Buying a House in Florida Made Simple

Real estate in Florida is on track to make record prices soon. With low interest rates and low taxes, it is a great time to be buying a house in Florida. Managing your time to move to Florida can be a challenging task while planning your move. There is also hurdles buyers must be aware about when purchasing in the Sunshine State. So that there is no time wasted, lets get started.  Here is the best and latest guide providing the very best tips to buy a house in Florida fast!

To make buying a house in Florida east, these are a few simple steps to get started. Your local Real Estate Agent will be the best guide. However, these tips will cover the basics to get you in the right direction.

The first step requires to be truthful about your own financial situation. Even though you may be able to “afford” your home, it may be too expensive. Remember there are taxes, fees, and closing costs to be aware about. Factor in these when determine your maximum amount so you will be comfortable with your Florida home purchase.

Make sure your credit score is in check (above 620), have enough for the down-payment (3.5% of purchase price), and lastly be prepared with the extra costs like taxes and closing costs.

They’re a few property styles out there to be aware of. First, is the single family residential home. This property is zoned for 1 home address to rent out. Individual rooms can be rented out; however, this property is considered as a one unit property.

The second type of property to rent out is called a Duplex. These are two units sharing the same property but with different home addresses. This allows the landlord to collect rent on two properties for around the price of one property. The third and fourth type of property is called a triplex and quadplex. A triplex is a 3 unit building, while a quadplex consists of 4 units.

Anymore units than a quadplex will lead into a zone called Multi-family housing which may require more documents and paperwork. Today, we will be focusing on buying single family residential property and the benefits it may provide.

Buying property in Florida is a little different than buying a home in California. For example, while California has to deal with earthquakes, here in Florida not so much. Florida is less prone to earthquakes but more likely to have a strong hurricane come through. This is why its important on when making offers to check out the foundation, roof, and its windows.  Moreover, the benefits of looking at these first, will be huge as it will be items that won’t need fixing likely in the future after moving into your new home.

Finding the right property to make an offer on can take time or it can be the fast, the first day out. In today’s Florida market, make offers quick as they can be finalized pretty quickly. You will want to be the first in line with your offer, so check daily new listings. You will have a higher chance of your offer getting accepted if you are first and its strong.

When making offers, determine the best value with the help of nearby recently sold properties. These can be similar to yours but factor in slight changes. Your Florida real estate agent is key to helping you make the best offer. There is a chance of it not getting accepted, so make the strongest offer first. This market isn’t really good to have negotiations as there are many buyers out there right now. Get the offer accepted and negotiate after is my tip.

Often times the inspection will show a huge flaw and could potentially derail the whole deal. In order for everything to go smoothly, see if the seller is open to repairing any of the items that may be required by your lender. Some could be easy to fix, while others not so much. Inspections are always recommended when buying a house in Florida. You may even need a separate plumbing inspection to double check the pipes in the ground have not broken from the soil shifting.

Appraisals are a factor that can be good and bad. If the appraisal comes up short, the seller may not want to lower the price, so you the buyer will need to come up with the extra cash. For example, if you make an offer at $250k and the home is appraised at $240k, you will need $10k to make the seller happy. Normally, the seller is understanding and will take the difference. This is because it may take more time and money to get another offer. Therefore, they’ll likely continue on.

Once Inspections and appraisals are all set, and the title company is ready to grant you the deed, then the home is all yours to close on. The keys will be provided to you upon closing. And congratulations the Florida home is now yours for the taking.

That is all for today I hope you enjoyed this write up. Please be sure to subscribe to my monthly newsletter!

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