Counselors Title Company

Hurricane Milton is set to impact our friends and neighbors throughout Florida. If you’re under contract to buy or sell a home and it gets damaged by Milton, it could significantly affect your real estate transaction. When a casualty loss like this occurs, the “As Is” Residential Contract obligates the seller to come out-of-pocket and pay for the cost of restoration up to 1.5% of the purchase price of the home. If the restoration costs exceed 1.5% of the purchase price of the home, the buyer must choose one of the following: 1) close on the home “as is” together with a 1.5% contribution from the seller; or 2) terminate the contract and receive a return of their escrow deposit. Additionally, buyers will have a difficult time obtaining homeowners insurance and mortgage loans. We wish you and your family safety and well-being over the next few days--please stay safe and take care!

BREAKING NEWS: Starting tomorrow, sellers of residential property must complete and provide a flood disclosure to purchasers AT OR BEFORE the signing of the sales contract. THE FRBAR committee has not created its own form yet, so sellers will need to create their own form or have one provided to them by their real estate agent or attorney. The good news is this will be easy since the form of disclosure is contained in the statute itself. You can find it here: https://lnkd.in/e76MZbzd

Can your title company draft co-tenant agreements? Purchasing a home can be challenging for anyone, but especially for non-married couples. A co-tenant agreement can be an essential tool for managing the shared responsibilities and expectations stemming from joint homeownership. Since disputes can arise over financial contributions, maintenance responsibilities, and decision-making, a co-tenant agreement can ensure that both parties are on the same page and their interests are protected. Additionally, it should provide a process for handling potential conflicts and making decisions in a structured and fair manner. For example, a well-drafted co-tenant agreement should set forth how much each party pays for closing costs, mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and repairs. It should also include restrictions on the use of the property, a process for resolving disputes, the procedures instituted when selling the property (and how sales proceeds are divided), and a process for dividing assets or responsibilities upon separation or death.

The Federal Reserve just cut interest rates by half a point. How do you think this will affect the real estate market? 🤔 https://lnkd.in/eUmQi8wp

When buying real estate, the title company will send you a title insurance commitment prior to closing. This document is a promise from the title company to issue title insurance for a property once certain requirements are met. This is an important part of a transaction because, among other things, it enables buyers, sellers, mortgage lenders and other parties to: (i) verify the seller's right to transfer ownership to the buyer; (ii) identify and resolve title issues before closing; and (iii) understand the restrictions and encumbrances that will affect the property and the buyer's enjoyment of it after closing.

Look out for your Truth in Millage (“TRIM”) Notice this month from your county’s property appraiser’s office! It contains info about your property’s value, proposed millage rates and proposed property taxes. It is important for several reasons: 1)     Confirm exemptions (like the homestead exemption) have been applied. 2)     If you moved from one Florida homestead to another, Florida allows you to transfer some of your accrued homestead tax benefits to your new homestead, which is called the “Save Our Homes” benefit. If you applied for this, make sure it’s reflected in the TRIM notice. 3)     Review the assessed value of your home. If the value seems out of line, you can petition the Value Adjustment Board for your county to see if the assessed value can be lowered.  

Did you know that a certified survey can give you better coverage in your owner’s title insurance policy? In Florida, title insurance policies do not cover you for encroachments, encumbrances, violations or other circumstances that would have been disclosed by an accurate survey of the property. This exception to coverage is known as the standard survey exception. However, if you survey a property prior to closing, the standard survey exception can be removed, and only the items specifically depicted on the survey will be excepted from title insurance coverage. This increased coverage is one of the many reasons we recommend surveying a property prior to closing. #survey #realestate #titletalk

Starting on August 17, 2024, real estate brokers providing brokerage services to prospective home buyers must enter into an exclusive buyer brokerage agreement with a buyer prior to providing services (e.g. identifying properties, arranging tours and presenting purchase offers). This significant change results from the recent settlement entered into by the National Association of Realtors. Under these agreements, the broker agrees to assist the buyer with locating and viewing suitable properties and negotiating/closing a resulting transaction, and the buyer agrees to work exclusively with the broker and pay a commission to the broker (although the commission owed by the buyer will be reduced by any compensation received by the buyer's broker from the seller or the seller's broker). How do you think this will impact the real estate industry overall? We would love to hear your thoughts.

It’s hurricane season in Florida! What happens if you’re under contract to buy a home, and weeks before closing, a hurricane hits and floods the home causing major water damage? When a casualty loss like this occurs, the “As Is” Residential Contract obligates the seller to come out-of-pocket and pay for the cost of restoration up to 1.5% of the purchase price of the home. If the restoration costs exceed 1.5% of the purchase price of the home, the buyer must choose one of the following: 1) close on the home “as is” together with a 1.5% contribution from the seller; or 2) terminate the contract and receive a return of their escrow deposit.

Picture this: You're under contract to buy your dream home, and your contract obligates the seller to resolve permit issues stemming from past roof work. Time flies by, and before you know it, it's the day before closing and the seller did not finish resolving the permit issues. 😱 This issue happens frequently and could be a major problem, but there are a few potential solutions, one of which is an escrow agreement. With escrow agreements, the parties usually agree to close the deal while withholding a portion of the seller's sales proceeds in escrow pending resolution of the issue. Here, it might look like holding $10,000 in escrow for a 30 day period, and either the seller resolves the issues in time and the $10,000 gets released to the seller, or the seller doesn't resolve the issues in time and the $10,000 gets released to the buyer. Escrow agreements must be prepared by attorneys and are complicated, heavily negotiated, and have major legal ramifications. So, if you are a real estate agent or home buyer, make sure your go-to title company has in-house attorneys ready to step in and save the day with an escrow agreement. 📝💼📈⚖