FYI:   www.BuscAbogados.com is a new on-line search engine designed to assist Spanish-speaking users finding attorneys in the Miami area.  According to the company, BuscAbogados, the site provides key searches by specialty and sub-specialties and can mix English and Spanish terms in a bilinual format (most attorney search engines do not operate in Spanish).  Currently the site has a database of 7,000 attorneys in Florida, with more than 5,000 in Miam-Dade County.

South Florida Real Estate is ranked among the hottest markets for real estate investment and a top destination for U.S. and foreign buyers. Not to mention great year-round weather for recreation and sports: golfing, swimming, sunbathing, snorkeling and scuba diving. From Miami to Fort Lauderdale South Florida has it all!

On 10/01/08 seller funded down payment assistance programs will be going away due to the new bill signed into law on 7/30/08.

If you want to purchase a home and have the seller contribute up to 6% in money for your down payment you need to act quickly.

Currently you can receive 6% towards closing costs and an additional 3% in down payment assistance, for a total of 9% at closing!

NAR has an excellent chart on License Portability on their website.  It tells you where licensees can practice and under what conditions when consummating a commercial real estate transaction in a particular state.

They categorize states as "Cooperating", "Physical Location States" and "Turf States" depending on the state's flexibility with practitioners from another state.

Craigslist Not Liable for FHA Violations

A growing number of states are trying to sort out the question of who is responsible for disclosing the presence of sex predators in a neighborhood to potential homebuyers.  In most states, sellers and real estate agents are not required to disclose such information, and the National Association of Realtors has no policy either, said Ralph Holman, the group’s associate general counsel.

by Hank Sorensen, Esq.               Because the Florida real estate market was appreciating for so long over the life of new construction contracts, little attention was ever paid to the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (“ILSA”) by builders, buyers and everyone else in the real estate industry.  However, with the downturn in the market, buyers have been remarkably successful as of late in using ILSA as a means of canceling new construction sales contracts and obtaining a refund of their entire deposits.    Because ILSA also allows for the recovery of interest on the deposit, court costs and attorney’s fees, builders have recently identified some previously-ignored provisions of their sales contracts that now have many communities and condominium towers empty, with no deposits on file for properties that were previously under contract.  The defective nature of those provisions permits buyers to rescind sales contracts entered into up to three years prior, with obvious devastating effects on the real estate project and the builder. (See St. Pete Times Article – Mistake Voids Condo Deals, January 24, 2008).               ILSA is a federal statute that was enacted in the late 1960s as Congress’ response to a real estate market offering the proverbial “swampland” to unsuspecting buyers.  The statute requires that a developer or builder offer a “Property Report” to a buyer prior to execution of any sales contract.  The Property Report contains certain information about the builder and the community, and failure to provide the Report allows for a buyer to rescind the sales contract within certain time parameters.  

I often receive information requests for advise on how to handle landlord-tenant matters.  Well, here's an article recently published in a newsletter I receive online from www.completelanlord.com.  Although short and that I have not used their services, I felt that the information was relevant and good. 

The only thing I changed are the hyperlinks which go to Wikipedia for a definition instead of to ordering the particular form online at their website.  Of course, you can click the above link and purchase the forms from them.

Sold Out - Standing Room Only!  This program was for the new and experienced agent - how foreign investors can use real estate for immigration purposes.

For a copy of today's power point presentation click on the link below marked "ForeignInvestment.ppt".  To view a video of the attenddees click here.

As of Dec. 6, 2007, a rule change places new responsibilities on real estate licensees when an attorney or title company holds deposit money pursuant to the terms of a sales contract. Here’s a review of the recent changes made by the Florida Real Estate Commission to Rule 61J2-14.008, Florida Administrative Code.

The rule’s new language, set forth in Paragraph 2(b), outlines three new responsibilities that affect real estate licensees when a deposit is “placed or to be placed” with an attorney or title company according to the terms of a sales contract.