What Buyers Should Look Out For When Buying a Home in Florida

Hey, all you homebuyers out there. As you may know, there's a lot of moving parts when it comes to buying a home. There are a lot of things that people don't even think about when they are going through that process, especially the first-time homebuyers. There's more to it than just finding a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home, with office space, a swimming pool, all that good stuff. So, there's a lot more that you kind of need to pay attention to when you're buying a home. More details coming right up.

Alright. So, what should buyers look out for when buying a home in Florida. Well, a lot of these things really apply to any state. Couple of things more so maybe in Florida.

BE FAMILIAR WITH THE LOCATION

But first, you definitely want to be familiar with the location of the home. You want to make sure you're aware of the surroundings, see if there's anything that looks very odd to you or maybe makes you uncomfortable. So, it's very important that even if you're out of state, you do have a real estate agent or realtor check out the area for you or maybe if you have a friend in the area or family, they can go and see for themselves. Check out the area and see if it's something that you would still be interested in without even looking at the home. So, if you get past the general surroundings of the property, you should be good to go. You want to think about where, if it's, you know, located next to or near commercial property. Is there going to be too much activity going around or going on nearby? Is it too close to a school? Maybe there's an elementary school nearby and you might not want to hear all the children playing outside or recess or school buses driving around in the morning and the afternoon. Is it too close to the highway? Maybe you don't want to hear all the traffic going by when you're trying to enjoy your peace in your own home. So, definitely just be aware of where that property is actually located. Very, very important before you actually move forward to the home itself. You also want to think about the commute time to your place of employment or to your children's school. Is that drive time tolerable? So, you definitely don't want to find a home that you feel like it's just right for you, but you have to drive an hour to get to work. Here in our area, peak season, definitely adds to your drive time. So, you want to take that into consideration as well, that it would take you a little bit longer to get to where you need to go during, you know, between March and September time frame where there's a lot more visitors here kind of clogging up the roads here. So, definitely taking consideration the commute time to where your children's school is or your work. Now, the schools, they're of course, they're school buses, but there are some parents that opt not to put their children on school bus or you might live in an area that's too close to the school to where the schools do not offer a pickup and drop off for your children.

IS THE PROPERTY IN A FLOOD ZONE?

Another thing to think about is that, is the property in a flood zone. A lot of people think that the entire state of Florida is a flood zone. I mean, they're not wrong. However, a FEMA does declare certain areas to be in actual flood zone. If it is in a flood zone, if your financing, then flood insurance will definitely be required. Even if it's in a flood zone x when you're not required to have a homeowners insurance policy, still definitely recommended. Better safe than sorry. And another thing to ask about too if that property that you're interested in is in a flood zone, check with the owner, the seller of a property. See if their flood insurance is assumable. So that way, you can just have them transfer their current policy over to you and save you the hassle of trying to establish your own flood insurance policy. And it is separate from homeowner's insurance too. Just to put that out there. So, if you set a flood zone, you would have to have your homeowner's insurance and the flood insurance separately.

FIND OUT IF THE HOME IS IN HOA COMMUNITY

You also want to find out if that home is in an HOA community, that's the homeowners association. If it's a condo or maybe even a town home, you definitely would most likely be in a HOA community. Now that's actually where, you know, they you have to pay a certain fee, either monthly, quarterly, or annually. And that fee covers certain things like grounds keeping, master association, insurance, recreational facilities. If there's a swimming pool in the community, tennis courts, fitness center, a sauna, things like that. You know, that fee goes into maintaining those areas. You also definitely want to check into if whether or not there's a current special assessment, and that's where owners would have to pay another fee separate from your HOA fee. If there is a current project or a project that's about to happen on the building. Maybe a roof replacement, or maybe there redoing elevators, fixing up elevators, or painting the building, just certain big projects like that to where all the owners would have to pay a fee. Typically, if it's really, especially if this large fee, then you'd be able to pay in installments. However, there may be certain situation where that special assessment fee would need to be paid in full. So, you definitely want to check into that because, if that assessment is not paid off before closing, then you definitely would be responsible for taking over the payments if it's not already paid for at closing. So that's something that can be negotiated with the seller. If there is a current special assessment, either the buyer will agree to pay or maybe you guys will split the cost or the seller, which be kind enough to just cover it at closing.

ARE PETS ALLOWED?

Another big thing, if you are buying a condo and you plan on living in it, you make sure that pets are allowed for owners. There are certain communities where there are no pets allowed at all, and there are some where owners are allowed to have pets, so you definitely want to check into that. And if they do allow pets, then make sure you do your further research and find out if they do, you know, find out what the restrictions are for a certain breeds or the size because you would definitely hate to purchase this new home just to find out that you cannot bring your furry loved one. So, that's very important to check into if you are purchasing a condo.

HOMEINSPECTION

The last thing I want to talk about, very, very important whether you are financing or even purchasing a cash, quick, quick cash deal. You definitely want to get a thorough home inspection done. You know, the place may look great to the naked eye, but there are certain things that you've just, you may overlook or that's just out of your area of expertise. You want to check for damages for sure, whether they're major or even little cosmetic things, cosmetic, you know, it's not going to be a deal breaker, but it's definitely things that you want to be aware of. If you didn't already catch it during a walk through, you want to check the condition and the age of the roof, very important, especially for insurance purposes, including the heating and cooling system. You want to check for plumbing issues, check for any leaks, mold, wood rot, termite damage, any electrical issues. If there's a septic in the home, you want to have a separate septic inspection done. If there's a swimming pool, you might want to look into having a pool inspection done. You want, also a lot of things people don't think about are the windows. I definitely like to open and shut the windows, make sure they do lock. So, you want to check to see if the doors and windows are functioning the way they should and they do lock. So, just little things like that. There's a lot more to look into, but those are just the key things that pop into my head right away when I think of a home inspection. So, you definitely want to have that done even if it's just for a peace of mind. If you feel like regardless of the condition, you're going to purchase that property, it's still highly recommended that you have that done just so you know exactly what you're getting yourself into.

Well, those are some of the main things that you should definitely consider when you're buying a house in Florida. If you want to know more as far as the process of searching for home and the whole purchasing process till you get to close and get the keys to your property, please feel free to call/text us at 850.320.7757 or email us at Admin@WhittemoreGroupRE.com

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