A Recent Broward County Residential Real Estate Closing

When you are buying a new home, you have to decide what is the reasons why you are buying the home, is it for a commercial and investment deal such as a 1031 exchange to rent out such as an AirBnB. Is it to live in the house with your children?  There are many reasons why people buy residential property.  Terms like “escrow,” “title and escrow,” and “title search,” are several terms that are needed when purchasing a house.  Escrow is needed to secure the property on a contract.  Without putting money into escrow for a house, then the contract is not a “firm deal.”  The contract is just a piece of paper without any security.

A lot goes behind the scenes when you are buying a home.  There are a lot of requirements to be met, including the loan process, inspections, negotiations, and loan process, buyer’s and lender’s insurance, and a whole lot more.  That’s why buying a house is both exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time, especially if you are a first-time homebuyer with no idea what to expect.  People do not realize all of the steps that need to be taken in the closing.   The first step is to put the house on the market, and the buyer providing the “as-is” residential contract, then to provide an escrow payment to secure the contract, approximately ten days later an inspection shall occur, and then the appraisal.  The title company is chosen by the Seller in Palm Beach and by the Buyer in Miami-Dade and Broward.  The Buyer has the option of choosing and selecting which title company that they want to work with.  At times, the Realtor tries to guide the Buyer to select the title company, but the Buyer usually has the final word on hiring a title company in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.  In Palm Beach County, the Seller has the ability to deal with the title company, unless expressly stated in the “as-is” residential contract.

The title company also selects the surveyor to survey the property for the Buyer.  The survey shows where the boundaries of the property are located.  All loan closings that are for stand-alone residential homes need to obtain a survey.  The cost of the survey is approximately three hundred and fifty ($350.00) dollars.

We were referred our first case in our new location through MetLaw Legal Plan. Closing costs are expensive, so Barash-Schatten Law Firm PA and Rock Solid Title PLLC are a part of the MetLaw Legal Plan and ARAG Legal Plan to help lower some of the closing costs.

The property was being bought in Broward County.  The Buyer was astounded by the high settlement cost that was being suggested by the title company referred by the realtor.  The settlement fee was approximately fifteen hundred ($1,500) dollars for the Settlement cost to just represent the Buyer in addition to the cost of title fees.  The Buyer did not want to pay so much in addition to all of the title fees associated with the case.  The Buyer called our firm, Barash-Schatten Law Firm, PA doing business as Rock Solid Title, PLLC, and we helped assist and represent the Buyer from start to finish to get the property to close in a matter of a few weeks.

There were several issues with the case, such as the property was being sold as an AirBnb and what are the laws associated with the transfer of the property, since it is in an AirBnb.   The appraisal value was lower than expected, but the Buyers still wanted to purchase the property and had to provide more money than was expected.  The loan amount had decreased due to the appraisal valuation, but the Buyers still wanted to purchase the property.  There is very low real estate inventory during the time period in April 2022.   However, the amount of income that was generated by the property was worth the investment and cost of the property.

It is important to make sure that all of the closing paperwork is correctly signed.  We had to make sure all of the closing paperwork was correctly stated with regard to the title transfer.  The Seller’s attorney had used different names for the Buyers from a different case that needed to be corrected, and we had to review the closing documents to ensure that the title transfer was correctly stated with the names of the Buyers.

Peparing for a Broward County Residential Real Estate Closing

As a title company, we need to ensure that the title transfer is correctly given to the correct people and in the right legal framework such as by: tenants by the entireties which holds all of the interests as joint tenants with right of survivorship as time, title, interest, and property but also the additional requirement of holding the property as husband and wife, by tenants in common which means that the property interest is split between the number of grantees, or with rights of survivorship which means that the surviving grantee shall receive the full ownership of the property.

This property does qualify for a 1031 exchange since it is investment property, even though it is in a residential location.  The property was sold for a fair market value for the price since it provides a good amount of income to the Buyers.  The selling realtor, Duriel Taylor, a Canvas realtor, was amazing to work with and I would highly recommend him at 954-439-8865 for all of your real estate needs, and he really enjoyed working with Barash-Schatten Law Firm, PA and Rock Solid Title PLLC at 305-868-7800.

Below is the realtor’s review of Barash-Schatten Law Firm, PA and Rock Solid Title PLLC:

As a real estate professional, its key to have professionals all on the same page to ensure the transaction goes through. Pam and the associates at Rock Solid Title are truly superior with their services and problem solving. During our recent real estate closing, Rock Solid Title were a vital part to ensure we were able to close. I will be honored to work with Pam and her team again in the near future.

– Duriel Taylor