Realtors In RVs - Alysia Stern with Dennis DiSabato

In Episode 2 of Realtors in RVs, host Alysia Stern welcomes Dennis DiSabato for an informative and entertaining conversation about the legal side of real estate in South Carolina. As a respected real estate attorney, Dennis breaks down complex topics into simple terms, helping buyers, sellers, and agents better understand the process from contract to closing.

Together, Alysia and Dennis discuss attorney state requirements, table funding, property taxes, and the differences between tax rates that can impact homeowners throughout South Carolina. Whether you are purchasing your first home, relocating from another state, or investing in real estate, this episode is packed with valuable information that can save you time, money, and stress.

As always, Realtors in RVs goes beyond business. The conversation is filled with laughter, real life experiences, and practical advice from two professionals passionate about serving their communities. If you have ever wondered what happens behind the scenes of a South Carolina real estate transaction, this is an episode you will not want to miss.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

So on today's episode of Realtors in RVs, I have Dennis De Sabano, a South Carolina real estate attorney, who's gonna give you all the information that you'll need if you're relocating to South Carolina and you need some legal advice. Come on in. All right, guys, welcome back to Realtors in RVs. Guess what? No more studio for this episode. Well, we will be back in the studio, but when I have my real estate colleagues, industry professionals, I want to bring you the most knowledge that I can. We're gonna be doing that right in the RV, Realtors in RVs. Brought to you by Summerfina Creatives. And again, every episode will go to benefit my charitable mission, Cans and Crayons, where no child will ever be, will ever be without food or without the means to create. Anyway, today's guest is the awesome Dennis Disabato. He's a South Carolina real estate attorney, and he's on a council, but I'll let him talk about that. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 1:25

I'm good. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yeah, what council are you on? Because I can never get it right.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

I'm on Ori County Council, District 3, representing Carolina Forest.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Okay, and what do you do on the council?

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Uh well, you know, we um basically are responsible for um allocating the tax revenue for county uses. We deal with public safety issues, zoning issues, managed growth, things like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Oh, okay, nice, nice, very nice. So one of the things I wanted to do when I brought Dennis on the show is that there's a lot of knowledge that needs to be spread. Uh we I deal with a lot of uh uh relocationers. Is that what you call it? People relocating from all other states, from up north, from out west, even from North Carolina coming down. South Carolina real estate lore is completely different than New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania. And I wanted to bring Dennis on the show to kind of talk about some of the things that we're running into. It's a it's a completely different animal. I guess are we considered a title state?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

We're an attorney state.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

We're an attorney state. Okay. So we're considered an attorney, so we are an attorney state. And Dennis, let's talk about that and how this is different. Let's let's bring New York into the picture because I have a lot of clients out from New York. How is the the difference between South Carolina and New York real estate law?

SPEAKER_01 2:39

It's very, very different. I practice law in New York, as you know, for a number of years before I came here and uh New Jersey as well. And uh the practice of real estate law is very different here than it is up there. I mean, in New York, when you're when you're handling a closing, every single party is represented by a different attorney. You've got, you know, you've got the buyer, the seller, the title company is separate from the attorney's office. You've got the bank and the bank's lawyer, and everybody's sitting at the table at the same time, and they're marking up contracts and they're passing checks and keys around, and it's just it's it's a little bit more uh uh contentious, I guess, maybe, or you know, uh guarded. I prefer the practice of real estate here in South Carolina is uh a little bit more um easygoing. Um not that we're not diligently representing our clients' interests, it's just it's not as combative, um, I guess, as it is in New York. And the difference here is, you know, a lot of people come from what are called title states where you don't actually need an attorney to handle a real estate closing, you just need a title company. Um, and they're searching the title and issuing the title insurance policy and things like that. But uh here in South Carolina, uh the legislature has determined that the um the closing of a real estate transaction is to be considered the practice of law. And so you need to have an attorney involved in the transaction. And oftentimes the attorney and the title company are one and the same, as that's the case with with us at Blair Cato. We we have our own title company, um, and we are both um searching the title, uh, reviewing the contract, uh, handling the closing, um issuing the title policy, dispersing the closing proceeds, recording all the insurance that need to be recorded. So um in in this state, you need to you need to have uh an attorney involved in the process. Um and you have to have a South Carolina licensed attorney involved in the process. So you can't just bring in an attorney from another state and say, let's do a closing. Um, they have to be authorized to practice law here in South Carolina.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Yeah, that's one of the things that I I feel that we get is that people want to bring their own attorney from a different state, not realizing that your attorney doesn't practice in this state. Like, like, why is that? Why do people feel that the need to bring their out-of-state attorney to even review the contracts? We get that all the time.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

I think it's a trust factor thing, you know, they're not familiar with the area, they don't they don't know the area as well or or the practice of law here. Um, you know, they've grown up in a in an area where they are familiar with the processes and they're familiar with their attorney, and perhaps their attorney represented them over uh several different matters throughout the years, and now they're coming to a new location and they're being introduced to somebody that they've never met before. So there's a there's a trust factor that needs to be built between the attorney and the and the client, and of course the realtor and the attorney and the client, that that triumvirate. But um at the end of the day, really the other thing that's different about South Carolina law, especially in the real estate field, is that almost every jurisdiction of South Carolina uses a South Carolina approved form contract. Yes. Um, whereas in New York, a lot of times the attorneys will be the ones who draft the contracts. Yes. And that's not the case here. Here, here there's a one form contract, everybody uses the same contract, and um, you know, the attorneys don't review prior to closing, they are responsible for making sure that the contractual obligations that were negotiated in that contract are met. They're responsible for making sure that the title is clear, um, but they're not responsible for drafting the contract. And so um a lot of times I find that my clients that come from, especially New York and New Jersey, that they have a hard time wrapping their mind around that concept that this is a this contract, your contract is going to look identical to the guy who comes in behind you, right? So the only things that are different are the items that you're negotiating that are you're basically checking boxes, right? Right. Filling in the terms of the price, you're filling in the address, you're determining who's responsible for certain due diligence items, and and those are more or less just checkboxing, um, you know, box checking issues, and then um, you know, the attorney's just making sure that everything that is on that contract gets each contingency gets met.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Right. Now, one of the things too that was new very new to me is that here we can share an attorney. So I remember when I would first bought my condo here and they said, Oh, do you want to share an attorney? I'm like, Share an attorney? No way. I go, I need my attorney to fight for me. I didn't realize that was a commonality. A lot of people do it here, right? Share an attorney.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yeah, well, you know, I should actually Ory County is unique in that it doesn't happen as often as it does throughout the rest of the state. And you know, we have our off our firm has offices uh throughout the upstate Midlands and now on the coast. So you see in other jurisdictions like uh like uh uh Columbia or or Greenville, it it's much more common for both the buyer and seller to be represented by the same attorney. It's a little less common here, it's it's becoming more common. It's not it's it there is potentially a conflict of interest that is waived by both parties when you're doing that. Now, at the end of the day, the seller's attorney's role is a little different than the buyer's attorney role. And and the seller's attorney's role in real estate closing is basically to again make sure that the contractual obligations and contingencies have been met. Um, they're responsible for you know helping their client navigate the process and answer any questions that they have about the closing process as we get to the closing. And the seller's attorney is typically the party that's responsible for drafting the deed, not recording the deed, but drafting the deed. Right. Um, and and the buyer's representation is a little bit different in that the buyer's attorney is searching the title. Um, if there's any curative issues that need to be done, um, you know, a lien that was supposed to have been satisfied years ago and never did. The buyer's attorney is responsible for working with the seller's attorney to help address those curative issues. Um, they're making sure that all the contingencies are met in the contract, and then um at the end, at the end of the closing, after everything's been executed, the buyer's attorney is also responsible for recording any insurance like the deed or the mortgage and then dispersing all the closing proceeds out of the trust account. But real estate doesn't need to be contentious here, right? So um a lot of times it's just a more efficient process to let one attorney handle both sides of the transaction. Right. It gets the closing done quicker without having to worry about documents getting from point A to point B so that they can be recorded in a timely fashion and things like that. The only the only issue that as a buyer or seller I would be concerned with is what happens if there's a dispute uh between the parties and um and and and the the same attorney represent both parties. Well, it's not an issue really, because most uh attorneys who practice in the real estate field here don't litigate, right? So at the end of the day, the attorney that represented you as a as a buyer or as a seller is gonna end up handing you off to an attorney that litigates matters anyway if there's a dispute, right? So the only difference here is that if I'm representing both parties, I can't give advice to either one as it pertains to that dispute because I have information that's valuable to both of them. And so I would just basically tell that client, look, I I understand that you have an issue that you feel like you need to address, and and I encourage you to do that, but here's the name of an attorney that I think you should call and help that. So um, you know, there's not usually, I mean, look, we do thousands of transactions a year. I can count on one hand each year how many times a situation goes sideways and it it gets to the point where one party feels like they need to bring an action against another.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

In fact, it's very, very rare.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

It is rare here. I've noticed that too. I've seen it all the time in New York, but it's very rare and rare here. All right, one question that I get all the time. I just closing day is on a Thursday. I just drove five hours to get to my closing. I closed at 10 o'clock in the morning. I cannot have the keys to my house until two, three o'clock, until my deed is recorded. Table funding, right? Is that what it's called? She's explain that to people, uh Dennis.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

So there are um table funding means that when the buyer's attorney is in receipt of all the originally executed documents, including the deed, and all the funds coming in to be dispersed at the closing, including their clients' funds, um, the earnest money, and the funds coming from a lender if there is one. Once the attorney is in receipt of all that, then the buyer can have access to property and the the sale proceeds will be released to the seller, even if we don't wait for recording of the deed. And and so we um we table fund it with our code. Uh a lot of older friends don't. They they say we're not going to disperse any money until a deed's recorded. That is the opposite of table funding. Now, I I think that's silly, and the reason why is because this is a um a race notice state, and what that means is that um the first person to record their deed is the one that puts the interest, you the interest on record for the world to know. So the recording of a deed isn't really there to help um certify that the closing occurred per se. It's it's there for the benefit of the buyer to let the rest of the world know that that property has conveyed that uh theoretically speaking, a buyer never has to record a deed, and the closing could still occur and the conveyance still occurs. The deed is really just the notice for the rest of the world to know that you know Dennis bought this piece of property. Now, um, race owned states like ours, uh, if you have an unscrupulous seller, they could technically do a closing with Dennis on day one, and then several hours later do a closing with Alicia. And then if Alicia gets to the courthouse before Dennis and records her D, then Alicia has the property. So that it's really there to protect me as the bona fide buyer.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Um, and so you know, our position is like if we have all the money and the property is insured and there's gap title insurance coverage, and we have the document and it's in a position to be recorded, you can have your money and you can have the property, and we'll go ahead and the formality of recording the deed can happen after that shit.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Because when I first bought my condo four years ago and we moved down here, we had driven here, and it was the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, and we closed, and I could not get the access to my new home uh for hours. So we had to drive around, we decided to go buy the furniture, go out to lunch, and then we kept calling our realtor, like, can we can we get in? No, not yet, Alicia. Nobody called me. And then it was like four hours later we got the call. You can go in now.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Yeah, a lot of times you'll find with builders, particularly, like new construction homes.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Oh, this is on my condo.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Four years ago. Yeah, with my new construction, they I got right in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Yeah, yeah. The the builders will usually just want to make sure that the money has been transferred to their attorney's trust account before they'll give you the keys.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Um, you know, and it happens from time to time. I, you know, uh, we had a mail away closing several months ago, and the package was delayed as a result of the snow salt. Oh. And so, you know, this guy closed in Chicago um on a Wednesday or Thursday. They mailed the package to us. It never came to us on Friday when it would needed to be recorded. He was driving down from Chicago and expected to get into the home over the weekend. And um, luckily we were we had a scanned copy of the package that was sent to us by the mobile notary, and so um we were able to get permission from the seller for him to occupy the property.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Perfect. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

And so um, you know, it was just the formality waiting for the documents to come so we could record and disperse on one day.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Um, but yeah, these things happen, but well, there's always ways to navigate around.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Yeah. And I hope during this episode that we're not talking jargon that nobody would understand. So if there's a word or something that you didn't understand, just comment below on, you know, in the comments or whatever, or give me a call, 833 Top Hero, and we can personally set up a call with Dennis from Blair Cato to kind of walk you through the next steps of purchasing a home in in uh South Carolina. But I I say the name, you're wearing the name of the shirt, and I received this package from Blair Cato, and it came with a card, and as you can see, it's as a unicorn, and it said, Congratulations, you're a unicorn. You're the top one percent of agents in the area. It was so beautiful. I don't have the card on me, but let's talk about this the unicorn and thank you so much for these for your company recognizing the hard work that realtors put in.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

So the Unicorn Collective is a program that we um have started at Blair Cato about a year and a half ago, and we wanted to recognize the agents in the industry that um really go out of their way to help um buyers find new homes. So if you are a top 1% buyer agent in your MLS, you are automatically enrolled in the Unicorn Collective, whether you refer business to Blair Cato or not. And what it does is it provides you with uh a number of different um incentives in addition to some really cool gifts and swag that we sent to you um with the unicorn branding. Um it gives you things like priority scheduling on our on our closing calendar. Um, it gives you additional um educational benefits that you can utilize for CE. Um you have uh your own email address uh with the firm that um you can escalate matters directly to a partner level um employee.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

I get all this with the I thought I just got this great like water bottle and this uh shingle blanket.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

No, no.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Oh, so wow, this is great.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

We'll even do we'll even we'll even um provide uh business planning services for you.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Um get out of here.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah, so we there's a lot of really cool benefits. But um, but you know, it it it it's it is limited to one percent um buyer agents, but um there's a good number of you guys out there, so yeah. And this is an incentive for those of you who are close to strive for that.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

I know, I love it. I I absolutely love it. Dennis is Dennis and I have done a um more than a handful of deals together over the past, I guess, three years, three and a half years. So Blair Cato, guys. Now, if somebody wanted to get in touch with you, Dennis, how would they?

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Sure. My uh my direct dial um at the office is 843-919-0989. I guess you pass my receptionist directly to me. Um my email address is Dennis with two Ns, D-E-N-N-I-S at uh Blair Cato.com, B-L-A-I-R-C-A-2.com. Um, and uh yeah, we'd love to work with you. We'd love to have an opportunity to show you um what we do. We're really unique at Blair Cato with our closing day experience. Um, it's really, I think, what sets the firm apart from other firms. Um, we, you know, when you come to our office, first of all, it's gorgeous. Um, you know, very modern, uh, very welcoming. You come in, you get warmly greeted by our receptionists. There's a million snacks or drinks you could choose.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

I'm gonna vouch for that because I get coffee and snacks every time I'm there. You they have like the best collection and the best assortment of snacks.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

And then um, we even have our own beer.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Oh, we have that's right, you do.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yes, it's called Clothing Time Beer. So if you want to have a a beer or a champagne cocktail to celebrate the purchase of the home, we'll we'll offer you something to drink. And then when you're actually in the closing room, you we have an iPad set up for you so that way you could select the kind of music you want to listen to while going through the execution of the documents and beautiful slideshow presentation on the screen, showing a picture of the house and welcoming you to the community and thanking the agents and the lenders who are involved in the transaction for all their hard work. And then we got the fun props you can take pictures with when the closing's completed and all that. So we just really, you know, and I take a lot of time with the closings explaining documents to clients. I'm not one of those attorneys that's just gonna slide a paper in front of you and say, sign here, sign here, sign here. So, you know, we really we we take that that experience to the next level just to show you look, you know, this is a this is usually the biggest transaction most people are gonna um commit to in their entire lifetime. And so we take that seriously and we want to make sure that it's not just a warm and welcoming experience, but we try to have a little fun with her too.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

And one of the things um I want to end my show with, Dennis, is I want to thank you for coming on Blair Cato.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

I want to, you know, I sing and dance my way through life.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

All right, so now pick a great I love the 80s music. Okay, so pick an 80s song.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

My wife is gonna laugh at me because uh this is sort of like for our our history and dating, but uh um I think we're alone now like Tiffany.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

I think we're alone now. There doesn't seem to be Didn't she have a dance? There does there was a dance, there was a dance that went with that. There doesn't seem to be anyone around. I embarrassed.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

I embarrassed my wife when we first started dating, like playing this on a jukebox and a bar we were hanging out in and karaoke singing it to her and myself.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

So you're really women alone, but you just weren't alone at all, yeah. Now, did you guys meet here in New York?

SPEAKER_01 20:03

No, we met here.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

So Dennis is from New York.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Originally, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Yeah, so am I. We're both transplants from New York. He's been here for a lot. Your whole family is here though.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Yeah, my parents moved down in 2001, and I followed them down uh about five years later. So I've been down here almost 19 years now.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Yeah, so Dennis was in the city the day that the on 9-11, the days the day that uh Chris was actually working at the NYPD when the he was working that day when the planes hit, and that was Dennis's your first exam, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:31

That was my yeah, that was my first week of law school. My law school was uh New York Law School, which was just about eight blocks north of the World Trade Center, was the it was the first exam that I had in law school, and I was uh I was late because of what was happening, and I was maybe the only idiot in the city running downtown when everybody else was running all town. But uh yeah, that was a uh that was a difficult day.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

So do you do you continue to practice in New York or no? You only have your license?

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Um I'm I'm sort of in a uh in a I guess a retired state of New York. Um I I still maintain my license, but I don't practice.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I have one more question that everybody always asks me before we go, Dennis.

unknown 21:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

At the end of every closing, I've done a closing and you have the law, the spiel, the four percent and the six percent.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

We gotta talk about that because that confuses a lot of people. Like we cannot end that's how we're gonna end the show with 4% and 6%. Take it away. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

So in South Carolina, the um the default tax assessment rate on all real property is six percent. You get taxed a six percent assessment ratio. But in South Carolina, under a law called Act 388, if you're using that property as your primary residence, you get to apply for what is called a legal residency exemption, which will reduce that assessment ratio from 6% down to 4%. And it doesn't sign make a big difference, but it can save you thousands, literally thousands of dollars on real property taxes every year. Um, and then on top of that, if you are over the age of 65 and have lived in the county for a year, or if you're a disabled veteran, you also get the opportunity to apply for what's called a homestead exemption. And the homestead exemption takes $50,000 off of the assessed value of the property prior to any tax calculation. So you'll have that reduction of $50,000 plus the 4% assessment ratio will save you a lot of money in taxes. So um it's really it's important that um when you buy your home, you're aware of this, that you go and make that application as soon as possible. Um, because you can um, if you don't do that, a lot of times, especially if you have a mortgage, your your lender is calculating your tax escrow at the 4%. And if you fail to make the application and they tax you at 6%, you can end up with a nasty gram from a lender saying, We haven't collected enough money in escrow, and here's how much money you owe us. And um, it's always fixable. It's it even happened to me. Um, and I'm a real estate lawyer, I forgot to make my application. You can always go back, you have I think two years to um make the application, and then they'll revate you the amount of money that you overpaid. Um, but it's more difficult to unwind it than it is to just take care of it up front. So um if if you ever have questions about how taxes um are assessed, obviously give a lee share and myself a call if you're not gonna have to need that process for you.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Sorry about thank you, Dennis Obato, a Blair Cato. Thank you.