As Hurricane Matthew churns through the Atlantic with a possible landfall in Florida, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) urged property owners to take some basic precautions to protect themselves and their belongings.

“With the potential for Hurricane Matthew to hit somewhere along the East Coast, the Governor has issued a state of emergency for all 67 counties in Florida,” says Logan McFaddin, PCI Florida regional manager. “This caliber of a system could bring major flooding and damages along Florida’s East Coast.”

In addition to making sure residents have emergency kits and plans ready, PCI urges residents and business owners to take precautionary measures to prevent damage to vulnerable property. Flooding from storm surge during hurricanes and tropical storms can be especially dangerous for residents along the coast and further inland. PCI recommends that homeowners who sustain damage report it as early as possible to their insurance company.

McFaddin says flood insurance is advisable, but “there is typically a 30-day waiting period between the date of purchase and when flood coverage will go into effect.”

PCI hurricane precautions

Review your property insurance policy, especially the “declarations” page, and check whether your policy pays replacement costs or actual cash value for a covered loss.

Inventory household items, and photograph or videotape them for further documentation. Keep this information and insurance policies in a safe place.

Keep the name, address and claims-reporting telephone number of your insurer and agent in a safe and easily accessible place.

Protect your property by covering all windows with plywood or shutters, moving vehicles into the garage when possible, and placing grills and patio furniture indoors.

Keep all receipts for any repairs so your insurance company can reimburse you.

Check with your insurance adjuster for referrals to professional restoration, cleaning and salvage companies if additional assistance is needed.

Make sure watercraft are stored in a secure area, like a garage or covered boat dock. A typical homeowners policy will cover property damage in limited instances for small watercraft, and separate boat policies will provide broader, more extensive property and liability protection for larger, faster boat, yachts, jet skis and wave runners.

There will certainly be an extended period with power outages.  After the storm, empty out your freezer and refrigerator of all perishable items and put in covered trash receptacles.  Unplug all appliances and electronics since there will certainly be surges when power is restored.

Be mindful of downed power lines when going outside after the storm.  Broken branches can also be dangerous and will continue to fall given the winds and rain that follow the storm.  Remove debris from your property to ensure continued safety.

Filed under: Blog, Exclusive Buyer Agent, Florida Real Estate, Home Buyer Advice, Home Buyers, Home Maintenance, Homebuyer Advice, real estate news, South Florida Real Estate by Kim Bregman
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Always know who the real estate agent you are working with represents. If they are the Listing Agent they represent the Seller, a Transactional Agent works for their personal benefit and even though an agent will put you in the car and drive you around and are not the listing agent, in most states they are Sub-agents for the Seller and work for the seller. It is most advisable for buyers to only work with Exclusive Buyer Agents (EBAs). If you find that you are at an open house or have called an agent and they are not an EBA…you’re your tongue. What buyers may innocently say in the presence of a Seller, Listing Agent, Transactional Agent, or Seller’s Sub-agent can be used against them during a negotiation.

While it may be tempting for buyers to say what’s on their mind during their home search, you should consider yourself in a poker game and keep your cards close to your chest and your comments to yourself. There are some things home buyers should never say on the fly.

Others may be listening. Listing agents, seller and neighbors  all have motives to keep tabs on the situation — or there could be even be a camera or recording device planted somewhere.  In the age of smart home security you can never be too sure.

Those off-the-cuff comments made while moving from room to room could be used against you.

Here are some obvious comments home buyers should never say when shopping for a home:

‘I love it; it’s perfect!’

That feedback goes straight to the seller.

When the less-than-full-price offer comes in and the buyer requests all sorts of concessions, how will the seller be inclined to respond?

‘That (decor, furniture, wall color) is awful!’

What were they thinking?

So maybe the sellers’ tastes are not what the buyer would pick, but that doesn’t make their choices wrong. If these comments get back to the sellers, their desire to be cooperative when offer time comes in my be less than enthusiastic.

‘This home is way overpriced’

Be careful with that statement.

While this is a common buyer thought, what happens if this house ends up being the best option? When the listing agent or seller sees the buyer’s name on an offer, they immediately tart off in a defensive position. If is is truly overpriced your Exclusive Buyer Agent should provide a comprehensive analysis during the negotiation to make this point.

‘I can afford to spend up to X’

While it’s certainly a good idea for prospective buyers to find out just how much they can afford, they should keep that information strictly between them and their Exclusive Buyer Agent. You would be surprised by the number of deals that end of at the top of your affordability range because you disclosed this to the agent that is driving you around. Insist that they develop a Comparative Market Analysis and pay no more than market value for any property regardless if you can afford to pay more. Most real estate agents have a duty to get the highest price offer for the Seller or want to get the highest price offer to get the most commission. The only type of agent that has a fiduciary responsibility to the Buyer is an Exclusive Buyer Agent, even an Accredited Buyer Agent will either be a transactional agent or sub-agent of the Seller if they are not the listing agent as well.

“Why is the Seller moving?”

This is a personal question that’s best not asked by a buyer, it will more often then not result in an evasive answer or a lie.

Let the buyer’s agent position that query with the listing agent in a diplomatic way to glean information about the situation at hand.

‘What are the neighbors like?’

Talk about putting someone on the spot. Listing agents likely have no idea — they don’t live in the neighborhood 24/7, and it would they cannot discuss race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. When cornered, is the seller likely to divulge?

“There’s a Mrs. Kravitz across the street and a curmudgeon next door? And by the way, the teenager that lives on the other side of the house? His band starts warming up in the garage about 11 p.m. on Thursday nights.”Hardly. These people are trying to sell their house. It’s all wonderful. Buyers have to assess the neighbors on their own. Visit the neighborhood and different times of the day and on the weekends to get a sense of the neighborhood.

‘Will the seller take X price?’

Negotiations are best left to agents with a written document from which to work. No Agent or Seller will be inclined to negotiate in good faith without a written offer and Proof of Funds or a pre-qualification letter that demonstrates your ability to buy the property.

Although it’s OK to be candid with your own agent and those you trust, only do so when you are not within earshot of anyone in the seller’s camp.  That includes those curbside chats as you are wrapping up the showing near your car.

Be engaged but conservative in the information you share and how you react to homes you see, even if you have a real interest. You can jump for joy when you are with your agent writing the perfect offer.

Filed under: Blog, Down Sizing, Exclusive Buyer Agent, First Time Homebuyers, Florida Real Estate, Home Buyer Advice, Home Buyers, Homebuyer Advice, Kim Around the Web, Real Estate, Real Estate Closings, real estate news, Real estate trends, Relocation, South Florida Real Estate, western north carolina real estate by Kim Bregman
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The presumption in Florida, after July 1, 2003, is that all real estate licensees are “transaction brokers”.  A transaction broker “facilitates” a transaction but doesn’t represent either the buyer or the seller as an agent.  The real estate licensee is a salesperson working with a buyer or seller customer.  In order for a buyer or seller to actually be represented they must enter into a written “single agent” disclosure agreement whereby the real estate licensee agrees to take on the full legal fiduciary duties of an agent and a buyer or seller agrees to have them as their agent.  Then the real estate licensee is an agent and the buyer or seller is a client.

And that is the issue.  Through the presumption of transaction broker, a buyer or seller has no way of knowing what it is or what they might be giving up.  The real estate industry decided to keep buyers and sellers in the dark and “not knowing what they don’t know”.  If there is no written disclosure alerting the buyer or seller to what transaction brokerage really is and that there is a better option, single agency, how are they supposed to know any better.

At least prior to July 1, 2008, a home buyer got a disclosure that told them, ““….parties are giving up their rights to the undivided loyalty of the licensee. This aspect of limited representation allows a licensee to facilitate a real estate transaction by assisting both the buyer and the seller, but a licensee will not work to represent one party to the detriment of the other party when acting as a transaction broker to both parties”.

But not after July 1, 2008.  The requirement that a buyer or seller be given the transaction disclosure was dropped from the law.  So from that time forward buyers and sellers in Florida have no idea that they aren’t being represented unless somehow they had read something about the disclosure going away in an article somewhere back in or around 2008 or a real estate licensee (and the company they are with) actually believes in providing full legal fiduciary duties to a buyer or a seller and presents them with the option of single agency and explaining it’s worth to the buyer or seller.

Fast forward to 2015 and soon to be 2016.  Many of the buyers today weren’t buyers in 2008.  They have no idea that the real estate licensee they are working with isn’t representing them.  They just assume that they are their agent because most real estate licensees continue to act like and talk like an agent and in many cases actually perform duties and services that only an agent can legally provide.  So of course a buyer is going to think that they are working with an agent.

Many other states have a “summary-like” agency disclosure which is handed to a buyer or seller before any personal information is gathered or questions asked alerting the buyer or seller of their options.   The Florida Legislature in 1997 came up with one titled, “Brokerage Relationship Disclosure Act”.   It provided for a Notice of Nonrepresentation disclosure.  This disclosure had to be given “at first contact.”

[Florida Stat., sect. 475.276 (1)] According to the statute, the disclosure is to be given then, “. . . except in situations where a licensee knows that the potential seller or buyer is represented by a single agent or a transaction broker. If first contact between a licensee and a customer occurs during the course of a telephone conversation or any other communication in which the licensee is unable to provide the required notice of nonrepresentation, the licensee shall provide an oral notice and thereafter provide the required notice of nonrepresentation at the time of the first face-to-face contact, execution of a brokerage relationship agreement, or execution of a contractual agreement for purchase and sale, whichever occurs first.” [Florida Stat., sect. 475.276 (2)]

The effect of this disclosure was to let consumers know just where they stood with regard to the licensee they were dealing with. Also it was designed to minimize the occasions when an unintended, unauthorized, and undisclosed dual agency arose because of the behavior of the parties.  Here is a copy of what that disclosure looked like back in 1997.

NOTICE OF NONREPRESENTATION

FLORIDA LAW REQUIRES THAT REAL ESTATE LICENSEES PROVIDE THIS NOTICE AT FIRST CONTACT TO ALL POTENTIAL SELLERS AND BUYERS OF REAL ESTATE.

You are hereby notified that . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (insert name of brokerage firm) and I do not represent you in any capacity. You should not assume that any real estate broker or salesperson represents you unless you agree to engage a real estate licensee in an authorized brokerage relationship, either as a single agent or as a transaction broker. You are advised not to disclose any information you want to be held in confidence until you make a decision on representation.  (Emphasis is mine)  Your signature below acknowledges receipt of this form and does not establish a brokerage relationship.

After a consumer received the notice of non-representation, several choices were presented. If it was mutually agreeable, the licensee and the consumer would enter into a written authorized brokerage relationship of transaction broker or single agent, similar to what we have today.  However, the difference was that the buyer or seller were put on notice not to say or disclose any information that they wanted kept in confidence until they had a chance to explore and accept a more formal relationship.

I suspect that the real estate industry took exception to providing true fiduciary duties that single agency required along with the legal liability that being an actual agent entails.  A local real estate attorney writes in his blog, “Given all the bad acts that have happened in the Florida real estate market in recent years, having an agent with the legal duty to act as a fiduciary can make all the difference in whether or not someone who has been wronged gets compensated for their damage.  It is a huge limitation on the liability of a real estate agent and their broker to be able to act as a transaction broker instead of an agent – fiduciary.  How important that fiduciary duty may be to you will not become clear unless and until you are harmed.  Many buyers and sellers won’t understand the possibility of having a real estate professional act as a fiduciary on their behalf until a catastrophe happens and they are meeting with a Florida real estate lawyer to try and find justice.”

Nearly all real estate companies in Florida operate as transaction brokers now and not as single agents.  Single agency is rare and mostly available only through exclusive buyer agencies in Florida.  Exclusive buyer agencies represent buyers only and never take listings or represent sellers.  They don’t have the conflict of trying to represent buyers and sellers for the in-house transaction.  Buyers Only Florida Realty is an exclusive buyer agency and we only represent buyers and never sellers.  We take on the full legal liability of being an agent as noted above in the attorney’s blog.

The real estate industry really wanted a way to not be an agent at all and thus lobbied for changes passed by the Florida Legislature that took affect July 1, 2003 that brought about the “presumption of transaction brokerage” which we have today.  As noted above, the “transaction brokerage” disclosure continued until July 1, 2008 when it went away.  So here we are in 2015 and soon to be 2016 with buyers and sellers deliberately kept in the dark and misled by the real estate industry.   It would be nice if such a true disclosure were brought back in Florida to be given to both buyers and sellers at first contact, as back in 1997, warning them not to disclosure anything that they feel is confidential and giving them a summary of their options and the consequences of each.  I doubt we will ever see that again.  The real estate industry seems very content with the way things are.

Filed under: Uncategorized by Kim Bregman
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