Video Summary

Why do I need to hire a lawyer to prepare my real estate contract?  The answer to that is all the written information that’s in a standard contract you need to understand and also what your liabilities are, as far as contracts are concerned. Whether it is commercial real estate or whether it is residential real estate.  Also, in the event that you are doing owner financing, I believe that you would want to have an attorney prepare the note and mortgage and that there is a lot involved as far as owner financing.

Also there is various clauses in the contract that you have a right to make an election of and that has to do with paying of assessments.  If you use a standard contract you need to discuss that and have a meeting of the mind so both the buyer and seller understand the transaction and the real estate deal, the contract really, everybody understands the deal or the agreement that they made and the contract represents the understanding of the parties.  And another big issue is who is paying the closing costs, what are the closing costs, whether or not we have title insurance, whether or not the buyer wishes to have a survey.  If it is residential property, have the property inspected even it is an as-is contract, the seller is responsible for disclosing to the buyer any matters that may materially affect the value of the property but are not readily observable.

So there is any number of responsibilities of both the buyer and the seller as far as preparing the contract and basically it is a roadmap to the closing and if you have a lawyer prepare it, he can explain to you the provisions of the contract and protect you whether you being the buyer or the seller.

So, if you are selling your property or buying real property and would like to have your contract reviewed or a contract prepared, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

If you buy an existing mortgage from an investor, would the mortgage fall under the Dodd Frank Act or The Safe Act?  Well, first you need to determine whether or not it is an exempt transaction from Dodd Frank and under The Safe Act.  But you have to look at the loan at the time of its inception and do not believe that you would be able to say, “Well I purchased it from an investor and therefore Dodd Frank or The Safe Act does not apply.”  So it is my opinion, that you have to look at the loan at its inception to determine whether or not it is governed by Dodd Frank or The Safe Act and if it is, you are also going to be subject to all the defenses of the borrower and that that’s the purpose of these acts is to protect a person who is buying the home and you will not be insulated as a result of buying these loans from an investor.

If you have any other questions, I will try and answer those as far as Dodd Frank since it’s relatively new and there is a thousand-page act and I have not read the whole act, but basically talk about what loans are exempt from Dodd Frank.

Give me a call if you have any questions at 727-847-2288. Thank you.

Video Summary

Can a bank refuse to lend money if the home has radon?  The answer to the question is yes.  What they will usually do anytime there is a problem with the property itself; they will require the problem to be fixed, such as, if there is a roof that does not have a useful life.  In order for them to give a loan, they may require that the roof be replaced in order to give the loan.  That would be the same case as far as radon, in that they do not want to lend money if their collateral, which would be the home, would be impaired by any sort of defect, whether it be radon, whether it be a sinkhole, structural problems or not complying with the building code.

So the banks would not lend money because a house with radon is certainly not worth as much as one without radon and so it impacts the value of the home.  I might add that in the Pasco County, New Port Richey area of Florida, I have not encountered any properties with radon.  So we do have a radon disclosure, however I haven’t encountered that.  So I can only speak in generalized terms as far as what lenders would do but I can’t imagine a bank lending money if they are aware that there is radon on the property.

This is Roland Waller. Give me a call at 727-847-2288 if you have any other questions about buying or selling real estate.

Video Summary

What should a first-time homebuyer know before making an offer on a home?  Well, I don’t know that this is advice for the first-time homebuyers or all homebuyers whenever you are getting ready to purchase a house.  It is called due diligence, and so the first thing you need to do is research the price.  Now how do you go about that?  Well, it takes work and effort, and I suggest that you look at several houses.  The more houses that you look at, whether you like them or not, you then have a sense of the value that you are getting or you are not getting, as far as the price is concerned.  So look at more than one house before you make an offer so you get comfortable with it.

I would also, if you are interested in purchasing a particular house in a particular neighborhood, that you ask the Realtor that’s showing you the property if they wouldn’t do a comparative market analysis so that you know how much the other houses are selling for in the neighborhood or have sold for.  That’s called a CMA, and the Realtor should be able to do that by pulling up comparable sales in the neighborhood.  This is the work you need to do as far as the price is concerned.

You also need to check into whether or not the property is in a flood zone, particularly if you are going to have financing, and that the flood insurance may – well, it is an extra expense.  If you are in an area that does require flood insurance, it’s going to be an extra cost to you on a monthly basis in your mortgage payment.  If you are paying cash, then you do not need flood insurance ever, then you have to get comfortable with that.

You need to have an inspection of the property or have one done to see does the roof leak?  That’s a huge expense, no matter how much the useful life is.  You need to have the air conditioning checked out to see how long is it going to last.  It may be operational, but it may be 15 years old.  It may not be very energy-efficient.  Now all these factors may be factored into the price of the property, but you need to understand whether you are looking at a substantial layout as far as funds are concerned.

One of the bigger concerns, particularly in Pasco, Hernando, Hillsborough, and Pinellas areas, is whether or not the property has ever suffered or suffers from a sinkhole, whether the sinkhole has been repaired or not repaired.  With the Realtor that’s handling the transaction, you will see where they will give you a disclosure, and the disclosure should indicate whether or not there has ever been a sinkhole on the property and whether it’s been repaired.  If there is a notation that there has been a sinkhole, you should ask for the soils report and also the engineer’s certificate to ensure that the property has been repaired pursuant to the engineer’s report.

You also need to just take note to see who you are purchasing the property from.  If you are purchasing it from an LLC or a corporation or even bank-owned property, you are not going to have any assurances that if there was a nondisclosure of an asset, whether knowingly or unknowingly, you are going to have no recourse since it’s usually an entity and your money has been spent.  So I can’t urge you enough to go through and do the due diligence to make sure that you don’t have a soils report.

You also need to ask to get insurance and see if you can get insurance.  You won’t be able to get sinkhole coverage because it’s very expensive, and they do check the property prior to issuing the insurance.

All of this has to do with due diligence, which costs you money and you may not be able to recoup that – but also that your home inspector will also tell you about the appliances.  You also need to check with the building department or have someone check to see if there are any open permits.  Also look to see if any improvements have been done without any building permit being pulled.  A prime example is this, if you are looking at property out on the water and it’s an elevated home, if the downstairs has been completed, that’s probably below where the flood plain, and therefore it’s not insurable and could require you in the future to have that removed.  All these items that you need to work on, whether you’re a first-time homebuyer or just a homebuyer.

Then you may wish to hire an attorney to review your contract to see if you can build in these protections so that when you do the due diligence that you have a right to terminate the contract.  Also write in as far as your financing is concerned, and also check with a lender to find out how much you are going to be able to borrow.  One of the other things you’ll find is that the financing is also going to be controlled by the lender’s appraisal and they are going to base the loan on the bank’s appraisal, not necessarily on the purchase price.

So these are a few of the things that I would suggest any homebuyer, whether it’s first time or not, to look into, and then you may want to hire an attorney to help you, to guide you through this, particularly if you are not in town to be able to do all this due diligence.  So if you need representation or a lawyer to help you, well, give me a call at 727-847-2288.  Thank you.

Video Summary

Can a seller avoid paying closing costs by having the buyer pay them cash on the side outside of closing?  It’s sort of like avoiding paying – evading taxes by not reporting income to the Internal Revenue Service and that could be considered a crime to do that.  Likewise, you are defrauding the Department of Revenue in that you are obligated to pay the documentary stamps on the sales price.  And you are not to avoid those, because you are really evading those if you have a transaction on the side wherein the buyer pays the sellers the cash and is not reporting with the closing agent.

There’s also any number of other problems with that, such as the currency transaction if you are actually dealing in cash, and that anything $10,000.00 or more you have to fill out various currency forms with the bank if it has to be deposited.

So the answer to your question is you are committing a crime or a fraud against the state of Florida by doing that, and you need not contact my office to handle such a transaction because I am not going to be part and parcel of it.  I would also caution you to do that because if there is ever a problem later on about the transaction, trying to show that cash or the actual sales price, you are not going to be very successful whenever you have been involved in this transaction, particularly whenever the buyer then turns around, and he sells it and wants to take credit for the cash that he paid.  Do you really think that he’s going to be looking out for the seller?  So it’s just a very bad idea, and I can’t say enough bad things about it and would encourage you don’t engage in that activity.

So if you would like to close a transaction and pay documentary stamps on the full purchase price, give me a call at 727-847-2288, and I’ll be pleased to handle it for you.