It’s important when you buy real estate to draft the contract to give yourself what’s called an inspection period. This is a time period where you can have a professional inspector come in, inspect the house. You can have an AC person inspect the air conditioning, an electrician inspect the electrical system. During this period, the honeymoon kind of has worn off, so that you more realistically get a picture of what you’re buying, but it’s important that you draft that into the contract in advance because if you don’t, then you’re going to be buying the house as is with that problem.

Sometimes, questions or problems can arise following a residential real estate closing. If you’ve retained the services of an attorney for the real estate transaction, the first call may be to them, to get their advice on the situation. You could also contact the real estate agents or the title company that handled the closing, depending on what the question is.

Tenants in common means that you each have an undivided interest in the property. For instance, if there are three owners of property, each owner has a one-third undivided interest in the property. If one of the owners were to pass away, their one-third interest would pass to their heirs or to their beneficiaries under a will.

Typically, most attorneys and title companies will require a wire transfer at closing because of the amount of fraud that’s around today with cashier’s checks, wire is the safest way to get money to the closing attorney or the title company, however, you should always verify on the phone, the wiring instructions with the person that’s sending them to you to make sure you’re sending them to the right place.

Closing is where everything comes together. The seller will sign and deliver a deed which transfers the property to the buyer. The buyer will sign their loan documents, including a mortgage if they’re getting financing on the property. A closing statement will be drawn up and gone over by the closing attorney or title company with the parties.

At the closing, the buyer and the seller will each sign their documents. The seller will sign a deed, which actually transfers the property to the buyer. Typically, the buyer will sign a mortgage if they’re borrowing money to buy the property. Then the closing agent will distribute the funds to the people that are due. The parties will exchange keys. Most of the time it’s a pleasant process, but sometimes it’s not so pleasant.

It’s important to do a title search any time you buy a piece of real estate. A title search will show you a history of the property. It will show you if there’s any liens on the property or unpaid mortgages or any problems that could affect your title to the property. Title insurance is commonly seen in most transactions in Florida. Anything involving financing, the bank is going to require title insurance. Title insurance is exactly what it sounds like. It insures that no one has a claim to the title of your home. It’s insured up to the full purchase price and it grants you protection from anyone coming back to say they have a claim on the property.

A lot goes into selecting a real estate agent. It’s important to examine their experience, their past track record, look at their reviews online. A good real estate agent will often refer a buyer out to legal counsel also, to determine what their legal needs are, and in conjunction with the attorney, can work to promote your best interests.

Typically it’s best to discover them before closing. But of course there are situations where you may not discover something till after the closing. As soon as something like that comes to your attention it’s important to contact an attorney to see what your legal rights are. In Florida the seller’s obligated to disclose all known defects that materially effect the value of the property. So if the seller was unaware of the mold or the lead-based paint then you probably don’t have any recourse against the seller.

It’s a good idea, always, to have an attorney represent your interests, when you purchase real property, especially in a situation where you’re buying a REO, or real estate owned property from a bank. The reason is, most banks typically have an addendum that overrides the terms of the contract, that are, of course, heavily slanted in your favor. It’s good to have an attorney be able to explain this document to you, and know what your rights are, because it’s not typical contract that we use in Florida.