Pensacola, Escambia County — the honest answer

The parts that go wrong, and when

Inspection findings are a negotiation with a deadline attached. The report is not a repair list and a seller is not obliged to accept it as one. What decides the outcome is how the request is framed, how quickly it goes back, and whether the important items have been separated from the cosmetic ones. Sending twelve items when three of them matter is the surest way to get nothing.

Florida-specific things worth planning for

• Windstorm and flood are underwritten separately from the main policy across much of Florida. Price them on the specific address before you are under contract, not after.
• For condominium buildings of three storeys or more at the relevant age, Florida requires milestone structural inspections and a structural integrity reserve study. Both change assessments and financeability. Read them before waiving anything.
• The homestead exemption reduces taxable value on a Florida primary residence, and the Save Our Homes cap limits how fast the assessed value rises afterwards. Portability may carry a benefit from a prior Florida homestead. Your county property appraiser is the authority, not your agent.
• Title in Florida is customarily handled through a title company rather than an attorney as a matter of course, which changes who you call when a question arises mid-contract.

What the work actually consists of

Much of this site is written for people leaving Florida. This page is the opposite case: Pensacola is in Florida, so the licensing question does not arise at all, and the only live issue is a practical one about distance and presence. Distance is not always a problem — a great deal of this work now happens by telephone, email and document portal — but it is a fact, and you are better off holding it before you decide rather than after.

Other cities in Florida

• Jacksonville
• Hialeah
• Cape Coral
• Hollywood
• Coral Springs
• Pompano Beach
• Davie
• Sunrise
• All of Florida