Q: I’m 26 with a solid job and no family in the area. During the boom years, I resisted pressure from my parents to buy a home, mostly because I was convinced I would relocate, but partly because I could see the bust coming. I now feel that the timing is right, and I’m ready to settle into a home. I have the savings to place a down payment on either a family home in a decent neighborhood or a smaller duplex-style property in a much nicer neighborhood. I have no plans to start a family soon. What do you suggest? – Wally

A: Get the most home in the nicest neighborhood with the best schools that you can comfortably afford. Even if you don't have kids, a home in a solid school district likely will maintain its value because that's an important consideration for most potential buyers. You also need to look at your lifestyle and what it is that you are looking for in a home. Do you want a big back yard? A pool? The freedom to expand? A garage? Make a list of the five to 10 features that are most important to you and then find a home with most of them. Do not get bogged down in how the home looks now. Look for things that you can’t change: the walls, property lines, neighborhood. You can paint or tile your new home quite easily, but it will be very difficult for you to grow an extra bedroom if one is not there. You should also assess your lifestyle: Are you handy and able to fix things? Do you want to deal with a big yard and landscaping? Is a pool important to you? Go slow and look at a lot of homes. It has been my repeated experience that you know the house you are looking at will be your home shortly after you enter it. It is almost magic – you just know. If you don't get that special feeling, keep looking.

Q: My neighbor and I decided to put up a fence between our properties and split the cost. We decided I would lead the project. I hired a fencing company that put up the fence using the survey I got two years ago when I bought the home. When the city came out to inspect, it said the fence was on my neighbor’s property and would not approve the job. My neighbor and I compared surveys and they do not match, almost like there is a gap in between the property lines that no one owns. What’s going on? – Bob

A: One of your surveys is wrong. When a surveyor comes to your house and makes the survey sketch, he or she is (hopefully) doing the best job possible, but mistakes can happen. One of the primary rules of real estate is that every speck of dirt is owned by someone. In most developments all the land is either owned by individual owners, the association or the government, but all of it is owned. Most developments in Florida are platted. This means that when the development was originally planned, a master survey was done and the boundaries for each lot were determined. These lines do not change easily. Typically when this is done, the original surveyor will place markers or monuments into the ground to permanently mark the boundaries near the corners of the property. They may be a special nail in the street or sidewalk, or a metal stake buried in the grass somewhere, but chances are they are there. These can be a useful tool to determine where your property line actually is. Or you may simply need to have the survey corrected or a new one done to settle the dispute.

Q: My wife and I are getting divorced. My soon-to-be-ex and I bought a home together several years ago. We want her to keep the house, and I do not want any further responsibility for it. Is this possible? – Fenton

A: Probably not. I answered a similar question before, but it bears repeating. When you and your spouse bought the property and borrowed money from the bank, you both obligated yourselves to the lender. While you can deed the house to your soon-to-be-ex, you can’t get out of the obligation of the mortgage without your bank’s consent. If the house has any equity in it, you should have her refinance with a loan in her name only. If the house can’t be refinanced, you should be very careful about owing money on a property you no longer have any control over. If she decides to stop paying on the loan, you will still be on the hook and will have no ability to sell or rent the house to help satisfy your obligation to the lender.

The information and materials on this blog are provided for general informational purposes only and are not intended to be legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed, nor should any such relationship be implied. Nothing on this blog is intended to substitute for the advice of an attorney, especially an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.

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