“For Sale By Owner” means the seller chooses to market and sell the home without hiring a listing agent. It’s a popular way to save money on commissions, especially when you involve a real estate attorney (like us) to assist with the legal work and the closing—typically at a fraction of the cost of full brokerage fees.  Here’s how the process generally works:

1. Pricing and Marketing Your Home.  Start by determining a competitive asking price. Many agents are willing to provide a free Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), or you can research online listings and recent sales. Once you’ve set a price, advertise your home through yard signs (if permitted by your HOA) and online platforms.  Be prepared for buyer agents to ask if you’ll pay them a commission—usually around 2–3%. You can always say no, but offering a smaller commission often leads to more showings. If you’re asked to sign a commission agreement, we’re happy to review and revise it at no cost if we’re handling your closing.

2. Receiving and Negotiating Offers.  Most buyers will submit a written offer using a standard contract form. When that happens, you’ll send it to us. We’ll review it, re-draft it as needed to address concerns, and send the revised version back to the buyer’s agent (or directly to the buyer if unrepresented).  If a buyer doesn’t have an agent, you’ll typically agree on key terms and then ask us to prepare the full contract from scratch.

3. The Closing Process.  Once the contract is signed, we handle everything from there. Our Closing Manager will coordinate with the buyer, their lender, and your mortgage company if applicable. We’ll also help you obtain any necessary HOA documents, like estoppel letters, and guide you through title clearance and required disclosures.  Throughout the process, our office will keep you informed and request anything we need from you to keep things on track.

4. Closing and Wrap-Up.  Closing is usually simple for FSBO sellers. You’ll sign the main documents in advance, and we’ll handle any last-minute title requirements if they arise. Sale proceeds are typically wired to your account, and we’ll make sure you’re reminded to cancel utilities and other services in your name after closing.

In most cases, yes—you should strongly consider buying investment property through a Limited Liability Company (LLC). Holding title in an LLC offers key advantages for real estate investors, particularly in terms of liability protection, ownership flexibility, and long-term asset planning.  Here’s why it typically makes sense:

• Liability Protection: The LLC structure helps protect your personal assets from lawsuits related to the property. If someone is injured or brings a legal claim, the liability is usually limited to the LLC’s assets—not your own.

• Ownership and Transfer Flexibility: LLCs make it easy to bring in partners, adjust ownership shares, or transfer interest in the property without needing to record a deed or trigger documentary stamp tax.

• Privacy: In many states, using an LLC helps shield your personal name from appearing in public property records.

• Clean Separation: Holding the property in a separate LLC can help avoid commingling business and personal assets, making bookkeeping, management, and future sales much cleaner.

The Main Caveat: Financing.  The one notable exception is when you're using traditional residential financing. Most lenders won’t lend directly to an LLC, and even if they do, they’ll usually require a personal guarantee from you and may impose more burdensome loan terms. Transferring a property into an LLC after the loan closes can also violate the mortgage’s due-on-sale clause—unless handled properly or with lender consent.

That said, if you’re paying cash or using commercial financing, there’s rarely a downside to using an LLC. And even if you need to close in your personal name to get favorable financing terms, you can sometimes transfer the property into an LLC post-closing with legal and tax planning support.

In short, unless financing issues specifically prevent it, using an LLC to hold investment property is the safer and more strategic approach. We can help you form the LLC, handle the closing, and structure ownership in a way that supports your long-term goals.

Title insurance protects against problems with the legal ownership of the property—things like unpaid liens, errors in public records, boundary disputes, or undisclosed heirs. It’s a one-time purchase made at closing that covers you for as long as you own the property.  There are two types: 

• Owner’s Title Insurance protects you, the buyer.

• Lender’s Title Insurance protects the mortgage lender (and is required any time there’s a loan).

The buyer’s policy is optional—but in almost all Florida transactions, it’s paid for by the seller, which makes the decision to get it a no-brainer. Even when you’re paying for it yourself, it’s a relatively modest cost considering the protection it provides.  Here’s what an owner’s policy typically covers:

• Defects or errors in past deeds or title documents

• Outstanding mortgages or liens that weren’t paid off

• Unrecorded easements or restrictions that affect your use

• Claims by unknown heirs or previous owners

• Fraud or forgery in prior transfers

Unlike other forms of insurance, title insurance doesn’t protect against future issues—it covers past problems that weren’t discovered during the title search but could affect your right to own or use the property. 

Because most buyers in Florida receive an owner’s title policy at no direct cost, there’s virtually no reason not to have it. Even when it’s not included, it’s still one of the best values in terms of legal and financial protection at closing.

Buying a home is a major investment, and there’s a lot more to it than just picking the right property. Here’s what we tell clients to focus on to protect themselves and make the process as smooth as possible:

1. Involve the Right Professionals Early.  Even if you're working with a real estate agent, it's important to have a real estate attorney review the contract before you sign. Agents focus on getting the deal done; we focus on making sure you’re protected. If you’re not working with an agent, we can prepare or review the contract, guide the negotiation, and manage all legal aspects of the transaction.

2. Understand the Contract You’re Signing.  The standard real estate contract governs everything—deadlines, deposits, inspections, title issues, financing, and more. We often revise these contracts to clarify or strengthen protections, especially in areas like repairs, appraisal gaps, or escrow terms. Don’t assume the standard form automatically protects you—it doesn’t.

3. Don’t Skip the Inspection—and Know What to Do With It.  You should always schedule a full inspection, but just as important is knowing how to respond. If significant issues are found, we can help you negotiate clean, written repair terms or closing credits. Relying on handshakes or verbal promises is one of the most common—and avoidable—mistakes.

4. Get Your Financing in Order—Then Stay Responsive.  If you’re obtaining a loan, pre-approval is just the start. Stay on top of document requests and keep your lender updated on anything that could affect your financial profile. Even small delays or changes can result in missed deadlines or loan denial, which could cost you your deposit.

5. Check for Unpermitted Work and Review Permit History.  Always ask the seller whether any improvements were made without permits—and don’t just take their word for it. We recommend pulling permit history from the local building department and comparing it against visible upgrades like additions, enclosed garages, or major remodels. Unpermitted work can cause insurance issues, appraisal concerns, resale problems, or even require costly tear-outs. It’s one of the easiest problems to miss—and one of the most expensive to fix later.

 With the right support, you can approach the homebuying process confidently. We’re here to walk you through the contract, coordinate a smooth closing, and flag potential legal pitfalls before they become problems.

Florida does not require either party in a real estate transaction to use an attorney, and many residential closings are handled solely by title companies. However, the absence of a legal requirement does not mean legal counsel is unnecessary—particularly in transactions involving non-standard terms, custom agreements, or commercial property.

For residential transactions, a title company typically coordinates the closing process, prepares closing statements, issues the title policy, and handles funds. However, title companies do not represent the legal interests of either party. They do not provide advice on contract terms, disclosure obligations, post-closing liabilities, or enforcement issues. If a dispute arises over contract language, inspection results, or title exceptions, they cannot provide legal guidance.

For sellers, legal review may be appropriate when disclosure issues are complex, the sale involves unique contract provisions, or there is concern over post-closing obligations like occupancy agreements or seller financing.

For buyers, attorney review is useful when dealing with multiple offer situations, repair negotiations, due diligence review (especially in condos or HOAs), survey or title exceptions, and drafting of custom contingencies.

In commercial transactions, it is standard practice for one or both parties to retain legal counsel, given the complexity of leases, financing conditions, zoning concerns, and risk-shifting provisions. Even seemingly straightforward deals may involve indemnities, easements, restrictions, or restrictive covenants that warrant professional legal review.

A letter of intent (LOI) is often used at the outset of a real estate deal—most commonly in commercial transactions—to outline the major deal points before drafting a formal agreement. An LOI is generally intended to be non-binding as to the transaction itself, but it may contain binding provisions related to confidentiality, exclusivity, or negotiation timelines.

A well-drafted LOI identifies the basic business terms, such as:

• Purchase price or base rent

• Deposit amounts

• Due diligence period and scope

• Targeted closing or commencement dates

• Responsibilities for drafting the contract or lease

• Intended use or zoning contingencies

• Whether financing is required

• Broker involvement

LOIs are also useful for streamlining negotiations, preventing misunderstanding on core terms, and ensuring decision-makers are aligned before significant time and legal costs are incurred drafting definitive documents.

Parties should be cautious not to treat an LOI as a substitute for a contract, and should always consult counsel before signing an LOI that includes exclusivity, confidentiality, or reliance-based provisions.

Commercial leases vary significantly in length, complexity, and party obligations, and are generally not subject to the consumer protections available in residential leases. Parties are expected to read and negotiate the lease fully. Critical areas to evaluate include:

• Rent structure: Determine whether rent is gross, net, or triple-net (NNN). Triple-net leases require the tenant to pay property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs in addition to base rent.

• CAM charges: Common area maintenance fees should be defined in detail—tenants should watch for broad categories or undefined “administrative” fees.

• Use clause: May limit operations to a specific use or impose restrictions on signage, hours, or types of customers.

• Exclusivity and radius clauses: Tenants may request exclusive rights within a center; landlords may restrict competing locations nearby.

• Assignment and sublease rights: Landlords may require consent or prohibit transfers entirely, which affects exit options.

• Personal guarantees: If a business entity signs the lease, the landlord may require the owner to personally guarantee rent and obligations.

• Default and cure rights: Tenants should ensure they have notice and an opportunity to cure monetary and nonmonetary defaults before eviction or penalty.

• Maintenance and repair obligations: These can include responsibilities for HVAC, roofs, structural elements, or building systems—many of which are negotiable.

• Tenant improvements and restoration: Who pays for improvements, who owns them, and whether the tenant must remove or restore upon lease end.

The allocation of these risks can have long-term financial and operational implications and should not be assumed to follow any standard form.

Using a single LLC to hold multiple real estate properties is permissible, but doing so concentrates liability exposure. If a claim arises at one property—such as an injury, code violation, or contract dispute—the other properties held by that LLC could be reached by a judgment creditor.

Segmenting assets into individual LLCs or separate legal entities provides greater asset protection. This creates a legal boundary around each property, reducing the risk that liabilities from one asset will endanger others. Additional benefits may include:

• Simplified accounting and reporting for each property

• Ease of sale or transfer, especially in entity sales

• Potential flexibility in financing or investor structuring

• Isolation of lender covenants and debt obligations

However, this approach has drawbacks:

• Increased formation and annual maintenance costs

• Additional bookkeeping and tax filings

• Higher administrative burden in maintaining formal separateness (e.g., bank accounts, contracts)

Investors must weigh the value of insulation and control against the cost and complexity of additional entities. In general, the greater the value and risk profile of the properties, the more compelling the case for separation.

Under Florida law, sellers of residential real estate must disclose known material defects that are not readily observable by a buyer and that materially affect the value of the property. This obligation arises from common law (as confirmed in the Johnson v. Davis decision), and it applies even if the property is sold “as is.”

Key principles:

• Sellers are not required to inspect or investigate their property for unknown defects

• Disclosures must be based on the seller’s actual knowledge, not what could have been discovered with reasonable effort

• “Material” refers to defects that would affect a reasonable buyer’s decision to purchase or the price offered

• Items often requiring disclosure include: prior water intrusion or roof leaks, mold, known permitting violations, pest infestation, drainage issues, HVAC or structural failures, unpermitted work, easements or encroachments, or disputes with neighbors or associations

Sellers typically complete a disclosure form, but the legal duty exists regardless of the form. Liability may arise if a seller intentionally conceals known defects or fails to respond truthfully when asked directly.

Buyers, in turn, must perform their own independent due diligence, including inspections, surveys, and review of title and association records. A disclosure obligation does not shift responsibility for discovery of visible or known conditions to the seller.