It’s an important analysis to determine whether it’s in your best interest to purchase or to lease real estate when it comes to your business. A commercial real estate broker and a experienced commercial real estate attorney can help you determine whether or not leasing or purchasing is going to be the best decision for you.

It’s important, I think, to hire both professionals during a transaction. Each party brings a different skillset to the table. A licensed Florida attorney is there to represent you and watch out for your legal interests. A real estate agent has expertise when it comes to the market itself, but a real estate agent does not necessarily have fiduciary duties to where they have to keep your best interest in heart at all times. An experienced Florida real estate attorney can assist you in this process, working together with your agent to bring about the best result.

Letters of intent are typically used in commercial real estate transactions in Florida. There’s nothing preventing you from using a letter of intent in a residential transaction but it’s not typically used. A letter of intent is a non-binding letter which essentially outlines the main deal points in a transaction and that the parties will move forward trying to negotiate the terms of an actual contract.

CAM charges, or common area maintenance charges, are typically part of a retail or a strip center lease. They cover the landlord’s parking lot maintenance, maintenance of the overall grounds. Typically, as the tenant, you’ll pay your pro rata or percentage share based on the amount of space you occupy versus the space in the total project.

Every real estate transaction has closing costs. Those are costs, fees, taxes that are in addition to the sales price. A licensed Florida attorney can advise you on whether or not you’re paying the proper closing costs or whether the other party’s trying to shift some traditional closing costs onto you.

Contingencies are parts of a contract. Lawyers often refer to them as conditions proceeding, which are things that must occur for the closing to move forward. For instance, the buyer may have an inspection contingency and may have a certain number of days to inspect the property or they don’t like the inspection results and may be able to back out of the contract. Another common contingency is the financing contingency where the buyer has a certain amount of time to obtain financing or they don’t have to follow through and close on the deal. It’s important to consult with an experienced attorney that can tell you, as the seller or the buyer, what contingencies are necessary or which contingencies may not be in your favor that you want to negotiate out of the contract.

If a party breaches a contract, the remedies available to the other party depend on what’s in the contract and whether the contract excludes specific remedies that would be typically available under the law. The most common remedy would be money damages to make the person whole again in the event of a breach of the contract, but also specific performance. That’s when you ask the court to make the seller perform the deal and there are a variety of other remedies, depending on the situation.

When purchasing commercial real estate, some common areas of problems can be inspections and environmental problems. Also, you want to make sure you meet all your deadlines in the contract for financing. Those are just some of the areas where you can run into trouble and why it’s important to contact an experienced commercial real estate attorney.

(silence).Some typical closing costs in a residential real estate transaction include state of Florida documentary stamp taxes, recording fees, title insurance, loan fees if you’re borrowing money, a survey. There’s a variety of closing costs and each situation will determine whether or not those closing costs apply to you.(silence).

Well the difference between commercial and residential real estate is actually defined as what is not commercial real estate. Commercial real estate is considered anything that’s not a single family home or a multi family home with four units or less. In other words, everything else that’s real property in the state of Florida is considered commercial real estate. One of the primary differences between purchasing commercial and residential real estate is in residential real estate a seller is obligated to disclose all known facts that materially affect the value of the property. In commercial real estate, it’s buyer beware, so it’s very important for the buyer to obtain due diligence and to have proper representation when purchasing a commercial property.