HUGE Mistakes Florida Homebuyers Make and How to Avoid Them

buying a home in Florida can feel like a dream Sunshine palm trees and no state income tax Count me in But I've also seen that dream turn into a total nightmare especially for those moving from out of state Every week I meet with home buyers who have fallen in love with the sunshine and palm trees but they get blindsided by flood insurance builder shortcuts or HOA nightmares they didn't see coming So today I'm going to walk you through the four biggest mistake Florida home buyers make and how to avoid each one so your dream move doesn't become the next Florida natural disaster If we've never met before my name is Juan Kala and I make videos that are all things Tampa Bay And a little over 6 and 1/2 years ago my wife Kate and I packed up our family of five sold almost everything we owned and moved,200 miles here to the Gulf Coast and have been loving it ever since I'm also a licensed realtor and a team leader here at the True Living Group where our team has helped over a 100 families relocate to the greater Tampa Bay area And if that's you or could be you you'll find all of our contact information down below including a link to my calendar so you can schedule a time that's most convenient for you Now let's talk about these mistakes and how to make sure that you don't make them Now one of the first mistakes we often see people make is underestimating insurance cost HOAs and CDD fees Now HOAs and CDDs aren't required but a lot of homeowners choose to buy in locations that have both an HOA fee and a CDD fee Now if you've never heard of that term before that stands for community development district fee What that really is is a a a loan uh that was made by the local government typically the county to the developer or the builder so they can build all the infrastructure necessary for you and I to have roads and sewers and all the things because the counties and the cities don't build these things anymore They leave it for the builder Right now there's going to be a huge swing in insurance costs based upon the type of property that you purchase but we're going to get into that later So make sure you stick around for that one But what happens is you find a beautiful home online it fits the budget the photos look amazing but then you get the insurance quote and boom reality check Right here in Florida insurance just isn't an afterthought Between hurricanes flood zones and older homes premiums can get expensive fast I've seen buyers fall in love with the $500,000 home only to find out the insurance quote adds another $700 a month and it was a dealbreaker Now that's not common and you got to know what you're looking out for but it can happen So this is why this is important to take note of right and HOAs some are amazing Gated communities pools maintenance parks dog parks all the things you could ever ask for but they can also mean unexpected fees Um strict rules and limited freedom And this is the one that usually makes people crazy And another thing that I don't like about it is you know a lot of the times you know people aren't wellversed in negotiating cost or bids for things that have to be repaired or replaced in the future And ultimately that's going to end up in your lap Now pros and cons for both but you need to be aware of it So the question becomes how do we avoid it okay so the first thing we want to do is get an insurance quote before you make an offer or during the inspection period not after When you make a property on an offer you're making some sort of deposit usually in good faith It's called escrow Now that escrow can become at risk after the inspection period But in the state of Florida it is up to the buyer to move forward as long as that offer is written on a asis contract Now I'm going to get in the weeds a little bit on this and I don't want to get too far but the point you need to know is make sure you're getting that quote either before you write the offer or during Both of those are the best times and are going to put you in the best position to not find out the hard way and put your earnest money deposit at risk Number two is ask your agent to request HOA docs upfront rules fees what's covered That way you can review them in real time One of my favorite hacks there is to upload all of that in the chat GTP and ask it questions Hey can I do this can I do that whatever is important to you and also ask it to quote its sources because that is always an important step Most of our buyers are going new construction or homes built after 2002 They usually meet modern codes in quality for insurance discounts And that's important to take note of And that leads us to the second mistake and this is the most common one and the hardest to fix after you close Buying in the wrong location for your ideal lifestyle Look that beach house on Instagram might look perfect but when you realize it's going to take 45 to 55 minutes to drive to work or you know you're 35 minutes away from your favorite type of grocery store And we got Publix everywhere but we don't have Costco and um Trader Joe's and Whole Foods everywhere Those things are usually a hike you know or your kids school is 30 minutes away and and it stops feeling like paradise all of a sudden right florida is incredibly diverse You've got small coastal towns suburbs small downtowns and rural acreage Um and it's out there a little ways Uh the real trick is finding the right vibe for your lifestyle And this is the one that I harp on so much because let's be real if if you and your significant other each had $3 million each to design your dream home and you built that house but you put it in the wrong community you know you would end up hating it because it's not just about the house a majority of it is is the community a perfect match for your ideal lifestyle and if it's not you are in the weeds and most likely going to set yourself up for some heartache in the future because again this is too hard to fix afterwards what you end up having to do is move again and I got to tell you here one of the things that I am most proud of in real estate is not all of the sales that we've done over time yeah we've helped hundreds of families and that's great but ultimately in 13 years I've never had a client have to move twice and it's because we focus on this your lifestyle So don't make this mistake This is the most common and the hardest to fix afterwards So here's what I recommend Make sure you travel in the town You know an ideal um recon mission if you will on on the communities that you think match your ideal lifestyle are going to be usually 3 to 5 days in duration And in two trips you can really do a lot of great homework especially if you have a team like ours helping you on the other side directing you to the communities that that you describe to us that match that ideal lifestyle So think about that You can also rent an Airbnb for a month or two Spend the time in the area ideally during different seasons If you're worried about the heat come in the summer right if you really want to know what the winter likes come in the winter You know take your vacations around that Think about your actual lifestyle Your work the traffic school runs you know your social life What are the kids doing after school what are you going to do outside of your four walls these are some of the most important questions you got to ask right zoom out on Google Maps What's nearby how long is your commute going to be what are the flood zones like again non flood non-EVAC That is a great way to keep your insurance cost down by the way And I just want to give you a little story about when we moved here right um we had to consider what our priorities were I'm going to be honest with you Kate said "We need four bedrooms We need at least two bathrooms I got to have a pool And I don't want to be any more than 15 minutes away from the beach And we're blessed to have a tremendous amount of coastline here in Penelis County where I live You know I'm right by Indiana Rocks Beach and we have essentially 27 miles of white sugar sand beaches They're incredible Um and we absolutely love it But like we started in Dun Eden because that's where we thought we wanted to be And thank the Lord we didn't end up there Even though we love that town we go to date night there We take the family there We love the town but we are beach babies It takes me 7 minutes to get to the water with my family And looking back that was one of the best things that happened to us And it was because I didn't actually do all of these steps up front really defining what that ideal lifestyle looked like So I know I'm going deep on this but I cannot stress it enough This is the hardest thing to change after you close and no one wants to move twice So make sure that you describe your ideal lifestyle draw all it all out and the pros and cons and share that with the person who is helping you make this dream a reality And speaking of making that dream a reality all of our contact information is down below including a link to my calendar So if you want to hop on a Zoom really unpack what you're trying to accomplish me and the team would be happy to give you guys some recommendations on communities that most likely match that ideal lifestyle you're describing Now number three is another common mistake and it just makes sense right assuming homes that are built here are just like the homes built where you are from And that is not the case And I learned this right away after we moved here Um you know being in real estate for 7 years prior to moving to Tampa I thought I had a pretty good handle on you know just real estate in general But man when we got here we got an education about the different types of building codes requirements when those things changed And obviously living on the coast you got a lot of things to deal with right and I get it right you're moving from the Midwest or the Northeast or maybe even out west And you're used to homes with basement solid foundations um and attics perhaps and a lot of wood structures but in Florida basements don't really exist There are the random one-offs but that's not a normal thing You're not going to walk into a builder's office or most likely even find a home with a basement The water table is just too high here And in certain areas we deal with things like sink holes you know serious drainage issues I'm living proof of that If you if you're new to the channel here you you may not be aware but our home flooded during Hurricane Milton not because of storm surge I'm 43 ft above sea level but my um we took 12 in of rain in about 6 hours and I found out that my house was the lowest home in the neighborhood and we got wet right so the home might look great but what's underneath matters more here than you might think So be careful about that Right I remember I was working with a specific client from Ohio Um and they were looking at a home built in the 1950s in St Petersburg Um it was on a crawl space and it was made out of wood And you know they had an inspection and when the inspector showed us how much damage was in that home from termites and years of humidity sitting under that crawl space that wasn't addressed properly and the sagging beams and the rotten wood it was a deal breakaker for that client and you know they really dodged a bullet there And I'm really thankful you know that that that we obviously have great inspectors um in the area that can help you clarify what's important on a home Because again if you don't know these things you don't know what you're looking out for you can really get yourself in trouble because listen putting a new foundation on a home um you know whether it's a crawl space or putting uh new beams underneath the flooring that's not going to be a cheap endeavor So here's what you're going to want to do you're going to want to hire an inspector who understands Florida's soil uh and construction process It's not the same everywhere right um if you're buying in a known sinkhole zone consider you know looking at some geological reports or sinkhole insurance as an ad Now I don't know anybody that's been affected by a sinkhole but they're on the map It does happen I mean it happens in New Jersey for goodness sake in California like happens all over the country but it is more common in some of the areas here in the greater Tampa Bay area it tends to go away as you head south but it's there So just looking at these things and it's not something I concern myself with every day to be honest with you because like again I've never seen a sinkhole personally yet living here in almost 7 years and I don't have any clients who've been affected by those things Again a lot of them are choosing new construction homes um where they're doing this these geological uh reports and making sure that the uh foundation is set up solidly So it's something to consider though right um always ask about drainage and elevation Again I just shared my story with you You know flat yards can mean flooding um especially in summertime So just make sure that you're taking that into account The fourth mistake that I see happening that really kind of crushes the dream is waiting too long to make an offer Now I want to make sure that you understand where I'm coming from on this I don't think that anybody should rush to make a decision You know buying a home is a very serious endeavor It is very difficult to change your circumstance after you buy a home um you know if you move in the first year or two after you purchase a home history says that you're going to lose money So you don't want to be in that mindset So you want to get it absolutely correct the first time That's why it's so important But sometimes people wait too long before they make an offer right and this is a heartbreaker You find the property that you the one right the one that you absolutely love you sleep on it and someone else makes an offer And it this happens all the time Now in Florida currently especially here in Tampa Bay we are in a neutral market So that's not happening as often but according to the stats we're still about 18 to 20% of homes are selling over asking price and usually are in multiple offer situations Our last three listings had each one of those properties had three offers on it right and Florida's best homes don't sit on the market long You know you've got retirees investors and snowbirds Those are people who live up north and want to come down in the winter And they all shop here too you know especially in those winter months it's even faster So you got to keep an eye on that Right now our average time to sale is about 54 days which again says it's more of a neutral market So you know just make sure you understand what you're getting into If you're buying a home that needs some love um or needs some renovation that house is probably going to sit You're probably going to have a little bit of time to make a decision on it If you're buying the best house in the best neighborhood with the best education I assure you you're not the only one looking for that So you know just make sure you're mindful of it Um and and and thinking through it because this has happened to me and my clients before because you know they they were taking a little bit longer to decide Um and you know at the end of the day I always tell people you end up where you belong right i do believe that but they they have missed out on opportunities and I hate seeing it Um but take the time that you need You know I'm saying this to you but I I want you to understand that it's really about your journey um you know you shouldn't ever feel like in a situation where you're pinched but it's really going to depend on the market So just keep an eye on that And also make sure you're you know you're looking at specific things like is this a best home in the best neighborhood um with the best schools And if that's the case you know you're probably not going to have as much time to make that decision So just keep that in mind you know and how do you beat that right you know get preapproved beforehand before you even start looking It makes you competitive and confident If you love a home move quickly A great agent can get you in a property and write an offer on the same day and make sure that we've got you in the game Trust your gut and your guide That's what we're here for And if you don't have reputation I strongly encourage you to find some And if you're planning on moving here or even just thinking about it let's talk Me and my team would love to help you avoid these mistakes and find the home that truly fits your ideal lifestyle There's a link in my calendar down below like I said where you can book a time with me and my team We'll walk you through it together We'll open up Google Maps show you the communities everything we have to offer here Remember Florida is incredible place to call home But like anywhere it's easy to make mistakes if you don't know the terrain Avoid the four traps and I promise you you'll be way ahead of the game Make sure to check out our other videos about Tampa Bay We break down the neighborhoods compare lifestyles and give you the inside scoop on what it's really like to live here And until next time go out and live that Tampa life