A letter of intent is something that takes place between a buyer and seller prior to writing a contract. It essentially has the buyer and seller agree on the big-ticket items before the attorneys get together to actually write the contract. It’s very common in commercial real estate to start with a letter of intent before you actually move on to the purchase contract.

A quitclaim deed is a type of deed in Florida that provides no warranties. The person signing the quitclaim deed is essentially giving you what they have if they have anything. If they have nothing, you receive nothing. If they have the entire title to the house, you receive the entire title to the house. This deed is often used to cure title defects, for instance, and also in situations where in a divorce one spouse is giving up their interest to the other spouse.

In the state of Florida, if you’ve owned a home less than three years, and you receive title insurance at the time of closing, you may be eligible for a reissue credit, which is about a 40% discount on what title insurance typically costs. In addition, any time you refinance a property and you have a title insurance policy already in place, you’re eligible for the reissue credit.

A short sale essentially is when the lender agrees to take less than what is owed on the mortgage. This became a common occurrence, unfortunately, when the real estate market crashed in 2008, 2009. People often owed far more than her homes were worth. Instead of foreclosing on all these homes, sometimes a bank will agree to do a short sale, which is to take less than what is owed.

A survey gives you a visual representation of your property lines and boundaries of the property. It will show if there are any structures on the property, where those structures are located in terms of your boundary lines, so you can assess if the neighbor’s fence is on your property or if an improvement on your property is encroaching onto a neighbor’s property. You will need a survey if you’re going to obtain title insurance so they can insure the title against easements and encroachments because those items cannot be discovered without performing a survey.

A Time is of the Essence Clause in a contract means that the time periods are important in the contract. Any contract that has a Time is of the Essence Clause, a judge or court is going to enforce the time periods strictly whereas if that clause is absent, if someone misses a deadline or a closing by a few days, a court may say that that’s de minimis or not a big deal.

In Florida when you transfer real estate there’s typically a documentary stamp tax on the deed. Since we don’t have an income tax in the state of Florida the state’s got to make their money somewhere. So in Florida the transfer tax is 70 cents per hundred dollars of consideration paid.

A variance is something that you apply for when on your property you may have a building or some other situation that doesn’t comply with the zoning laws. Essentially, the variance review board will meet and decide whether or not you can continue to have the structure on your property. It may not have the proper setbacks from the front or side yards. It may have been built previous to the zoning rules. But a variance allows you to continue using that property in the manner you have been using it, even though it may go against current zoning.

Easement is when a third party, not the property owner itself, has a right to use the property for a specific purpose. For instance, say a utility company may have an easement to be able to repair sewer lines or power lines that are on your property. A person may have an easement to use your property to access another property. There’s different types of easements and different rights that go with the different types of easements, so it’s important to consult an experienced real estate attorney if you have questions about an easement on your property.

Most real estate contracts have a financing contingency deadline. You want to make sure that you pick a lender not only that of course will offer you good terms, but that can meet the deadline for the financing contingency. If your lender does not meet the deadline for the financing contingency in the contract, you may be in breach or default of the contract, and may lose the house or be sued for damages.