship. It's super emotional. It can take up to 45 days to even get a hearing in North Carolina, depending upon the county that you're in. So everything's stalled, nothing can happen and if something's happening with your spouse's health, their health isn't just gonna stop their health problems, whatever's going on, it's not just gonna stop because you can't do anything. It's still going to be happening. So if you have a document in place that gives you the legal authority, then let's get it done. Everything's good to go and then you can do your job. Awesome, yeah.