The local Realtors Association just released the latest housing sales numbers for August of 2023. I will typically look at Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens numbers as they have enough volume so as to be consistant…

Ok, so in the new Far Bar “As-IS” contract there is an out for a Buyer AFTER the Loan Approval Date when : “b) property related conditions of the Loan Approval (but specifically excluding the Appraisal) haven’t been satisfied.”

As a practical matter this provision will rarely be applicable as most loans will NOT have any conditions in them related to the property itself, beyond the appraisal requirements and that’s specifically excluded.

However, it MAY be applicable in FHA and VA underwritten loans as those may have a property condition contained in them such as repair or replace a stove. HUD has a Minimum Property Standards for FHA loans and the VA has similar standards.

The clause could be applicable if the Property is say damaged or destroyed by a hurricane but that scenario is covered under another section as a “casualty loss”. The “force majure” clause would only be a delay in a closing.

Hi fellow Gator parents. Being an engineer, although I now earning a living as a Realtor, I put together this spread sheet (Excel file) to check what I could expect as a bill from UF. My child has several grants and qualified for a Bright Futures scholarship and I have a Florida Prepaid plan. It’s a bit rough but you can tweak it to get to your number. You can also modify it for other Florida institutions like FSU by changing the line item costs per semester hour. I also did some “back of the envelope” kind of calculations for the meal plan. We started off with the declining balance method to see if the food is OK and how often they went. The work was done so here you go.

GO GATORS!!!

OK, so here’s the scenarios.

• A hurricane damages my property to the point where it is uninhabitable and I choose to rebuild.
• A hurricane damages my property and I can still live there and do the rebuilding work around me. In this scenario you did NOT loose the Certificate of Occupancy or CO.

OK, so the good news is that the Florida Legislature thought about this and gave guidance to the Property Appraisers.

For homesteaded properties that are uninhabitable, you lost the CO, the property owner must notify the Property Appraiser by March 1, following the calamity, that he or she intends to repair or rebuild the uninhabitable property and intends to live in the property as his or her primary residence after the property is repaired or rebuilt and does not claim a homestead on any other property or otherwise violate his or her homestead eligibility.

You see, under normal circumstances, any improvements made to your property would be assessed at full market value once substantially completed. However, under the calamity provision, any changes, additions or improvements made to the dwelling as a result of calamity, are protected from being assessed at full market value.

Under the Florida Statutes, if your property dwelling is damaged or destroyed by misfortune or calamity, the assessed value may not be increased due to the required changes, additions or improvements that replace all or a portion of the property when:

• The total square footage of the homestead property as changed or improved does not exceed 1,500 square feet; or
• The square footage of the homestead property as changed or improved does not exceed 110 percent of the square footage in existence prior to the damage or destruction.

Once repaired or rebuilt and deemed substantially complete, the dwelling will be assessed as if the damage or destruction had not occurred. And this must be done within 3 years.

If you do rebuild with a larger house then 110% of your origional square footage would be assessed as if the calamity never occured and then any square footage over that would be valued at the current market value.

The calamity provision does not apply to site improvements or miscellaneous yard items like a pool or a sea wall. Once repaired or rebuilt, those items will be assessed at full market value the tax roll following their completion.