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.

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.

Video Summary

What recourse do I have if my builder does not finish my home by the agreed upon completion date?  This is a very troublesome problem whenever builders do not complete the houses or complete the improvements by the specified date.  Most contracts on new construction have a clause that says that the builder does not have any responsibility, and you cannot charge them with any expenses.

If they do not complete it on the agreed upon date, it is great if you can negotiate it in the contract what the damages are.  That is called a liquidated damage clause, and say, $100.00 a day.  If you can prove your damages, you can probably sue the contractor for damages for delaying completion, which is a difficult lawsuit.  So the best thing to do is try and cover that in the contract whenever you contract with the contractor to say how much it is going to cost them.  And there is a great deal of pushback by builders on not agreeing to put a liquidated damages clause in there.

What I have found is, whenever the builder really drags their feet and they have not shown up and have pretty much abandoned this job, then it is my suggestion you contact an attorney, send them a notice of termination, tell them that you are going to hire somebody else, and then sue them for any damages that you have if it is going to be worthwhile.

So if you have any problems with your builder and need some guidance, well, give me a call at 727-847-2288.