Video Summary

Once I receive a homestead exemption, how do I get my mortgage payments to lower? You cannot get your payments lowered once you get your homestead exemption in place. That is a function that your mortgage company does. They review your escrow, and it’ll take them about 18 months after you get your homestead exemption. You get your first tax bill, they will then analyze your escrow to see if they’re collecting too little or too much, and then they will adjust your payments.

You cannot, just because you filed for homestead exemption, get them to lower other than if you call your lender and try and talk to them about it, you may be able to talk to them about it, but I think that you’re going to wind up being somewhat frustrated until they see the actual tax bill. Once you file for homestead exemption, the following November after you file, after the first of the next year, is when the first bill will come out and then after that they will take some time to adjust it. It is a function of your lender, who is obligated by law to review your escrow. I’m not sure just the time period, but I’d give it about 18 months after the first of the year. Big thing is, be sure you file for homestead exemption. If you have any questions about your mortgage, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Hurricane Irma and trees. Well, we’re getting calls about trees that have fallen, either that your tree has fallen on your neighbor’s property, or your neighbor’s tree has fallen on your property, and the question is: who’s responsible for the damage, or the cleanup of the debris of a tree that’s fallen on your property?

Well, the answer is, is that you are responsible for taking care of the cleanup, as far as a tree falling on your property, whether it’s your tree, or your neighbor’s tree, since it is caused by an act of God. Your neighbor is not negligent as a result of hurricane Irma, or possibly hurricane Marie, or any other hurricane or natural disaster coming through, just a small tornado or any other storms that comes through. The damage is caused as a result of an act of nature, or an act of God, and therefore they are not negligent and not responsible for the damage that the tree has caused to your property, and you’re not responsible for any damage that your tree fell on your neighbor’s property.

So, the unfortunate part of it is, is if the tree falls on your property, or even hangs over your property line, looks like it’s about to fall on some of your property, well, you are stuck with having to clean the thing up, particularly with these giant oak trees that can run into thousands of dollars with tree surgeons and hauling out great big oak trees, and having to use certain care so it doesn’t damage any more property. So the cleanup of debris is a particular problem, but your neighbor is not liable for it.

Now, if the tree falls on your house, or damages your property, well then what? Well, you need to call your insurance company, and unfortunately this is gonna be under your policy, most of them have a hurricane deductible of anywhere from three to five … Well, depending on, look at your policy, and that there’s a deductible before they would pick up the damage. So, unless it’s catastrophic your deductible is probably gonna be more than what it’s gonna cost to fix the damage or to remove the tree, depending on the extent of the damage.

There is one exception to the tree falling on your property, your neighbor’s tree; that is if he was negligent, as far ar maintaining the tree. If it was a rotted tree, it’s been sitting there, and you talked to him about it or warned him about it, and said he needs to take care of it, and then if he was negligent and maintained the tree, well then you could possibly have some cause of action against him for these damages.

I have been contacted in the past about a rotted tree on the neighbor’s property and the concern, and I suggested to the person who contacted me that they need to send a letter notifying the neighbor that he would be liable or responsible if that rotted tree fell or caused damaged to your property. So that’s the exception to the not being liable if it’s an act of God; if the neighbor was negligent or you put him on notice that he needed to attend to the matter.

Also, a lot of times, not with hurricanes necessarily but maybe a result of a leaning tree, is that you have the right to trim trees, vertical, if they hang over your property line, where you have the right to trim the tree as of whatever is hanging over your property line. But hopefully you didn’t have too much damage, and unfortunately the cost of removing some of these huge oak trees is very expensive, but you’re probably not going to be able to hold your neighbor responsible, since it was an act of God.

So hopefully you’re safe. And if you have any questions, I don’t purport to be an insurance expert, but that’s just a little quip as far as trees and hurricane Irma, and fortunately we dodged hurricane Marie it looks like. My phone number’s 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

The best time to buy or sell your home? Well, usually this is driven more by your circumstances, rather than your trying to time the market, as far as that’s concerned. Rather than saying, “When is the best time?” I don’t know, because it depends on your circumstances. If you have time to research it, I suggest that you start looking at property, even before you actually decide, in the areas that you think that you might like, or explore that. So, the more properties you look at, and come up with the values, well, the more informed you’ll be. So whenever you do find a property that you like, then you can then know what the value is. So, property you like, and also know that you’re getting good value for the property. So, the more you work at it, the better it is.

As far as selling your property, it used to be that during the winter months, whenever you had more people here, from up north, that it might be a good time, or better time, to sell the property. I don’t know that that really holds true, or not. I think whether or not, you probably do have more perspective buyers here, during the winter, than you do during the summer. So, as far as the best time’s concerned, well, that probably is when you need a house, I guess, is the best time to buy. Buy one, and selling it is whenever you have to move, or your family’s expanded, or whatever, and you have the need to move. Or, if your spouse just decides that they’d like to downsize, up-size, or just relocate, or for whatever reason, I guess that’s probably the best time to go ahead and start looking for property to purchase, and location is key as to that concern.

Some of the consideration is whether it’s in a flood zone. If you have children, the school district and what schools they’ll be going to, is critical. Of course, with charter schools now, well, that may eliminate that, but you still have the how close are you to the school, for transportation purposes. How close are you to where you work? Unless you’re retired. If you’re retired, well, how close are you to what you need, such as doctors, hospitals, and things such as that, as far as your location’s concerned. Also, whether the property’s in a flood zone, because the cost of flood insurance could drive up the cost of your home.

So, basically, it’s a subjective test. I don’t think there’s any bright line test, as far as the best time to buy or sell your home. So, if you have any questions, well, give me a call. It’s 727-847-2288. Thank you.

Video Summary

When do you apply for Homestead Exemption? Well, first off, let’s talk about what you have to have in order to be entitled to Homestead Exemption. You must own and occupy the property before December 31st to apply for Homestead for the following year. In addition to that, you must be a resident of the state of Florida, and furthermore, that you’re not receiving any Homestead Exemptions or any entitlement as a result of being a resident of another state. You need to be sure to do that. If you do, you have until March 1st of the following year in which to apply.

If you buy your property, or acquire this property, it become homestead during the year, you don’t have to wait to apply. You can apply at any time as soon as we get title to the property. I suggest to most folks that I deal with, particularly in a closing, I suggest that they go ahead and do it right away. Get their driver’s license changed, particularly from out of state, to show what their new address is, and tell them to apply right away so it doesn’t slip through the cracks. By getting Homestead Exemption, it exempts the first $25,000 of your tax valuation, or your assessed valuation, or taxable value that the property appraiser puts on your property, from taxes.

That will save you about $500. You pay tax on the taxable value of your property between $25,000 and $50,000. Then, from $50,000 to $75,000, you again exempt everything but school taxes. That saves you about another $300, so there is an immediate savings of $800. If you’ve seen those info commercials, there’s even more when you have Homestead Exemption. Under the Florida Constitution, there’s the Save Our Homes Amendment, which says that once you have Homestead Exemption, your assessed valuation will not increase by the lesser of cost of living or 3%, whichever is less.

As the property value increases and the assessed valuation increases, your taxable value, which I have mentioned a couple of times, stays at a very low level. The whole idea is to keep you in your home so the taxes don’t price you out of it. The question is, be sure if you bought your house, you moved into this home, and you’re not getting exemption from any other state, you need to hustle on down to the property appraiser and apply for a Homestead Exemption. If you’re not a dinosaur like me, and you’re involved with computers or whatever, I believe that you can go online and apply for Homestead Exemption.

Don’t be tempted to fudge as far is if you’re getting exemption in another state, or make sure you’re not. The penalties of getting Homestead Exemption and they find out are very severe. They put a big lien against your property if you do have Homestead in another state, and you have interest. It’s not pretty. Be sure you don’t have … If you have property in another state, that you’re not getting any exemption because you have to swear to that when you apply for Homestead Exemption. Get out there and get your Homestead Exemption before March 1. I’m not sure whether you can apply on March 1 or it has to be before. I think you can apply as late as March 1, but don’t procrastinate. If you have any questions, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Can a person fight eminent domain? The answer to that question is absolutely yes they can. Florida has a very good statute as far as eminent domain’s concerned. What it provides for is that when there’s a taking by a governmental entity or someone authorized to go through eminent domain, they make an offer to you and if you say, “No, I don’t want to sell it for that.” Then you can fight the eminent domain, however, if you later settle, you don’t have to pay your attorney fees and the attorney is entitled to, I believe it’s 1/3 of the difference between whatever the initial offer was by the governmental agency taking your property, and how much you actually receive. You receive the net amount and the attorney fees are paid by the condemning authority.

Challenging the condemning authority is very difficult to accomplish, but yes, you can do that and you can have a trial as far as that’s concerned. Usually the governmental, the condemning authority, has what they call a quick take program and they go in there and try and take the property right away, but if you’re going to fight the eminent domain, you need to show that they don’t have to take your property and it’s not necessarily in the best interest and probably your attorney who, if you call me I will be glad to send you the right direction as far as the attorney to do that, to try and negotiate with the condemning authority as to whether or not their plans can be modified or why they need to take your property.

Of course, by the time they get around to … Hopefully they’re starting the process of trying to take your property before all the plans are put in place, because you can imagine what the engineering is for a major highway or whatever and then you want them to change the plans and not take your property. The answer to your question is yes, you can fight eminent domain. The good news is is the governmental agency pays your attorney fees if they are successful and so the attorney gets paid in addition to you getting paid if the governmental condemning authority is successful.

I’m not sure how they measure the attorney fees if you are successful in defeating the taking itself. If you have a question, or have an eminent domain situation, give me a call at 727-847-2288 and I’ll head you in the right direction. Thank you.