Video Summary

What is a recourse loan? Well, most loans are recourse, so whenever you sign a promissory note, it says, “I promise to pay,” and whenever you sign that, it obligates you to pay the amount that is set forth in the promissory note, or in the loan documents. Almost all commercial paper and any loans that you get from banks or financial institutions, loan companies, anyone else, is it is going to be what they call recourse; means they have a right to sue you.

The opposite of recourse is non-recourse, and that is whenever the note says that they will not look to the maker for payment; they will look only to the collateral. So, probably the better question, or answer, to that is:  is that you want to sign non-recourse paper, meaning that they can’t sue you if for any deficiency they take back whatever collateral it be, whether it be automobiles or real estate. However, it is difficult to obtain these loans and most lenders want you to be personally liable for the loans or have recourse paper or a recourse loan.

If you have any questions about that, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

What is a subprime mortgage?

Well, they are almost a thing of the past, but a subprime mortgage is one whenever someone had bad credit or did not have very good credit and they would not qualify for your regular, conventional mortgages. Therefore, they would end up paying a much higher interest rate or a higher closing cost, and there was a market for that prior to the passage of Dodd-Frank and the real estate crash.

A subprime mortgage is one where your credit isn’t great and therefore the interest rate is much higher, much higher risk for the lender, and so they call them subprime since you don’t have good credit, or the borrower doesn’t have good credit.

If you need to see about getting a loan and you don’t have good credit, well, give me a call at 727-847-2288 and I will see about heading you in the right direction.

Video Summary

What has changed regarding home mortgages?

Well, the Dodd-Frank Act requires your lenders to do certain matters, as of October 3. How that affects you is going to be a delay in how they process your loan.

The lenders now must provide you with a disclosure statement three days before the closing which outlines all of your costs. Prior to this time you may get your disclosure statements or your bank charges at the closing or on your closing statement. That has now changed, and the lender has to send that to you three days prior to the closing. Be sure that you receive it by then. That is going to outline all of your closing documents and probably somewhat overwhelm you with all their documentation. Three days later, the loan can close.

This disclosure statement cannot be disclosed to anyone other than you, the borrower, and the closing agent – of course – has to have it. There will be another, supplemental closing statement which is the figures that you will use to close the transaction between you and the seller. This will basically put down the tax pro-rations, some charges that are not related to the lender’s fees. Since this was only applicable to mortgages that were applied to as of October 3, the process really hasn’t been gone through or refined, and we don’t have a lot of experience with it. So, you can expect maybe some hiccoughs along the way as far as a closing for a loan that you applied for after October 3.

Also, the Dodd-Frank bill changed the way that you could borrow money if you are buying a home from a third-party investor, or even a relative. Dodd-Frank does not allow for third parties to lend you money for your home unless they comply with all the guidelines that are in place for your large institutional lender, such as 30 year mortgages fixed-rate loans. That has impacted people wanting to borrow money from their relatives.

If you are needing some help as far as borrowing money, I am not going to lend it to you, but I can send you in the right direction as to who you can borrow it from. If you have some problems as far as wanting a relative to lend you money, give me a call at 727-847-2288 and I will be glad to try and help you. Thank you.

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

Do I have any recourse in obtaining a home warranty that was promised by never delivered by my contractor?  The answer to the question is yes, if that’s part of the contract and they don’t deliver it, you’re entitled to sue them for breach of contract and what your damages are.

The problem is, is measuring your damages and what it will cost you to obtain that warranty through another source, or whoever it was going to be issued through.  So it’s a question of coming up with the measure of your damage as far as getting the home warranty contract.  Any time you have a breach of contract by your contractor, the first thing that I will advise if you call me about the problem, is call in another contractor, ask him to advise you how much it’s going to cost to complete the job that you contracted for.  And so then we take his costs, add it to what you’ve already paid to the contractor, and then subtract the total contract price to see what your damages may be.  In the case of a home warranty, that will be interesting to see if another contractor would be able to issue that home warranty and then assigning a value to it as far as your damages are concerned.  A tough question, not a very good answer.  But it is what it is.  So if you have any questions about your contractor and your home warranties, well call me at 727-847-2288.