Apartment in Florida, anyone know auctioneer / solicitor familiar with buying in US?

newmug

Hi all. My folks were thinking of buying an apartment in Florida near other relatives, and possibly spending the winters there and renting it out the rest of the year. Would anyone know of a good auctioneer or solicitor who might be familiar with dealing in properties bought in America?

Thanks in advance,
Newmug

Victor

It might be useful to get someone local, just make sure they aren't connected to the vendor.

Be aware of:
Property taxes, including back taxes - you are responsible.
Banks are very quick to foreclose if you are behind in payments.
Hurricane evacuation prone areas.
Other exotic issues.

borderlinemeath

Please be aware that the taxation on property in Florida is extremely high. Floridians don't pay tax on their income, rather the tax is mostly on the property they own. Fine for residents who benefit from the facilities provided but as a 'blow in' you'll feel particularly hard done by.

Be very careful with condo apartment type rentals, the costs associated are astronomical. Management costs, cleaning costs, shared access costs, homeowners association costs, common area heat/light/power costs may all be payable by owner and rental income can sometimes barely cover this.

Hurricane insurance is very necessary. Also the hurricane season can last 6 months of the year and starts in early summer so can effect rental income.

Please please get your family to consider long and hard before purchasing anything in Florida. Maybe try winter in a long term rental rather than purchasing.

kkelliher

Victor wrote: »

It might be useful to get someone local, just make sure they aren't connected to the vendor.

Be aware of:
Property taxes, including back taxes - you are responsible.
Banks are very quick to foreclose if you are behind in payments.
Hurricane evacuation prone areas.
Other exotic issues.

Property sells differently in the us than here. You need to use a licenced realtor and they work for you. They can help you buy any property in the state and they get paid by the seller. Taxes, utilities, management fees, pest control, all need to be factored in. If the property is block or concrete construction you wont have any issue with insurance.

The actual purchase is straight forward and it can all be done from ireland. I have used a realtor in orlando and can give you his details if you wish. He has a management company and letting agency also.

mrmitty

What part of Florida?
You need to be more specific.
I know a realtor in the pompano beach, ft Lauderdale area if that's any good to ya.
I'm also a broker but in Chicago so post any question and I'll try to answer but bear in mind that laws vary from state to state.

Gandhi

In the US, far more property information is public (recent sale prices, property taxes etc) which makes you a more informed buyer. Any property you look at can be checked on Zillow.com or Trulia.com which are handy sites for looking at a map views of an entire neighborhood to compare recent sales prices etc.

However, their info can be a little out of date, so check the site of the actual listing agent for up-to-date information on any property you are particularly interested in. Normally the township / borough / city will have deed information online where you can even see which mortgage company the seller used, and (more importantly) if they are delinquent on property taxes.

Some states / counties / townships offer homestead exemptions or rebates (basically discounts on your property tax if it is your primary residence) so be aware your parents would most likely NOT be eligible for these as they would be using the apartment as a holiday home and/or rental property. Normally the listed property tax does NOT include the homestead exemption.

If your parents are getting a mortgage for the property, then closing costs can be high as the mortgage company may want to escrow 13 months worth of property taxes and homeowner's insurance in advance. If you become delinquent on property taxes AND mortgage payments, and the bank and township both go to foreclose on your house, the township wins and the bank is left empty-handed. The bank prevents this by controlling your property tax payments over a year in advance.

Like someone already posted, you would normally find yourself a buyer's realtor, who is paid by getting half the commission of the seller's realtor, so it costs you nothing.

Victor

newmug wrote: »

actioneer / solicitor familiar with buying in US?

Note that you need one with Florida experience - laws vary from state to state.

BailMeOut

All you need is a local Realtor which will cost you nothing as their fees come from sales price. Your Realtor works for you and will do all the negotiation on your behalf with the sellers Realtor. Once you agree on a price and any improvements you want done to the house then everything else is handled by an independent Title Company where the closing occurs. The seller gets to choose the title company and will pay for most if not all these fees. (depending on how good your Realtor is!).

....so you just need a Realtor who works in the area you want to buy.

How you choose one remotely is another matter.

Both the seller and buyer Realtor will split the commission on the sales price which is usually 6%.