Most people know that an association can foreclose a lien. However, most people do not understand how the association foreclosure works. This was brought to my attention when a client came into the office. He had just purchased two association foreclosure judgments and he wanted title insurance on his newly acquired property. He thought he had gotten a real bargain wanted to know what to do next.
Speaking with my wife the other day, she made an unusual comment to me … “I read your blog, and you are really harsh on Realtors.” Needless to say, I was surprised. Surprised because she actually read my blog and also surprised that she thought I was bashing Realtors.
Florida is a confusing state when it comes to tax bills. Most people think they pay their taxes in advance, but just the opposite is true. Today is May 26th, 2013, and even if I wanted to pay my taxes for 2013 today, I couldn’t do it. That’s because the tax bill will not be out until November of this year. To add even more confusion, Its really not due until March of 2014. Continue reading
About two weeks ago, my wife awoke around 1:00 am to use the restroom. What she found in her bathroom was an inch of water everywhere. She, of course, woke me up to investigate. We spent the next three hours cleaning up the water in the bathroom and office. Thinking we did a good job of cleaning up, we went back to bed at 4:00 am. Continue reading
Working with lenders can be very difficult. We recently closed a short sale where the buyer was getting a loan through the Veterans Administration and working with a mortgage broker. This was also a short sale, so not only were we working with the buyer’s mortgage broker and lender, we were also working with the seller’s lender. Continue reading
Currently I am working on a difficult closing. The closing date was set, but the buyer could not close. This was due in large part due to the fact that the sale of his property did not happen. And since the sale of this property did not happen, he was unable to close on the purchase. Sometimes this happens with closing – its like watching dominoes tumble one after the other. Continue reading
A few days ago I received a phone call from a potential client who was buying a property for cash. These are my favorite kinds of transactions because you don’t have the additional complications that a bank brings to a closing. But the reason for his phone call was to express his frustrations with title insurance. Continue reading
We can all agree that Realtors are necessary and serve a valuable service. I would never suggest anyone buy or sell a property without one. A good realtor will be well informed about the market and about their buyer or sellers needs and desires. But is it a good idea to take legal advice from a realtor? Never.
I have been working on short sales on a regular basis over the last few years. This has gone hand in hand with clients going into foreclosure and attempting to find a reasonable resolution for them. I don’t know exactly how many foreclosures I have been involved in, or how many short sales I have been involved in. I cannot say that it has ever been a high priority to actually keep count. I am more concerned with doing a good job for my client and giving them an acceptable exit to their stressful situation. That being said, I can say that a high percentage of the properties that do become short sales are eventually approved and successfully closed. Continue reading
I know I was not the only person in Florida with vacant lot issues. So, I was not surprised when I recently had a new client stop by for an appointment regarding his vacant lot. When I asked how I could help him, he stated that he was visiting from up North and found a driveway on his vacant lot. Apparently his neighbor was not able to easily park his boat in his back yard so he had a drive way installed – right over a large part of my client’s vacant lot. What is it with boats and vacant lots? My client only visits his vacant lot about once a year and believed the driveway was only recently installed. Apparently the neighbor put a great deal of time and money into the driveway – it was not something that was done in the middle of the night. Continue reading