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190 Quarry Knoll Way Jupiter Fl

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I went to preview the town house at 190 Quarry Knoll Way in the Greenwich development of Abacoa in Jupiter today. This is a nice end unit model WITH AN EASTERN EXPOSURE BALCONY with a guest bedroom and full bath on the first floor. The unit faces east so great morning sun and across the street is the ‘commons’ a/k/a big grassy area. Because it’s an end unit the eating nook off the kitchen has extra windows as does the foyer at the top of the stairs at the third level. The unit still has the builder grade cabinets and fixtures and they are certainly in need of changing out. The second floor living area has a 1/2 bath and the third floor has 2 bedroom with en suite baths. The master bathroom and closet is very good sized. Over all…you can change everything about a property you don’t like except the location and I like the end unit and east facing balcony. The only negative I saw, besides the need for updates, is that the upper story windows use hurricane panels, and steel ones at that.


7.30 AM sun on the balcony

Condominium Estoppel Fee

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So how much can a condominium charge for an Estoppel letter?

First, what is an Estoppel letter? Basically it’s an accounting for a condominium unit. It tells the Closing Agent if there are any maintenance fees outstanding, any special assessments due what the current fees are so that the Closing Agent may prorate them on the Closing Statement. Ensuring that the fees are current in a condominium is required so that the Seller may convey clean title to the Buyer.

The management companies are always looking for new and creative ways to charge unsuspecting Buyers (mostly) new fees but this one is typically paid by the Seller.

The Florida legislature put a stop to the extortion that went on with associations and managers a few years ago. They capped the amount that an association may charge for the preparation of this document which may not exceed $250 unless (1) the request is submitted on an expedited basis and is delivered within three days, in which case an additional fee of up to $100 can be changed; or (2) delinquent assessments are owed, in which case an additional $150 fee can be charged

1137 11th Ct Jupiter FL

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I saw the townhouse at 1137 11th Ct in the Lakes at the Bluffs today in Jupiter. What to say???

The property looks OK from the front and has aluminum accordion shutters over the sliders facing the court yard. The unit backs up to the fence that separates the lakes at the Bluffs from Marcinski Rd. Not great but on the plus side this unit is NOT way in the back of the community. The mansard portion of the roof is covered with steel shingles which are actually a very good product.

Inside, the majority of the unit is not upgraded. There is 16″ somewhat dated looking tile (not horrible but not a wow either) in the living area on the first floor and plantation shutters on the slider by the family room. The first floor bath has a newer vanity. The stairs and the second floor area are carpeted. The master bath HAS BEEN very nicely updated and the master slider has plantation shutters on the interior as well. Other than these upgrades the rest of the unit is all original and certainly in need of a face lift. On the plus side one is not paying for the improvements that someone else chose.

Front of 1137 11th Ct in the Lakes at the Bluffs
Front of 1137 11th Ct – Note accordion shutters

How to tell if waterfront land has riparian rights in Florida?

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If you’re looking at waterfront land in Florida then you should know how to determine which properties ‘enjoy’ riparian rights. Riparian rights are statutory rights. If your Broker doesn’t know then it’s time for a new one. Call me, Chris Ryder, at 561.626.8550

Florida Statute 253.141 definition in part reads: “(1) Riparian rights are those incident to land bordering upon navigable waters. They are rights of ingress, egress, boating, bathing, and fishing and such others as may be or have been defined by law…” and it goes on to EXCLUDE certain lands from the definition of navigable waters: “(2) Navigable waters in this state shall not be held to extend to any permanent or transient waters in the form of so-called lakes, ponds, swamps or overflowed lands, lying over and upon areas which have heretofore been conveyed to private individuals by the United States or by the state without reservation of public rights in and to said waters.” Overflowed lands would be those where someone made seawall (or not), and then dug out what was once dry land, and water came in and covered that historically dry land. Or even if there is no seawall but it was similarly dredged then those owners do NOT enjoy statutory riparian rights.

So, how does one tell if the land if the land has riparian rights?

If the land below the water was covered by navigable water when the State of Florida was created in 1845 then that land (and control) of the water column is owned by the State of Florida (A/K/A Sovereign Submerged Lands). The abutters to these submerged lands have riparian rights.

CLICK HERE to read the University of Florida Levin College of Law memorandum.

IF you have a dock permit then READ THIS blog post for the a short cut to the method outlined below.

OK, so how do I know if the water in back of the house I want to buy was there, and was considered navigable, in 1845 when Florida was granted statehood and/or is owned by the state? Well, there’s a government agency called the Bureau of Survey and Mapping that keeps track of these things and they have performed a survey (as in land surveyors) of state owned land. In the age of the internet you can look up this information on the Florida Board of Trustees Land Document System (BTLDS) website. One of the many layers on this map is the Public Lands Survey System. A map of the land owned by the State of Florida. In MOST cases if there is public land shown on this map below the water adjacent to a property then the uplands parcel enjoys riparian rights. Check to make sure the property lines intersecting the water in the legal description extends down to the historic mean high-water or “meander” line for tidally influenced waterbodies or to the ordinary high-water mark for non-tidally water bodies.

An interesting note here is the line showing the intracoastal. In many places the ICW was placed over historically navigable water (owned by the state) and in others it connected two bodies of water over land that was historically dry. In northern Palm Beach County this was (is) an easement granted 06/08/1942 being 500 feet wide to the federal government. I’m thinking, digging and typing on this and I think we need a NEW POST on the history ICW of this land.

CLICK HERE to read all about how riparian rights are apportioned to the uplands. For MOST they will extend perpendicular to the sea wall out into the waterway to the line of navigation which is defined as the nearer of a) the marked channel, b) 4′ of water at mean low tide or c) 25% of the canal width from sea wall to the sea wall on the opposite side of the canal.

The next question is, if the land below the water is NOT owned by the state then who does own the land below the water column and what rights, if any, extend to the upland abutters? Since the uplands property owner does not own the land below the canal then they only have rights to use that land (for pilings and such to support a dock) and the water column over it (to actually float a boat on) to the extent that the predecessor in title (of the submerged lands) granted it to them.

Because of this a few more items to look for (as if there are not enough already) is something on the plat, or accompanying it in the public record, for the owner of one uplands parcel to traverse (by boat) over the submerged lands (assuming non riparian) of others between their parcel and a waterway which is over state owned lands where the general public enjoys “rights of navigation”. AND, something that spells out who is going to pay for maintenance dredging of this man made canal because the state most certainly is NOT.

In North Palm Beach for instance, most BUT NOT ALL, the canals were man made and were dedicated (given) to the Village when the land was platted much like a public street. Thus, the Village of North Palm Beach owns most (but not all) the land below the canals in the Village. A quick way to find out who owns that land is to look it up the uplands parcel on the the property appraisers site and click on the water and see what the legal description is. Be careful though as the ones in North Palm do not bring up a resulting Parcel ID. In those locations, one must lookup the legal description of an uplands parcel, then look at the recorded plat it’s on, then look for agreements recorded with that plat spelling out the use and maintenance of the canal. In places like Admirals Cove and Jonathans Landing the property owners association owns the bottom and the recorded docs spell out the answers to the questions noted above.

For stand alone docks like those in Mariners Cove which have a parcel ID and you can get title insurance on it and as such they may be financed.

Communities like Twelve Oaks and Turtle Creek East have marina’s on a submerged land lease from the state because the uplands DO enjoy riparian rights so that bottomage is owned by the state. Lake Worth (the body of water) and the Loxahatchee River were navigable water when Florida was created. Docks on state owned bottomage land like those at Twelve Oaks are NOT eligible for title insurance as they are a lease. The association does not own the land, they just have a lease and a license to build a dock on it for use of water column.

What most private parcel owners care about is how big and how many docks may I have?

I CAN NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. DO NOT RELY ON PAPA OR SOME STATE WEB SITE, GET A TITLE SEARCH DONE ON THE WATER YOU ABUT OR HIRE A COMPETANT REAL ESTAE LAWYER. You are about to spend a ton of money for a waterfront property. You want to be sure and this is the ONLY way.

Buy or Build a Waterfront House?

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So here’s one I get quite often, and in particular now that I have 14208 Harbor Lane in Paradise Port listed for sale: Am I better off to buy a waterfront tear down or not? It depends. Sorry!

If you are the kind of person who walks into any waterfront house and thinks: “I’m going to have to tear all this out” then don’t buy it. Generally speaking it’s cheaper to buy someone else’s depreciated assets. Just like a car; a building, roof, or sea wall ect. do not depreciate linearly. So, let someone else pay a premium for a brand new sea wall and deal with building it and then you can buy it a few years old for fifty cents on the dollar.

Right now I have a great example of this. 14100 Paradise Point Rd is for sale for 1.275 M for 21,500 s.f. of land and just 2 lots away is 14062 Paradise Point Rd asking 4.25M for 7230 s.f. including the garage and other non air conditioned space. Based upon recent sales the land is worth 1.1M but there is simply no way the land and building is worth 4.25M. This may be what they spent but there’s no way the market gives it to them. But how about 14208 Harbor? This is a similar eastern exposure lot, not direct intracoastal and a recent sale on the same street places the land value at 950k. This location has 4500 s.f. of buildings on it with a 2004 seawall, septic, ect. At 1.99M asking that’s just 230/s.f. for the house and one could not recreate the house and lot improvements for a little more than 1M. One is better off to buy the depreciated improvements.

Special Assessments

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Special Assessments – Who? What? Where? Why? You get the picture. A special assessment is SUPPOSED to be for items not budgeted for by the association board. However many associations do not set aside any money for anything other than the typical expenses so if there’s any kind of an ‘unexpected’ expense then they require a special assessment to pay for it. And, yes you must pay a properly levied special assessment. The condo or HOA recorded documents will spell out the process for levying and collecting a special assessment. And let’s face it. NO one likes to pay these BUT when many owners are presented with a budget that includes reserves for replacement for depreciating common elements like roofs, parking lots and sea walls they ‘balk’ at the high monthly fees. If a condominium has a “fully funded” reserve account then this is something which is valuable to a buyer although it typically comes with high fees than can scare them off. The Marina Tower building, in fact all the associations, at Old Port Cove is a great example of this. The fees are over 800 a month BUT they just completed all kinds of sprinkler retrofit and exterior concrete repairs with very little $$ as special assessments from owners.

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