Video Summary

Can a home equity loan be used to purchase investment property?  The answer is yes.  You can use the proceeds from a home equity line of credit to purchase investment property.

Once you obtain this line of credit on your home, the bank does not monitor what you use the money for.  You can use it for entertainment, to pay off credit cards; you can use it for anything you like.  The downside of it is, you put a mortgage against your home.  So if you do not repay it, your home is at risk.

So yes, you can use the proceeds from your home equity line of credit to buy investment property, or for that matter, to take your bride out to dinner.

If you have any questions about a home equity line of credit, 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.

Video Summary

Do property repairs have to be completed by the seller before closing?  Usually these repairs arise as a result of an inspection by the buyer or they may possibly be as a result of a final walkthrough whenever there has been some kind of loss or something discovered about the property and the sellers agreed to make these repairs.  Ideally it would be great to have the repairs done prior to closing; however, there is some urgency so the repairs many times are not done before closing and how you handle that is you simply escrow the money or give the buyer an allowance for these repairs so that the closing can go through.  The buyer can take care of doing the repairs themselves and the seller is relieved of any kind of responsibility.

So if you have any problems with real estate transaction, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Why do I need title insurance?  Well, primarily the title insurance covers you so if there is any title defects in the property that they will pay for it.

Say, 50 years ago how you made sure that you had clear title or marketable title to the property is you relied upon an abstract to the property and then an attorney would give you a written opinion as to whether or not the title was clear after examining an abstract.

That time has long since passed because let’s say the lawyer missed something.  Well, then you would have to sue the lawyer because he did not find it or made a mistake.  And if the lawyer (A) didn’t have any money or (2) was dead or not available or moved away, well, you were stuck.

So they have come in with title insurance so now you have an insurance company to look at your title and guarantee that you have marketable title that covers any things that are missed in the search as well as things such as forgeries or things that do not appear in the public records.

But the biggest thing that title insurance does is you are assured that someone has examined the title and done a title search to see if there is anything there so it’s more of a preventative matter rather than a remedial matter.  And, therefore, it’s a small percentage of what the purchase price is.  It certainly does not cost like homeowner’s insurance.

But also, title insurance you need to hang onto it even after you sell the property because later on if there is a title defect and someone wants to sue you on the warranties that you have given under a Warranty Deed, you can then call on your title company to defend you because they insured that you had marketable title.

So the primary reason for a title policy is that you know someone has examined the title and that you are getting the property free of any liens and that it’s only subject to various easements of the Condominium’s or Homeowner’s Association which also you can ask for copies of those.  So it is informative, preventative and also gives you assurances or insurance against any defects that were missed.

So I would strongly recommend title insurance and usually the seller pays for that in the Tampa Bay area.  And in the Miami, Broward and Palm Beach area I believe that the buyer buys his own title insurance instead of the seller.

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

Video Summary

Can you terminate a home purchase agreement if you are not satisfied with the home inspection report?  The answer to the question lies in the contract.

Most contracts for residential property have an inspection paragraph that gives you so many days in which to inspect the property.  These are called “As Is Contracts.”  So it says that you have 10 or 15 days to inspect the property and if you are not satisfied you merely need to give notice within that time period to terminate the contract and then you should receive your deposit back.

If your contract does not have an inspection period and you find a defect in the property that is not readily observable, you would have a right to terminate the contract for a latent defect that was not disclosed.   You cannot terminate a contract if you go past the inspection time period set forth.

So you need to read your contract and see what it has to say and it will probably provide for an inspection period and you would be able to terminate.

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