Video Summary

Should you purchase insurance on vacant land? And to the question is you should buy liability insurance for vacant land. Just to give you peace of mind that if someone would attempt to Sue you for any injury that they suffered on your land, that you would have coverage. It should be very inexpensive to obtain. You may even be able to get it included on your homeowners insurance as far as vacant property. So I suggest you talk to your insurance agent before you are liable for injury for people on your land. They have to show that you were somehow negligent as far as maintaining the property and particularly if they’re trespassing or whatever, or there’s an attractive nuisance as far as children’s concerns such as a water body, things such as that. Also if there is anything that’s dangerous about the property, chemicals or anything such as that, then you may have some liability as far as that’s concerned and not safeguarding it. They give you peace of mind, I suggest that you go ahead and obtain liability insurance, which should be at a very modest cost. So if you have any questions about your vacant property, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

Can I homestead property if I live on the property for six months out of the year? The answer to the question is not how long you reside there is whether or not you’re a resident of state of Florida and that is your permanent residence. It doesn’t matter how long you reside there, it only matters if it’s your permanent residence when they’d be assigned for homestead exemption. You state that you are not receiving any benefits as a result of being a resident of any other state and therefore you are a permanent resident of Florida. Many times people may own a home here in Florida and they decide to get in their motor home and the drive all over the United States, so they’re not here but for a few months and not very long at all. However, that’s still their homestead property and that they are not getting any benefits from any other state and they’re permanent resident of the state of Florida and that’s their home address. One thing that I need to caution you on is if you are married, you cannot have one spouse have a homestead in one state. And you have homestead and the state of Florida that will not work and you are not entitled to homestead and could be fined if you do obtain a homestead. And the property appraiser finds out about it. If you have any questions, will give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

Can I homestead property and two different States? The answer is no for Florida. And that whenever you sign for homestead exempt you’re signing that you are a permanent resident of the state of Florida. And furthermore, that you’re not receiving any benefits as a result of being a resident of any other state. It also, applies to if you’re married, that neither you nor your spouse are receiving those benefits. They consider a husband and wife as one family unit so that one spouse can’t get homestead in one state and the other spouse get homestead in Florida. Sometimes people query as to, well, how do they find out? Well, I don’t know, but I know the property appraiser as hard at it. They’ve found where this one fellow was getting free parking in his town, as a result of being a resident of that town in Massachusetts. How they found out, I don’t know, but they have people working on that to avoid homestead fraud. The penalties for getting homestead and having benefits elsewhere are very severe. I think the interest rates like 15%. The penalties besides the tax that you should have paid is like 50%, it’s sort of like speeding. You don’t want to get caught. So, I suggest don’t do it. When you make application, you state that you’re not getting any benefits from another state. If you have any questions, give me a call (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

How do I remove a lien from my property if the contractor’s no longer in business? The construction lien statutes provide a couple of ways to have the lien removed. One is you can transfer it to a cash bond and that way you can remove it from the property and proceed with a refinance. The second way, if you’ve already paid them and you wish to remove the lien, you can file a notice of contest of lien in the public records and the contactor has 60 days in which to file a foreclosure action or else the lien is extinguished. Those are two ways to do that.

The other way if you’ve paid the contractor and to track down to try and get him to sign a release, if you’ve done that, you also whenever you’re refinancing or selling the property, you need to terminate your notice of commencement and then also get a contractor’s final affidavit from whoever did the work for you under the notice of commencement in order to be able to ensure that the title against any construction liens.

If you have a problem with a construction lien and problems with your contractor, give me a call. I’ll be glad to help you and see about getting the transaction closed for you or eliminating the claim of lien. Give me a call at 727-847-2288.