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Author: Robert Fausette

selling your deceased mother house without probate

Can You Sell Your Deceased Mother’s House Without Probate

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A house doesn’t stop costing money when its owner dies. Property tax bills still show up. The insurance carrier wants to know if anyone’s living there, and the roof keeps aging no matter what’s been filed at the courthouse. Families call me three, four, sometimes nine months after a funeral, still unsure who’s allowed to … Continued
Do I Need an Attorney to Sell My Home In Tampa

Do I Need a Lawyer to Sell My House

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A seller called me last spring, convinced her closing was illegal because she didn’t have an attorney. It wasn’t. Her contract did have a clause that would’ve cost her weeks of extra carrying costs, though, and nobody on her side had read it closely. That gap between what the law demands and what actually protects … Continued
Can You Sell a House With a Lien In Florida

Can You Sell a House with a Lien in Florida

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Most sellers learn about a lien the same way. A title search comes back with something nobody expected, like a roofer you’d forgotten about or an HOA that kept piling on fees after one missed assessment. Sometimes it’s an old credit card judgment. None of that kills your sale. How you handle the next two … Continued
Selling a Home Affected by Termites in Florida

How to Sell a House with Termites in Florida

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A screwdriver sinks into a door frame like it’s wet cardboard. That’s how most Florida sellers find out. It rarely starts with a pest inspection, just a casual poke at trim that looked fine last spring. Termites don’t make noise. They eat wood from the inside out, and by the time the surface gives, the … Continued
Can a Homeowners Association Claim Your House In Florida

Can an HOA Take Your House in Florida?

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A neighbor once swore his association couldn’t touch his house over $900 in dues. He was half right. The half he got wrong nearly cost him the place. Florida associations hold real power over your title, and a missed payment can reach a clerk’s auction faster than most people expect. Can an HOA take your … Continued
Should You Update Carpet Before Selling Your Home in Tampa

Should You Replace the Carpet Before Selling a House?

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Pull back a corner of the bedroom carpet sometime. Plenty of houses built before the mid-90s have oak hiding under the padding. I’ve watched sellers spend four figures covering up flooring a buyer would have paid more to see. That’s the risk of treating new carpet as an automatic chore before you list. You can … Continued
Typical Home Staging Costs In Florida

How Much Does It Cost to Stage a House in Florida

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Walk into an empty Florida living room in July, and you’ll feel it before you see much of anything. Sound bounces off the tile, heat hangs in the corners, and the rooms look smaller than the floor plan promised. Buyers pick up on that too, and they blame the house, often before they’ve made it … Continued
Adding a Name to a Deed Without a Lawyer

Do I Need A Lawyer To Add A Name To A House Deed

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Most people treat a deed like paperwork. Ask whether you need a lawyer to add a name to a house deed and you’ll usually get a shrug: sign it, hand it over, done. That’s the version I believed for years, and it’s wrong. A deed is the legal instrument that settles who owns your property. … Continued
Can I sell my home for below market price

Can You Sell Your House Below Market Value

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Selling a house in Tampa is complicated enough. Put a family member on the other side, and it gets stranger fast. Sell your house below market value to a relative, and you’re handling gift tax forms, IRS scrutiny, a possible reassessment, and a buyer who inherits a tax problem. Most people treat this as a … Continued