Video Summary

Are there any Florida laws involving pets that I should be aware of as a new property owner?  Well, the only time you need to worry or be concerned about the Florida laws is if you’re on a gate-restricted community or on a condominium, and under those rules and regulations or the restrictive covenants of the Homeowner’s Association or the declaration of condominium, they may have some restriction as far as pet ownership is concerned, the size of the dog, the type of the dog, the type of the pet that you may have.

If you own your property and you don’t have a mortgage on it or even if you have a mortgage on it, that’s not determinative, there’s no restrictions as far as your ownership is concerned.  However, you do need to be concerned about your insurance.  Your insurance company may not write your insurance if you have what they consider a dog that may be considered a liability, such as a German Shepherd, Doberman Pinschers, Pit Bulls, and dogs of that nature, whether or not they are in fact dangerous or not, they may have a problem – you may have a problem in getting insurance ’cause they may ask you whether or not you have a pet.

But if you own cash and not worried about or even with a mortgage or – and it’s not in a condominium or there’s no restrictive covenants, there’s no laws that have anything to do with Florida laws of having anything to do with your pets.  I would tell you though with – there is zoning requirements if you consider a pet a horse or livestock or chickens and poultry and things like that, there may be some zoning, local zoning, ordinances that prohibit the maintaining of horses or livestock.  But if you want to keep the pet inside your home, there’s no restrictions as to your ability to maintain or have a pet in your home.

So if you have any questions about that, then give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

Is a land contract still a viable means of purchasing a home?  The answer to the question is, is that Florida does not have land contracts.

I know Michigan has land contracts and any number of other states.  And the reason why many people use land contracts is that they’re in a state that has a non-judicial foreclosure statute which allows them to foreclosure, or get the property back through non-judicial procedures.  Florida is a judicial procedure state which requires you to go through a court proceeding to foreclose and take back property.  And so a land contract, the closest thing we have to it in Florida is called an agreement for deed.  An agreement for deed is the same as – has to be enforced the same as a note and mortgage and therefore you don’t see too many agreements for deed, because although the seller retains the title to the property and puts you in possession, if the buyer defaults they still have to go through a foreclosure process and so it defeats the purpose of using a land contract.

The other way of avoiding going through a foreclosure process if you’re the seller, and the buyer has a very small down payment, is to go with a lease with an option to purchase.  And that way if the buyer defaults in the payment, you’re then in a position to evict them rather than going through a foreclosure process, which is much quicker and less expensive than a foreclosure process.  It’ll probably take six, nine months to a year to foreclose a piece of property and costs and anywhere from $4,000.00 to $5,000.00.  Whereas with an eviction process you’re looking at probably 30 to 45 days and approximately $1,500.00 to $2,000.00 for an eviction process.  So if you talk land contracts in Florida, they’re gonna look at you with a blank stare, because it’s something that comes out of the Midwest or a state that has non-judicial foreclosures, and they are so you don’t have those in Florida.

If you have any questions about land contracts or buying and selling real property with owner financing, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.