Fla. law says a condo association must maintain limited common elements; a declaration says it does not. Which one wins? Also: A condo board passed a rule that bans pit bulls, but a resident has had one for five years. Would the dog have to go if the board started enforcing the rule?
Money isn’t always disbursed instantaneously at closing, and occasionally a seller wants to see closing proceeds in their bank account before they’ll hand over the keys. Is the seller allowed to do this? If not, what can the buyer do about it?
Realtors pay dues. They adhere to a Code of Ethics. They work together under local MLS rules. But you said in last month’s column that I must work with real estate licensees who aren’t part of the Realtor organization. Why in the world would I willingly do that?
Print this. Stick it on the fridge. Read it weekly. Realtors often forget or ignore certain issues unless there’s a problem, and then they call Florida Realtors Legal Hotline. While attorneys are here to help, they spend a lot of time explaining these seven oft-asked questions.
It’s the fifth straight month home prices increased. “Extremely low mortgage rates and a limited supply of homes for sale continue to propel price gains.”
An ongoing shortage of land, labor and materials pushed new-home sales lower than experts expected – but they were still 20.8% higher year-to-year.
While 2020 will forever be the year of the pandemic, real estate pros might also remember it as the year when mortgage rates kept dropping to all-new record lows.
In an industry that relies on human contact, masks conceal expressions, muffle speech and create misunderstandings. But people can read a smile through your eyes.
Rental prices will probably stabilize in the first half of 2021, with possible dips in urban areas as more working-from-home renters move to the suburbs.
It’s hard to look at 2020 in a positive light, but the real estate industry was uniquely and unexpectedly a beacon of hope for a nation battered by the COVID-19 virus. Home sales boomed, mortgage rates repeatedly hit record lows and rising values bolstered homeowners’ equity.