Buying Property In Florida

The next few posts will be my attempt at introducing my European clients on how to buy US real estate.  I'd like to try to help bridge the gap between the European and American ways of buying property. How doing business there, while different from what you’re use to, is easy and almost always a totally transparent transaction.  I’ve met with or spoken to several people interested in Florida real estate specifically so I thought I'd put together a guide of sorts to help them and hopefully you as well.

The first thing to know is that all agents (called Realtors in the US) have to be licensed in the State where they’re doing business.  They must attend licensing classes and pass a State issued exam before a license is issued and every few years they must attend continuing education classes то maintain their license.  This really legitimizes how business is conducted.  If an agent fails to disclose a problem with the property or makes a mistake, he/she could lose their license and be out of work. Moreover, with the US being such a litigious environment, agents go out of their way to make every part of the buying process completely transparent.  Everything must be disclosed thereby protecting property buyers from future problems.

Many of the better agents go on to learn more about the property business by attending classes geared to their specialty.  You should look for agents with these designations in order to know you're doing business with a professional.  Designations include CIPS (Certified International Property Specialist), CRS (Certified Residential Specialist), GRI (Graduate of the Realtors Institute) or CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment, Member) which is among the most sought after designation amongst commercial agents.

But probably the biggest difference between the US market (any US market actually) and most EU markets is that each US market has what’s called the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).  These are Realtor database listing systems which almost every US agent uses to list their properties (commercial agencies rarely use the MLS).  

Every

Typical MLS Listing Page

listing – and listings are almost always an Exclusive Listing - is input into the system and allows all agents to have access to all the listings in their area, regardless of who actually has the listing.  This means that sales are shared between a listing (sellers) agent and a sales (buyers) agent.  The seller pays the listing agent a commission and that agent pays a portion of the commission (usually 50%) to the buyer’s agent. You can have the best of both worlds because you can be represented exclusively by one agent, have access to every property being offered in your area of interest and you don't have to pay him a dime. 

This is great for a buyer because you have the ability to hire an agent to represent your best interests rather than having to work with a listing (seller’s) agent who is actually being paid by the seller of the property, or you having to bounce around between different agents. A buyer's agent can show you any listings and help you find a suitable property. All you need to do is find an agent you like, and hopefully trust, and then get to work.


Are you looking for US investment property at a discount? Are you looking for a discounted short sale or bank owned property?  John Breaux can be reached at john@marathon-group.cz or +420 602 355 810 or +1 504-208-4331.