Inside the Footprint

St. Petersburg is inside my licence. Read on before you assume the rest.

Licensed for St. Petersburg. Not pretending to be down the road from it.

Licensed statewide

What working together looks like

Much of this site is written for people leaving Florida. This page is the opposite case: St. Petersburg 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.

Where Florida transactions get complicated

Unpermitted work attaches to the property, not to the person who did it. Open permits, work that was never inspected, a converted garage or an enclosed patio with no paperwork behind it — these surface at the least convenient moment and they can hold up a closing, an insurance quote or a resale years later. The building department will tell you what is on record, it costs nothing to ask, and the answer is worth having while contingencies are still running.

What tends to decide a Florida closing

  • 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.

Other cities in Florida

Questions people actually ask

What is an estoppel letter and why does it hold things up?

It is the association’s written statement of what is owed on a unit — dues, assessments, transfer fees — and a Florida closing involving an association generally waits for it. The association has a statutory period in which to produce it and charges a fee for doing so. It is ordinary and entirely predictable, and it delays closings only when nobody ordered it early. Ask for the association’s governing documents in the same breath.

Who handles the closing in Florida?

Customarily a title company rather than an attorney as a matter of course, which differs from practice in a number of other states. The title work confirms the seller can convey what they are selling and turns up the things nobody mentioned: an old lien, an open permit, a boundary that does not match the fence. You may still want your own attorney, particularly on an estate sale or anything unusual, and I will say so when I think it is warranted.

What do I have to disclose as a seller in Florida?

Florida sellers are required to disclose known facts materially affecting the value of the property which are not readily observable — the rule from Johnson v. Davis — and it is broader than most sellers expect. The practical version: if you know about it and a buyer would not see it on a walkthrough, disclose it. Where the boundaries of that duty are genuinely unclear, that is a question for an attorney rather than for me.

What are the four-point and wind mitigation inspections?

Insurance documents rather than buyer protections. Insurers commonly ask for a four-point report on an older property — roof, electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling — before they will quote at all, and a wind mitigation report records construction features that can reduce a premium. Neither replaces a full home inspection. Order them early enough that a refusal to quote is not what you discover a week before closing.

What happens if work on the house was never permitted?

It surfaces, usually at the least convenient moment. Open or missing permits attach to the property rather than to the person who did the work, and they can hold up a closing, an insurance quote, or a sale years later. The city or county building department is the place to check, asking costs nothing, and the answer is far more useful while your contingency periods are still running.

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About Jacob Campbell Read the FAQ

Jacob Campbell · Florida Real Estate Sales Associate, license 3623732 · The Keyes Company · 561.301.7130