Last month we shared part one in our series on road blocks you may face when buying a home in Central Florida. Many first-time home buyers dream of finding a home the same way our favorite reality house hunting shows play out on the TV screen, but sometimes that is not always the case.
What these shows often hide are some of the road blocks you may face when buying a home in Central Florida. We’re not talking about road blocks that will stop you from home buying altogether, but there are issues you should be aware of when going into the process of finding your dream home. You can rest easy knowing that an experienced REALTOR® can help you with each and every one of these scenarios.
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Homeowners Association compliance.
When a home is part of a Homeowners Association (HOA), there might be compliance issues or even liens that have been placed against the home from the association. This can happen because of unpaid fees or violations against the rules of the association (for example, having work done to the outside of the house, such as landscaping or painting, that was not approved).
Outstanding liens.
There are different types of liens and many reasons one can be placed on a home. Although a tax lien or HOA lien may be the first to come to your mind, these aren’t the only ones to be concerned with. By way of example, any time a homeowner works with a contractor on a project, such as having a new roof installed, putting a pool in, or having any type of work done, there is a risk for a lien to be placed on the home. In fact, it is common for a lien to be filed against a home the moment the work commences and it isn’t removed until a Lien Release has been filed.
Open or expired permits.
Does the home you’re purchasing have a back porch or a garage that was closed in to create an extra room in the house? If a permit was not pulled to do this work, this could cause issues when you attempt to buy the home. Likewise, if a permit was pulled for work to be completed at the home, but was never properly closed out, there could be an expired permit with fees attached to it waiting for you, too.
Trouble obtaining the title.
The title must be free and clear in order for it to be transferred into your name without exclusions. While this normally wouldn’t be a problem, there are times when it can catch you by surprise. We recently worked with a customer who was trying to sell a property that had the titled transferred over time from one family member to another. At one point, one person in the family failed to sign everything properly, and that caused a problem in transferring the title from the seller to the buyer.
Don't forget, we shared another set of examples in part one of this series. But most importantly, we hope this series helps you understand how important it is to work with a REALTOR®. Doing so can only benefit you during this exciting time.
