Real Estate Blog

Survey What, Survey Who?:

A buyer of real property normally is required to procure a survey due to a lender’s requirements. This is not so when a buyer is purchasing real property using cash or private financing. We often see the preceding buyers attempt to reduce their costs by forgoing the cost of a new survey and rely on…

Things That Go Bump In The Night

Honey, do you hear that? What is that noise!? It almost sounds like something is … CRAWLING INSIDE THE WALLS!! It’s your first time finally spending the night in your new home after a long wait during the closing process. All you want to do is get a good night’s rest and dream about all…

I just noticed something…

Real estate sellers and buyers are often required to provide contractual notices to their counterparties relative to all kinds of different issues. For instance: cancelling a contract requires timely notice, objecting to title issues requires notice, and financing issues require notice, to name just a few. How does one party provide notice to another? The…

Standard Or “As Is?” That Is The Question

While Florida law requires no particular form of contract for a real estate transaction, the FR/BAR Contract forms are the most utilized and well-recognized residential contract forms in Florida. The FR/BAR Contracts, created and approved by a collaboration between the Florida Association of Realtors and the Florida Bar, include two Contract forms: the Residential Contract…

Can I Get A Pre-Nup (Or A Post-Nup)?!?

With respect to real property transactions, understanding contracts is a daily challenge. Whether it is a listing agreement, an “As Is” agreement, or even a warranty deed, contracts are at the heart of what real estate agents deal with (outside of the actual clients.) On occasion, non-real estate contracts will creep into a transaction…

Property Sharing: Yours, Mine and Ours

Many times property ends up having some form of shared ownership. Sometimes it is simply in the form of joint tenants or tenants in common, but sometimes more complex forms are involved such as life estates, ownership through entities or even by agreement (such as a co-habitation agreement). Over the years, statutes and common law…

Show Me The Money!

Disbursement instructions to closing agents come in all shapes and sizes, but they all have one thing in common. Each involves a specific direction to the closing agent to disburse the funds entrusted to the closing agent precisely as instructed. The most common form of disbursement instructions involve the settlement statement itself (which is executed…

Escrow Deposits – What’s the magic number?

Escrow Deposits – What’s the magic number? When a Buyer writes up an offer to purchase real estate, one of the first decisions that they make is how much to put down as an escrow deposit. Oftentimes the Buyer isn’t certain. They may ask their agent what is customary, they may try to choose a…

It’s Not Over Until It’s Really Over…Selling Real Estate After A Divorce

As you all know, real estate professionals constantly wear an abundance of different “hats.” Working in the real estate world demands that real estate professionals have at least a minimal understanding of a variety of topics including, but not limited to, family law, wills, trusts and estates. Even with divorce rates slightly declining, it is…

“Trim Notices & Property Taxes-What to Expect”

At the end of August every year, while most of us are gearing up for football season, County property appraisers across the state are sending out TRIM notices. The TRIM (Truth in Millage) notice or Notice of Proposed Property Taxes is the document that provides a home owner with the updated assessed value (the taxable…