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.

(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).

Some of the key provisions in a real estate purchase contract are, of course, the purchase price, the closing date, a financing contingency, an inspection contingency, but there’s also a lot of smaller, little-known clauses that are important to the transaction. It’s very important to retain the services of an experienced real estate attorney to review the contract if you have any questions.

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.

Simultaneous closings can have a lot of issues. That’s typically when a person is selling a house and buying a house at the same time. Depending on the situation, a good real estate attorney can provide contingencies in the contract that will allow you to stay in the house after closing or you have to make arrangements for temporary lodging. Either way, it can be very tricky when you’re selling two … selling a home and buying a home at the same time.

A real estate broker and a real estate lawyer have different skillsets. A real estate broker should have a good knowledge of the market. A real estate attorney is going to advise you on where you stand legally, make sure that any clauses that you want in the contract are put into the contract and written in a legal and enforceable way. The best real estate transactions are when the real estate agent and real estate attorney work hand in hand to represent your best interest.

If the inspection is not satisfactory, it goes back to what are the terms of the contract say. In Florida, there is two commonly used contracts. One of which is an AS-IS contract. The AS-IS contract usually give a period of days, anywhere from three to 15 days, for the buyer to inspect the property. Essentially, under that contract, the buyer can back out for any reason or no reason. However, if you’re using a different type of contract that doesn’t allow for the buyer to back out based on the inspections, then the seller may be able to hold the buyer to the contract and proceed towards closing.

When you purchase real estate in Florida, you’re going to have a purchase contract between you and the other party. It’s important that you have an experienced real estate attorney draft this contract, or at a very minimum review the contract to explain to you what the contingencies are in the contract. Contingencies are things that have to occur for the purchase to move forward. For instance, you may have a financing contingency so that you can borrow money to buy the house. And then if you can’t borrow the money, you won’t have to purchase the home. There could be an inspection contingency to make sure that the house is exactly what you’re bargaining for. The important thing to realize is that this needs to be done on the front end. It needs to be done when the contract is being drafted, and an experienced attorney can help you put in those contingencies for your protection.