Video Summary

 

Is the housing market on the rise in 2015?  Well you are simply asking an opinion of a real estate lawyer in New Port Richey, Florida.  From my perspective, yes; the market is picking up.  The number of sales in particular, as far as the price is concerned, we are seeing some price appreciation in that you have supply and demand. 

What is also interesting is the amount of owner financing that I’m seeing involved in the sale of properties or leases with options to sell.  So from my perspective in Pasco County, New Port Richey, Florida is yes, the housing market is improving substantially and hopefully we continue to get a price appreciation.

 

And if you need some assistance in selling your home or closing your home, I write title insurance and also if you need some help with the owner financing I’ll be glad to discuss with you the advantages, at least with an option to purchase, and also whether or not you can take back a note and mortgage and what the downside is to owner financing.


Give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

 

Video Summary

 

If I have assets in more than one state do I need more than one will?  The answer to that is no, no, no.  You need to have one will and it says that I devise all my real and personal property wherever it is situated to, and then you say who you leave it to.  And so if the will is valid in the state where you execute it, then you can then use it to transfer or have the property probated in another state.  So you have one will and the other states will honor that will if it’s honored in the state where it’s executed.

 

There is one exception is if you have what they call a holographic will which is a hand-written will, some states allow that to be entered.  Florida requires all wills have at least two witnesses.  So the will must have two witnesses to be recognized by Florida.  But you only have one will and that covers all your asset no matter where they’re situated.

 

Now you run into a problem if you have property outside the United States, particularly in Europe or some of the other countries and that we have the English common law and these other states are code states, like in France they have the Napoleonic code, they might have forced inheritance agreements.  And so you need to have that addressed.  And then whenever people from England or Europe come to see me here in Florida, I prepare a will for U.S. assets only that complies with Florida law because it is a nightmare trying to understand what the laws are of a foreign country in order to have them apply to the Florida assets.  And then you have other problems as far as community property states which we have seven of those are all west of the Mississippi, and that can affect who inherits your property and who’s entitled to the property.  I’m not a community property expert but I know just enough to know that I don’t know.

 

So but if you’re a Florida resident you only need to have one will for wherever your assets are situated throughout the United States.  And if you have property in a foreign country I suggest that we have an attorney or a notaire in that particular country prepare an inheritance agreement so you know who will receive it whenever you pass away.

 

So if you have any questions about this, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

 

Video Summary

 

If separated, can my spouse inherit the property I buy before we are divorced?  Well one of the first things we need to address is Florida doesn’t have legal separation.  I believe that’s something comes from New York where they may have legal separation but we don’t have that.  In Florida either you’re married or you’re single, one of the two, you’re not anywhere in between as far as your rights are concerned.

 

So we get to the question as to whether or not your spouse can inherit your property.  Under our Florida law as is that you can leave your property to whomever you want under your will and you can exclude your spouse.  Your spouse then has the right to file what they call an elective share wherein they get I believe it’s 30 percent of everything you own no matter how you hold it, whether it be in a revocable trust or wherever.  So yes, you can buy property, you can leave it to whoever you want to.

 

Now if you happen to buy a home and you’re separated and you not going to be able get a mortgage when you buy a home in Florida if you’re married without the joint of your spouse because the Florida constitution requires that a spouse join in any conveyance or any mortgage as far as your homestead is concerned.  But let’s say you say, “Well that’s not a problem.  I pay cash for it.”  Well that’s, it’s not a problem until you get ready to sell it during your lifetime while you’re still alive, and then you turn around and have to have your spouse join in the deed in order to be able to sell it.  So if it’s your homestead here in Florida it’s not so much a problem buying it but when you get ready to get rid of it or try and mortgage it, you’ve got problems as far as needing your estranged spouse to sign.

 

Also if you are still married, even though you’re separated and you own your homestead here in Florida and you pass away, the spouse has a right to a life of state in your homestead property or can elect to take a half interest  provided that you don’t have any minor children.  If you have minor children then it’s automatic life estate.  So there’s any number of complications as far as purchasing property.  And so my suggestion is if you’re separated, well you need to go ahead and take care of getting divorced and clean up your property rights or enter into a marital settlement agreement with your separated spouse whereby they’re waiving any rights in this and that’s another way to handle these problems.

 

So if you have any questions on that, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

 

Video Summary

What should I do if my neighbor’s fence is situated on a portion of my property?  Well usually it’s not a problem particularly if it’s just over a little bit and you get along with your neighbor.  Some people get concerned about having fences on their property and they get concerned about the neighbor cutting the grass or being able to claim that property if they leave the fence there a long period of time.  That is not the case.  The only time that you have to worry about if it comes into being is whenever the boundary line is uncertain.  Let’s say you don’t have a platted lot or you’re out in the field, and then you have a dispute as to where the actual boundary line is.  And then sometimes the fence can be indicative of where the boundary line should be.

 

But fences, a lot of people look at that when they buy property and think well, the fence shows where the boundary line is when in fact the fences don’t show where the boundary line is and you really need to have a survey.  Getting back to the question about what to do about it with your neighbor, well good fences make good neighbors and if it doesn’t, it encroaches just a few inches one way or the other, well, it’s certainly not going to hurt you in any way.  And so I wouldn’t worry about it.  If your neighbor becomes a problem, well then I suggest you get a survey so that you have a drawing that shows where your fence is on your property and if you want it removed and you don’t get along with the neighbor is to send him a copy of the survey and a letter saying that please move your fence and give him a time certain.  Say if you don’t contact me within that period of time I’m going to remove your fence from my property.  Please make arrangements and remove your fence.

 

So it really doesn’t present too much of a problem.  Now whenever you get financing and there’s a fence encroachment, the lenders really don’t have problems with the title insurance people will probably ensure the lender that they won’t suffer any loss by reason of a fence encroachment.  So it’s primarily a how well do you get along with your neighbor situation rather than any particular legal situation  ’cause you’re not gonna lose your property over the fence being on your property.

 

So if you got a fence problem, well give me a call.  I’ll be glad to talk to you about it but you don’t want to spend a whole lot of money on it.  The other solution is if you do want it removed at some point is try and enter into an agreement with our neighbor that says I don’t have a problem with it but if somebody on down the line, we need to take care of it for legal purposes, will you sign an agreement that you’ll remove it later on is another solution.

 

So if you have questions, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.  Thank you.

 

 

Video Summary

 

Should a purchaser of a home include a mold and radon inspection in their contract?  The answer is is most contracts in Florida, particularly the ones that are drafted on a Florida far-bar contract provide for radon disclosure and there could be a mold addendum attached to the contract.  And the purchaser routinely has an inspection period.  So if you’re concerned about mold or radon, well then you simply need to employ your home inspector to inspect the air quality of the home during your inspection period, which sometimes are as short as 10 days or 15 days.

 

So you need to think about that before you sign the contract, get in touch with an inspector who does do air quality testing.  And that way if you find that there is problems with the air quality you can then make the decision as to whether or not you want to proceed with the sale, the purchase, or terminate the contract and or see how much it would cost to remediate any kind of air quality problems and reduce it to a financial or a numerical number.  So if it’s you’re buying a $300,000.00 home, it’s going to cost you $400.00 or $500.00 to take care remediating the problem, well that’s not the end of the world and you can probably negotiate that out with the seller of the property.

 

So also as far as radon is concerned, I haven’t seen a lot of radon in the west Florida area in and around the Tampa Bay area but if that is a concern then you could, I suggest you do have a radon test done.  They do have these little kits but I’m not sure how accurate they are and I’m not even, I don’t even know anyone that tests for radon.  I think they come in with Geiger counters and you’re supposed to close the property up for a certain number of days.  But any tests that you have if you’re concerned about air quality or any problems with a home, well you need to make arrangements for the testing before you sign the contract so you can get it done within the inspection period so that you can get out of the contract if you need be or negotiate it.

 

So if you have any questions about purchasing a home and need any guidance, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.