Real Estate Q and A Scroll down if you want to submit a question
Appraisal did not come in at agreed upon sales price. What does it say in your contract?What are your rights? We use the FAR (Florida Association of Realtors) approved contract and it states that if the appraisal comes in below agreed upon sales price, the buyer can either walk away from the contract or buyer and seller can renegotiate.The appliances are all 15 to 18 years old. Yes, they work right now but what if they break within a month after the closing? Who has to replace them? Me or the seller? Well short answer is YOU but the best advice I can give you is buy or have someone (the seller) buy a home warranty plan for you. They range somewhere between $300 and $500 and most of them cover appliances and AC.If they can not repair it free of charge they will replace it for free.
How motivated is the seller? This is always the big question. Well, the seller knows and maybe his agents know but none of them will tell you. The best thing you can do is have our Realtor check the public records and history of the listing; you might find very interesting things that give you a good idea. With this information and a general knowledge of the market you have a better shot to get it for the best price possible.
My Condo has Termites, who pays for the treatment? 99% of the time it is the association´s problem, but make sure, call them or read the condo docs.
How much escrow deposit should I offer? It depends, escrow deposit makes an offer stronger, the more the better, but you need to have all your ducks in a row and see the big picture, if you play it smart it could be a great negotiation point.
What is the effective date on a contract? This is very important, the date the last person signs the offer and it becomes a legal binding contract. All dead lines start counting on this day.
I could not get financing and wanted my $10,000 deposit back, the seller´s agent said "I can not get it back because I had 20 days to get the financing done, it is 22 day now and after 20 days the contingency is waved according to contract." 20 days is 4 week but it has only been 3 weeks since I sign the contract. I have not seen the contract, but most likely you did not realize that it was a contract that went by calendar days (FARBAR) instead of business days (FAR)
How long should the financing contingency be? Depends on which site you are. As a seller I want a very short time frame. As a buyer I want it as long as possible.
Who picks the Title company? It is all negotiable either buyer or seller can pick, depends on what you agreed to.I have seen contracts where the buyer picks the Title company and the seller pays for it or the other way around. I believe that if I pay for it I should choose it.
I want to buy a handy man special, fix it up and sell it again. Should I buy it in my Corporation or my own name? Well, you have to ask your accountancy because every situation is different, just keep in mind corporations pays capital gains of 35% not 15%, this makes a big difference.
How can I find the tax mileage rate for my new property? Go to the property appraisers wesite, they have a chart on their website.
We signed a Far 9 contract, now buyer wants me to replace carpet, do I have to? No, you do not. Carpet is not a warranted item.
The roof is leaking; the buyer wants me to repair it before closing, do I have to? Yes Mr. Seller, you have to unless it is an AS IS contract that excludes warrented items.
Can I advertise my property in the Real Estate book or Pinellas Home Search? No, most Real Estate magazine do not accept advertising directly from the owners, only from Realtors
I bought a vacation condo last month and now I am in trouble with the condo association We have a family of seven and they say we can only have 4 people at the time in the condo, is this correct? I do not know which Condo complex you bought into, but you should have read the Condo docs if there is a restriction it will say so in the docs or rules and regs.
I have a very nice offer from a buyer, cash deal but closing is 3 month away. How can I make sure the buyer really has the money? You can ask for proof of funds or make him deposit the whole sales price in an escrow account.
My Home inspector missed a leaking faucet; I just discovered it when I moved in. Can I hold the home inspector responsible? Well, you should be able to hold him responsible since you paid him to do the inspection but unfortunately I have not seen an Inspector yet that will take responsibility, so try it, but most likely you are out of luck. I had a deal where the home inspector missed a leaking roof ($12,000 repair) and no way the buyer could get any money from him.
Who has to pay for the survey? It is negotiable, but I thing it is more than fair that the party who wants or needs it pays for it.
Closing day is tomorrow, the seller has not moved out yet, what can I do? I had a case like this and I personally went over to the house and"helped them pack"They wanted to wait and see if the closing actually happens before they move. . . . I could make them understand that the closing will actually NOT happen if they are still in the house. According to the contract we had, the house belongs to the buyer at the day of closing, not the seller.
The house I am selling is rented and will be after closing, who get the rent for this month? It is all negotiable, but most of the time it is prorated; your title company can do this for you and adjust the closing statement accordingly.
Is it good idea to help the buyer with closing cost? In this kind of market everything that helps you sell the house is a good idea! But talk to the buyer´s mortgage broker or lender and see what their requirements are and how much money they allow.
This is the second time a deal on my house did not close because of financing. Anything I can do to prevent this? Not only did I loose about 5 month waiting for these two deals, but I packed up all my stuff, ready to move out and I am now paying a second mortgage for my new house.
There are no water proofed deals, there is always something that can happen last minute and ruin the deal, but financing should not be one of these things. Ask for a pre approval letter before you accept he offer and give the buyer tight dead lines to apply for a mortgage and to get a commitment letter and add a paragraphthat the financing contingency will be removed after so many days.
How do I find the right Realtors to help me sell my property?I can not say it often enough, Compare, Compare, Compare. I was at my neighborhood bar last night and I got into a conversation about real estate with someone that lives in another county and was just here on vacation.Long story short, he was complaining about his realtor who charged 8% commission to sell a vacant lot. And sure enough, here is the question
"Anne, don´t you think this is a lot of money just to put it in the MLS"
Sometimes I do not understand sellers. If you need a new fridge, you go out and you COMPARE. Price, energy efficiency, size, color . . . .Best Real Estate advice I can give to sellers is Compare, and make sure that you get what you pay for. Tell the Realtors what you expect and let them create a marketing plan tailored to your needs.Compare service and commission and realtors qualifications. Make an educated decision; don´t just go with the "Realtor friend" or the "Realtor that is your neighbor" or"the Realtor that is always sooooooooo nice" or "the Realtor who tells you the highest sales price"
Pick and choose wisely and make them accountable. Do not just take their word for it, get a marketing plan in writing and check if they do what they promised to do.
My deal fell apart because buyer could not get insurance.This is Florida. The Hurricane state.Make sure that you have all your insurance information ready when you get an offer on your house. A lot of deals fall apart because buyers can't get insurance or they are from out of town and do not know where to go to or they can't get insurance because you are in the "storm box" It is important that you help them with information if needed.Is it a good idea to ask for a 24 hour period before a showing?NO, it is not. Make you home easily accessible.a lot of buyers are from out of town and they are only here for a few days. If they can't see your home, you can not sell it.Don´t miss out just because it is not so convenient right now.Be prepared to show it anytime.
OwnershipTYPES OF PROPERTY OWNERSHIP IN FLORIDA
Real Estate as an investment (rental condo or house) is it a good idea? We have a lot of customers that want to buy a house or condo and use it themselves a few times for vacation and the rest of the time rent out.
Once they retire they want to move in themselves. If this is your dream too, it is important that you read this. (and you might not like it)
Let me start with the frustrating part.
Live changes all the time, what you want right now might not be what you want in 10 years from now. In my 14 years of Real Estate I have seen it over and over again; it is nearly impossible to find a condo or house that you fall in love with and at the same time has a fantastic rental income. Some reasons are
Once you live in the condo you prefer to have the same neighbors for years and years, get to know them and start a relationship.
Well, most of the time this doesn´t go along with good rental income.
We have 3 typical scenarios in our area
A Condo hotels with a 3 day rental minimum
You will have great rental income but the owner usage is restricted, you can never live in it full time (it´s the law)
B Condos with a one month minimum
This is kind of the middle deal, most likely the rental income will not pay for your expenses, and your neighbors will change by the month
C Condos with a 3 month minimum
If you find a renter that wants to stay 3 month, you are lucky, but it is a great place to live because there are only a few rentals and your neighbors won´t change this much
So, here is the first decision you have to make A or B or C
What do you want? Like always, can´t have it all.
Great, now you found a Realtor that destroyed your dream instead of assisting you to make it come true. Well, it is not all that bad, my advice it, first things first
Remember, live changes, have long-term goals, but break them up in a couple of short term goals. In your case it might be
Let me take advanced of the low prices in Florida right now and buy a Condo with a great rental history that I can use for vacation over the next couple of years. This way I can get a great deal and good rental income and I have an escape for a few weeks out of the year.
When it is time to retire, I will sell the condo and buy my DREAM HOME.
The rental history, management fees, taxes these are all things that vary from property to property.
Check the maintenance fee for condos (this won´t change because you buy) there are big differences.
Taxes will change when you buy.
We will have to see what the tax reform brings, but for your situation and right now you can figure about $1500 per year per every $100,000 of the sales price
This is just my rule of thumb; we would have to double check once you identify a unit you like.
If I understand you correctly, one of your priorities is "A good Deal" So we have to pay attention to the numbers. Sometimes even if the cost to maintain and rent the property is high, you get so much more rental income that in the end it is still a good deal. We have a lot of units with a horrible rental history, but knowing the area and once you dig a little deeper you might find that with a few changes in management or updates you could have a fantastic rental income. Guess what I am saying is. I can not give you "general information or help" it is different from unit to unit. Sometimes little things make a big difference.
Is it true that co ops, can not be rented?
It might be different from State to State. But here in Florida you can rent your co op as long as it is allowed per
Occupancy agreement / the Co Op rules.
Each Co Op has a different set of rules and regulation, similar to the condominium documents.
In these documents you find all kinds of information and rules of the cooperative. Some might not allow rentals at all, others might restrict rentals to a yearly base or to once a year etc.
So, there is no "general" answer to your question, you have to check the co op doc.
My wife and I are both 70 yrs old, If we purchased in a 55+ condo setting, can we have our daughter's name who is 49yrs old on the joint ownership with right of surviorship? thank you in advance.
In General and per law, rules and regulations the answer is NO. Your daughter can not be on the deed.
In Reality, I think there is a very high chance of doing this and getting your daughter on the deed with you.
There are a few ways to approach this scenario.
First, your Realtor should talk to the condo association and the property manager and most likely they will understand the situation and the reasoning behind this and they will make an exemption. They might ask for a written statement that your daughter is not living there with you, but in the end I think most associations will be ok with it.
If this does not work, you could inquiry about their 10% rule and maybe get it done this way.
If both will not work, your Realtor should talk to the Title Company and there might be a way by quit claim deed or gift to get her on the deed with you right after the sale.
So, I in summery, think it can be done one way or another.
This things can be taken care off before you make an offer or you make your offer contingent upon this.
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Please keep in mind, none of the above is legal advice,
we are Realtors not Lawyers.
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