Real Estate Blog

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…

Insurance Considerations as Hurricane Dorian Approaches

As Florida braces for the possible threat of Hurricane Dorian, we encourage you to take all necessary precautions to ready your loved ones and homes for potential impact. If you are purchasing property, or representing a buyer of a property, that is set to close in the near future, we urge you to contact your…

No Leaks, No Damages, No Problems!

Congratulations! Your client entered into a new Standard FARBAR Contract on the purchase of a single family home in Sarasota. The only contingencies are inspections and marketable title. Your client immediately hires a professional home inspector to conduct their home inspection. During the Inspection Period the home inspector provides a “clean” report only notating…

The Repair Escrow Agreement: Having Your Cake and Eating It Too

In Florida, more likely than not a buyer will identify his or her requests for repairs early in a real property transaction and prior to closing pursuant to the standard FAR/BAR contractual provisions with little fanfare. Nonetheless, as in life and in realty, there are unforeseen circumstances where a closing extension would be difficult and…

I See Dead People (On Title)!

There are endless reasons for property owners to make the decision to sell their property. Unfortunately, one of the most common motivating factors is the passing away of an owner of the property. On top of everything that goes along with the death of a loved one, the last thing a Seller needs or wants…

“Options? We All Got ‘Em, We All Want ‘Em, What Do We Do With Them?”

We see option contracts for real estate purchases frequently, and we run into problems with those contracts just as frequently. In this blog we’ll go over what option contracts are, what they require to be effective, and we’ll identify some common pitfalls. An option contract is a promise by the owner of property to sell…

New Construction, Review Before You Execute

New construction agreements can be extremely complicated and it is important that the buyer have a thorough understanding of the contract and terms prior to executing. The construction agreements provided by developers are typically one sided and do very little to protect the buyer/owner in the event that an issue should arise. It is…

Your Condo Purchase-Treat It As An Investment

Condominium purchases by their nature involve property rights that are more complicated than typical single family lots or properties. We have written several blog articles relating to investigations that buyers and their realtors should undertake prior to their purchase (links are included at the end of this blog). It is said that ownership of real…

Check Out My Title While BPE Resolves It!

One of the most frequent questions we receive from realtors involves the status of title to the property. The answer to the question “how is title” can be a source of great anxiety or a source of great relief. As a result, most people involved in any real estate transaction want the answer to that…