Video Summary

Well, the answer to that is, try and negotiate it and work it all out. However, if all else fails, you’re going to have to call a lawyer and if you call this lawyer he’ll explain to you that you can file an action called a Partition Action. A Partition is just like a partition wall and it says that you can file a lawsuit suing the co-owner and asking the court to appoint a third party, which is called a Special Magistrate. The Special Magistrate’s appointed to then sell the property for all the owners of the property and then deposit the money in the registry of the court and then the parties can then ask that it be divided. If either party has invested more, paid the taxes, or have what they call special equities, they can assert those against the purchase price and whenever the money is divided equally. The cost involving these type of proceedings usually runs in the neighborhood of $2500.00 to $3500.00. However, if they’re highly contested they can be a whole lot more than that.  The time period usually take about nine months and unfortunately it involves usually family members or prior domestic relationship between two parties that  may not have been married, but had resided together and purchased a house jointly. So if you need to get some property sold and you need a Partition Action filed, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Well this usually, involves a family member or even a friend who has worn out their welcome and are staying in your property and you let them take possession of the property. You’re not charging them any rent, and however now want them to leave the premises for whatever reason and there are any number of reasons I get these calls. The action is not an eviction action. It is called a Unlawful Detainer Action, although it is handled the same as an eviction is handled, in that you give the party who refuses to leave the premises a notice advising that they have a certain number of days to vacate and if they don’t vacate, well then you file an action called an Unlawful Detainer stating that they entered the property lawfully, however they refuse to surrender the property after you’ve made demand upon them. So if you have this type of problem and you need to have someone to get rid of an unwanted guest or a family member that’s outlived their welcome, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Why do I need a notice of commencement? Well, in order to be able to pull a building permit you need to file a notice of commencement with the building permit. And the building department will not issue a building permit without a notice of commencement.  So, that is a good safeguard whenever you’re having someone do some work on your home, is to inquire as to whether or not they’re a licensed contractor, and if they’re going to pull a building permit. And if they are, well then you’re going to have to sign for the notice of commencement. You need to be very wary if they are not going to pull a building permit to make sure that they are a licensed contractor, and you have all sorts of problems if you don’t as far as unlicensed contractors doing work.

The notice of commencement is one of the first steps that the owner is obligated to do – to file under the construction lien statute, which gives anyone that is furnishing material or labor notice as to who the owner is, and where to send their notice to owner. And so, if you would receive a notice that someone is supplying materials, you need to ask your contractor to give you a waiver from that particular person whose supplying materials or labor.  Also, whenever the contractor is finished, and if you haven’t received any notices to owner, the proper document to ask for from your contractor is a contractor’s final affidavit stating that they have been paid in full and that there are no outstanding unpaid suppliers. So, if you are going to be doing work on your home, you need to be sure that you deal with a licensed contractor; that he pulls a building permit; and that as you pay him, you get progress payment affidavits and make sure that there are no unpaid material amounts or suppliers. And before you give him the final check, you need to have him sign a contractor’s final affidavit to protect you against any unpaid contractors, since it’s a crime to sign this affidavit and you can rely upon it by the contractor.

So, if you have any questions about dealing with your contractor, please give me a call at 727-847-2288.  Thank you.

Video Summary

I am considering financing the sale of my home. What should I be aware of? Under Florida, you’re required to – when you sell your home you can take back a note in mortgage. And you cannot take back a land contract as they have in other states, because Florida is a judicial foreclosure state that requires notes and mortgages, land contracts, agreements for deed, to be foreclosed upon. So, the first thing you need to understand is, what’s the remedy in the event the person fails to make the payment?

The foreclosure process and the cost of going through a foreclosure is in the neighborhood of $3500.00 to $5000.00 with the filing fees and the court costs, and that’s if the matter is uncontested. The time period to go through the foreclosure process is estimated to be about nine months, if it is not contested. So, that should be a major consideration. I do not suggest that you do owner financing unless you get at least 20 percent of the money down. So, if you’re selling the property for $100,000.00, you would need to have a minimum of $20,000.00.

If you’re selling property that is of lesser value, you need to be aware of the cost involved as far as foreclosure and the time period, because you won’t be getting any money. Also, you would have to pay back due taxes if you foreclosed and took the property back, and it’s very hard to protect your property from vandalism or malicious conduct by the borrower if you start foreclosure. So, all these should be considered as to how much of a down payment you should receive before you consider doing the owner financing. I’d be happy to talk to you about what kind of interest rate you should be able to receive, and as far as owner financing is concerned. You cannot circumvent the foreclosure process by escrow and deeds.  You cannot do land contracts and not record them and simply tear them up and have the people removed, since Florida is a judicial foreclosure state.

So, if you’d like to explore owner financing, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Hi! I’m Chip Waller. What are the rights of a widowed spouse in homestead property?

In order to start this analysis, to be able to give you advice, we need to know how title to this real estate was held. Was it held in your joint names as husband and wife? If so, the property automatically passes to the surviving spouse.

If the property was just in the decedent’s name, we then need to determine if there were any minor children, adult children of the decedent, as well as the surviving spouse.

If there were no children surviving – if there are no children of the deceased spouse, and he owned the homestead property just in his name, well, then the homestead property would pass to the surviving spouse outright.

If, however, the deceased spouse was survived by children, then the surviving spouse receives a life estate in the property with the remainder interest going to the children.

Now there is an election that can be made by the surviving spouse if she does not want to continue to live there or cannot afford the house during her lifetime in that she would be responsible for taxes, insurance and maintaining the property. She can elect to take a half interest in the property if the decedent was survived by children. And if she makes that election she must do that, I believe, it’s within six months of the date of death of the deceased spouse.

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

Thank you!