Matthew Maschler:
Welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew Maschler, real estate broker with the signature real estate companies in this great state of Florida. And with me, the co-host of the Real Estate Finder podcast,
Staci Garcia:
Stacy Garcia.
Matthew Maschler:
Hi Stacy. How are you? I’m
Staci Garcia:
Great,
Matthew Maschler:
Thank you. You know, some of our shows, um, have guests and most don’t, you know, it’s the two of us. We do our show. But it’s very funny cuz like my wife and then people in the studio, they’ll always be like, oh, who’s your guest this week? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I think of the podcast, it’s, it’s not like The Tonight Show where I’m interviewing people and I wanna talk about,
Staci Garcia:
I feel like it’s like The Tonight Show. Ed McMahon
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>. No, I feel we’re equal, but, um, I didn’t feel that like Carson and McMahon are equal. I
Staci Garcia:
Like the laugh
Matthew Maschler:
Though, you know, it’s funny. Mm-hmm. Talking about Tonight Show and I’m and I’m saying Carson.
Staci Garcia:
Yeah, I know. That’s what I meant though.
Matthew Maschler:
Right, right. But like, how long was Jay Leno on? And who’s even on now? I dunno. And I’m turning, um, 50 in three weeks. Um, two weeks. Actually it’s three weeks from, uh, Halloween. So, so it’s two weeks from now. Um, turning 50. And I wrote in the, in the newsletter, if anybody got the real estate funder Century Real Estate Founder newsletter. How I’m feeling old. And, and that’s one of the reasons, right, because it’s Kimel Kimel host It Tonight Show. Right. It’s Tonight Show with Jimmy Kimmel or Jimmy Fallon. One of ’em hosts Tonight Show. And, and you say Tonight Show. And I’m thinking Johnny Cars Me too. Maybe cuz you said everything. Yeah, no, it’s true. But it’s a, it’s a real estate show with me and Stacy and um, and sometimes we have guests, we like to talk about real estate. So sometimes we bring guests on, uh, for real estate.
But most of the time, no. And, uh, even my other podcast, Matthew Manias, me and Neil, and sometimes we have guests, but sometimes no. Um, but that one is also, doesn’t have as many rules. If I want to, I can do it in an episode without Neil. He doesn’t listen though <laugh>. So, uh, yeah. So we’re here to talk about real estate. Um, no, no guests today. It’s Stacy and I talking about real estate. We have a couple topics we wanted to talk about. And, um, there was two I came in, uh, wanting to talk about, but Stacy reminded me, uh, that a, uh, few months ago during a closing, uh, there was a question about, uh, Florida real estate taxes. And I said, right, why don’t we set our calendar for November 8th, second week in November? Cuz that’s when real estate taxes start. You know, the bills start coming in the mail and we could talk about it.
It’ll be timely and we can talk about it. Um, and actually timely would’ve been a month ago because what happens is, um, usually November 1st week of November is when you get your real estate taxes. But a month earlier you get the, um, the preliminary tax bill. And that’s where if you want to fight your taxes, you can, um, try to challenge, uh, what the assessment, uh, will be. Um, I don’t think it’s that popular. I don’t think there’s that many people doing challenges. Obviously if you have commercial real estate or a big piece of property, uh, you want to do that every couple of years. Um, in New Jersey, uh, taxi season. And I remember a lot more, uh, activity, trying to challenge and appeal, um, the assessments, they, you don’t challenge the amount of the taxes. The taxes are set, um, you know, as a percentage per thousand dollars value of the house. So you don’t char challenge the, the amount of the taxes cause that’s set. But you, um, you challenge the assessment, um, because you, um, if, if they assess you too high and you can lower the assessment, you’ll pay less taxes. Um, do
Staci Garcia:
They only assess the house? I’ve had a lot of buyers ask me, um, if a lot of closings have closed in their area that they’re buying. Um, is the tax on the house gonna go up based on the other comps? And I’ve said, no, it’s based on this house.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Um, it’s funny cuz you get these questions from people in New York and New Jersey mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and there’s certain questions I get. And then, and my response is, where in New Jersey are you from? Right. Uh, it’s different the way they assess. Um, here it’s assessed on the price when you buy the house, um, in, in New Jersey, uh, it’s assessed on the value of the house. So five houses on the same street in New Jersey will all be assessed similarly. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you could have five identical, when I say five houses on the same street, I mean five identical houses, five identical houses here could all have different assessments, uh, based on when the person, uh, purchased the house. One of the things that Florida does, um, in the, in the Florida homestead laws, and this is in the Constitution, it’s, you know, very, very hard to change is, uh, on your primary residence.
They cap how much you can be. Your assessment can increase every year. Uh, so even if the values of your house go up, um, the, the Homestead law protects you as a, as a homeowner from an increased assessment. And the reason it’s done is that so many people, you know, elderly people, retired retirees would move to Florida on a fixed income. And if you’re on a fixed income, you know, your mortgage could be fixed for 30 years or you paid cash. Um, but if you’re, if you’re, if you have your mortgage set for 30 years, um, and your property taxes set for, you know, fixed, when you buy the house, you know how much it’s going to cost you to live in that house. Obviously insurance goes up, um, and, and utilities and other expenses go up. But people who are on a fixed income need the certainty of a housing payment and taxes being fixed so that they can plan for their retirement and they can plan for their future.
Uh, and that’s why one of the reasons why Florida homestead, uh, protects primary residence is from increased assessments. So if I bought my house in 1972 and someone else bought their house in 1982, uh, their assessment would be higher cuz it’s, uh, when, when they bought it, and you could have similar houses on the same street, uh, not go, not go up. Uh, when, when that very, very expensive house sells, uh, in the last market, the house might have doubled. Your assessment doesn’t double because of, uh, of the increased values. And that’s actually really good for Florida. It’s very unique. Um, you know, you have the situation now if you’re looking at politics in the election, um, you know, the city of Boca lowered the tax rate a little tiny bit, so that way all the city councilmen and mayor can brag that they lower taxes.
But the revenue was increased so much by all the, all the new sales that re the revenue came in and that they, the new budget spends a lot more money, but technically it’s not a price tax increase. Technically, there was a small price decrease so that they can run on a record of, of cutting taxes. So, um, in Florida, your primary residence is protected from the assessments going up the first $50,000 of the assessment. Um, there is no tax on that’s, uh, part of the homestead rules, um, probably meant to be when property values were a lot less. Um, there’s, uh, in the, in the election that we just had, um, there’s a, a question, and I don’t know if it passed or not, but statewide referendum, uh, that, uh, there’d be another $50,000, uh, on top of the first $50,000 for, um, teachers, policemen, first responders, firemen, uh, active duty servicemen,
Staci Garcia:
Have additional homestead
Matthew Maschler:
Exemption, have an additional 50,000 extension. It was like, like good people. Like there was a list of like 10 categories. And, and I, and I thought it was kind. That’s pretty funny. Yeah. I thought it was kind of funny because like, you know, this is my, my kids are 18, so they’re voting. So
Staci Garcia:
Yeah. Had this exact conversation at my house too.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. So I went, I went over all the candidates. Right. Yeah. But you probably didn’t have the neurotic levels that I went on. I didn’t,
Staci Garcia:
I just, my son said I’m allowed to vote for judges. And I was like, well, you’re allowed to vote whether they stay in, in their position or
Matthew Maschler:
Not. Right. And
Staci Garcia:
You’re also allowed to vote on other things. So he thought he was just gonna make like one check or two check for governor or something like that. And then he saw the whole paper and he was like, I said, you know what I do, I find it makes life a lot easier. We’ll discuss it now and then you write in the circle. Fill in the circle, and when you go to vote, you’ll have your paper with you and you just put in the same circle. Exactly. That’s like a cheat sheet. Exactly. And so then he said, okay, well that’s fine. But I don’t know what to put except for the governor. He is brainwashed Uhhuh. He already knew what he was gonna put, but who’s
Matthew Maschler:
He gonna put,
Staci Garcia:
He’s gonna go with, um, not Chris
Matthew Maschler:
DeSantis. Yeah. Oh, he couldn’t say it. Yeah.
Staci Garcia:
Yeah. So
Matthew Maschler:
He, you know, it’s funny cuz you know, you said we had the same conversation and, and I’m like, I’m sure that conversations went in different ways. Mine versus yours. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But I actually said the exact same thing about the governor’s race. Oh, really? Right. It’s not, do you want this person or this person? Right? It’s are you voting for or against DeSantis? Oh, because the typical Democrat liberal Democrat. Yeah. They’re not excited about Charlie Christ candidacy. No. Um, so, you know, it’s not like where in the Senate, right? You have Rubio Rubio versus Demings. That’s like a real contest with two different people with two different opposing views. Right. You’re voting for Rubio or four Val Demings with DeSantis, you’re voting for or against DeSantis.
Staci Garcia:
My son said this, he goes, I don’t know about the other one. The Rubio guy. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> or the other chick or anything like that. He didn’t know. He goes, but as long as it’s that, that one is Democrat, I’m gonna go with Republican. You know, straight down the line,
Matthew Maschler:
He’s gonna go straight. Yeah. And, and that’s interesting. And by the way, so people that know me, you know, I like to, I love to talk about politics mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, some people don’t like to talk about politics, but I’m not angry. I’m not, uh, vindictive or vicious. So I’ll generally start with what I am. I’m I’ll, I’ll admit I’m a Republican conservative, but I’ll talk about the candidates, I’ll talk about the issues. I don’t attack, um, people based on their, you on their, you know, ideologies that it’s a free country. And we all, I don’t, I believe both parties, all parties, all people want what’s best for the country. So that’s how I approach politics. So if you were thinking, we’re gonna talk about politics, I wanted to give you that disclaimer. Yeah. We’re not, and I sat down, I had to sit down with my kids differently because my daughter thinks differently than my son.
But yes, that’s how I explained. Cause what I told her, what she didn’t know about Charlie Krist, uh, Charlie Krist was a Republican governor of Florida for a long time. A well loved Republican governor. He did a great job as governor. Everybody liked, everyone on the Republican side liked Charlie Christ. The Democrats did not like Charlie Krist. Maybe they don’t let, maybe they dislike, um, DeSantis more, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But, but the Democrats were no fans of Charlie Krist. And what happened, um, I don’t remember if it was 10 or 15 years ago in the Republican party, well before Trump, this had nothing to do with Trump. It was actually a Sarah Palin, um, legacy nightmare. Um, <laugh>, sorry. Uh, there was the, there were these Tea party, uh, challenges in the Republican party. And a lot of established Republicans were challenged by young Tea party, uh, candidates in the primaries. So Charlie Krist lost the Republican primary, ran as an independent, and then I’ll say it, I think he lost his mind. <laugh>, um, found the home in the Democrat party was, um, was embraced by the teacher’s union, which hated him, but embraced by the teacher’s union, changed his positions on almost everything. And he is now running as a Democrat. I just think it’s still hard for the Democrats to be behind that candidate. Um, it
Staci Garcia:
Was, but you were right in the beginning when you said it’s not who they’re behind, it’s who they’re not for.
Matthew Maschler:
It’s, it’s, it’s DeSantis or not DeSantis. It’s the, that’s how, I mean, that was the last presidential election. Right? It wasn’t Trump Biden. It was Trump. Not Trump. So, um, you know, when when we look at the ballots, we go to the top of the ballot. You, you, top of the ballot is, is the federal, um, you know, goes federal first. The only federal election we had is, um, uh, Senator. So that was Rubio Demings. Uh,
Staci Garcia:
I even have a sign in my front yard yard for Andy Thompson. Oh. For Andy Thompson. And, um, my son said, well, I’m not gonna vote for
Matthew Maschler:
Him. Well, let me talk to him. Cause I’m about as Republican as they come. Right. I voted for Trump three times, not twice. Uh, and, uh, I’m, and I’m voting for Thompson. I actually had to
Staci Garcia:
Vote for you should talked to
Matthew Maschler:
Him. I actually had to vote for two Democrats in this candidacy, which it never happened. My son voted for three. I shouldn’t say my son’s politics, but, um, but yeah. So, um, but, but I go to top. I start, I have to start at the top. I’m like, I’m like ocd but lazy. But I have to start at the top. Right. So the top, it’s federal, which is the Senate campaign versus Rubio. Rubio versus Demings. Um, I actually like Demings as a person and a candidate. I, I love Rubio. I, I don’t want Demings to win this one, but I would love to see, uh, Demings. I actually had thought, um, she was in the running for, um, vice president, uh, when Biden picked, um, picked Harris instead. Uh, I, I think Biden, um, for Vice President and for Supreme Court was on record wanting to pick an African American woman. Um, so she was, uh, she was in the, in the running for, um, vice president, I believe. And, uh, and because she was, she was Chief of police in Orlando mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I actually thought she’d make a great vice presidential candidate for Biden because you have all of that, um, uh, anti-police sentiment. Yeah. Uh, that’s going on. Actually, when we were, and that’s where I was going with the, um, the second $50,000 thing. Because, you know, someone who maybe doesn’t wanna support the police, but there’s a lot of other teachers, firemen, I
Staci Garcia:
Agree that they stuck other people
Matthew Maschler:
In there. So it’s like, okay, well, well I don’t, you know, maybe I don’t like teachers or maybe I
Staci Garcia:
Don’t like, they’re like first responders, first responders and teachers teach.
Matthew Maschler:
They had a couple, add a couple of other things. That way it’s like, okay, even if I, I don’t wanna give a tax, please. These are all good people. Let’s give the tax credit. All right. So we had Rubio Demings, um, federal, then state, there are three besides governor. There are three elected, uh, state positions in Florida statewide. Uh, the Chief Financial Officer, secretary of Agriculture and Attorney General. Uh, so for governor send to that, that, that we discussed, uh, for cfo, um, Jimmy Patrons, which I think who I think is doing a great job. But he’s a very great guy. And, um, I met with him, uh, when I was doing some work with Israel Bonds and, and he, um, you know, led the state initiative, um, to, uh, to purchase, uh, the state of Florida to purchase Israel Bonds. SOS has my vote for governor eventually.
Um, and then you have a Secretary of Agriculture, which I don’t know either of the candidates. Uh, so that’s the type of thing where you go party. And then, uh, attorney General, which I think Ashley Moody’s doing a good job, but obviously, even if I didn’t, I’d stick with it as, as a Republican. So that, you know, governor in those three positions, um, for, um, state, statewide office. Uh, and then, and then you have, um, the Florida, uh, Senate and House. And that’s when we get to, uh, Andy Thompson, who’s a good friend of ours, um, registered Democrat. But I am voting for him anyway. I mean a Facebook, Facebook post support of him. I, I would’ve voted for him no matter what, but I got really behind his campaign because I find his opponent to have been just disgusting in the lies. Just lies and defamation.
It’s not defamation or slander because it’s a political, um, you know, when you’re on politics campaign, anything goes but it really, really dirty, really disgusting campaign that she’s running. And Andy’s a good guy and he’s got kids, and the kids shouldn’t have to see those, um, commercials and allegations. She, she accuses him of being a Biden Democrat. And I’m like, he was on city council. I don’t think Biden had much to do influence on the Boton city council. And her offered proof. She said, here’s the proof. And she showed him his, his registration that he’s registered as a Democrat. Okay. So that’s the proof that he is registered as a Democrat. I’m pretty sure all Democrat candidates are registered as a Democrat. So I I didn’t view that as much proof. So, um, good luck, Andy. Um, we recorded this just before the election, but it’s gonna drop, uh, after the election. So
Staci Garcia:
I, I told my son, I like, I’ll introduce you to Andy. He’s a super cool guy. And he was like, I don’t need to meet him. I don’t need to vote for him cuz he’s Democrat. I’m like, it doesn’t really work that way.
Matthew Maschler:
So what it, well, I, so some of the response I got from some hard Rs was that they can’t vote for a Democrat no matter what. Just the fact that they’re in that party supporting everything that goes on in that party. I’m like, but you don’t support everything that goes on in the Republican party. I certainly don’t support everything that goes on in the Republican party. Like for instance, January 6th, I don’t even think January 6th was representative of the Democratic party, but of the Republican party. But, um, anything Trump did or said is representative of the party. I certainly didn’t support anything as a Trump supporter and someone who voted for him would vote for him again. Um, I, I can’t say that everything he does I agree with or speaks with, speaks to me. So, you know, I don’t, you know, not everything that Republicans do should be described to me. I have my own views. Right. There’s just, I mean, there’s millions of people with millions of views. There’s only two parties Right. That to speak of. So I can’t agree with everything in the Republican party. And there’s someone that’s in the Democrat party. I can’t say to them that, that they are part of everything that any Democrat says
Staci Garcia:
Prior to the Trump campaign. I just wanna say I was independent mm-hmm. <affirmative> for a long time because I felt like you should vote for someone that you, or a cause that you feel strongly about. Right. Yeah. But I had to switch out to become a Democrat because who I wasn’t voting for. Right. Otherwise I wouldn’t have had a say.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, no, you always, you have a, you can go to the, you don’t have to register as a party. You have to register in the party for the primaries.
Staci Garcia:
Yes. I did that on purpose. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
But, um, but for the general election, you have a say and you can vote for or against whoever you
Staci Garcia:
Want. Well, it kind of like led up to that. Yeah. And I wanted to make sure I had a say, you know? Right. Cause also I feel like people that start like Andy could be the president one day.
Matthew Maschler:
Well see, the thing is, right. So as a Republican uhhuh, right? I don’t think city council matters. I don’t even think that the lower house in Florida matters. I don’t even think Florida issues matter because most of my views are based on, um, most of my biggest issue is does the federal government have the power to. Right. So, and that’s one of the reasons that drew me to the Republican party. So if there’s a particular issue or law, I start with, does the federal government have the power to act? And if the federal government doesn’t have the power to act, it doesn’t matter how I feel about the result. I just think that the wrong government, I think that the state should have made that rule. So on, on tons of issues. Um, I I I’m stopped at the federal government doesn’t have the power to, that’s a state issue.
Now, once it becomes a state issue, then I have to actually think about how do I feel about that issue. Right. And then I don’t know how Republican or conservative I am, because I’m pretty libertarian and liberal in my life. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, um, so as far as what the, what the state issues are, and there’s Right. Republicans a national party, I, I don’t, I don’t even know what the state issues are. So I don’t know what goes on in the State House between my Caruso, the Republican that I like in Delray and Andy Thompson, the Democrat that I like in Boca. But I don’t know what they’re gonna ar argue about once they get into the State House. Right. So, um, because I don’t know those issues and that’s why it’s easier for me to vote. The, the Democrats, the two Democrats I’m voting for in this election are Andy Thompson for, um, lower the lower house in the, I think Florida Assembly and, uh, Robert Wein Roth, um, for county commission.
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And again, county commission doesn’t deal with constitutional issues and federal issues. Um, and security and Army, like all of my, all my Republican issues are, are on the army, are on federal taxation, are on the Constitution. So they don’t apply to state, county, or city. Um, so, so, so it changes. Um, I, I couldn’t even analyze, uh, what, how I would feel on state issues that I don’t even think that on state issues they should run as Republicans, Democrats, I think there should be state parties that are totally, totally different. But again, it’s hard to get that information. And even me, when I was going through the, um, the ballot hard to get information. So we’re working our way down the ballot now. Palm Beach County Soil Commissioner. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, why do we vote for Palm Beach County Soil Commissioner? And because there’s not that little r little d I didn’t even know who to vote for.
Staci Garcia:
Well, that’s when I usually text a friend, text a friend, and I, I text Craig Aronoff Uhhuh and I say, um, for this position I usually screen take a picture of it and send it to him and tells me who to vote for. I’m not mindless.
Matthew Maschler:
Did he ask you about, um,
Staci Garcia:
This time? I didn’t ask him yet.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Asked him about soil. Nobody knows. I asked so many people about soil. Really? Nobody knows.
Staci Garcia:
Yeah. Usually I say, do you have a skin in the game? Do you have a, a player in this challenge
Matthew Maschler:
Does that, if he does have a customer, a client, he tells me, does that make you more or less likely to vote for that person? More.
Staci Garcia:
More, yeah. Because I like Craig. Yeah. I figure he’s not gonna find, uh, he’s not gonna work for someone unscrupulous. Also, he, if he really, um, disagreed with their politics or their, you know, them personally as a person, he wouldn’t, he’s not that, that desperate
Matthew Maschler:
For work. Right.
Staci Garcia:
So I do respect his, whoever he stands behind, he likes those people. He thinks
Matthew Maschler:
They’re good. Right. And what, and what you said about not being mindless, it’s not mindless to ask somebody who you think is knowledgeable about the issues. Right. Where they stand on those issues that I had. I called two people. Well, I called two people before I went really anti on Andy’s opponent on my Facebook. I called two people that I, that I trusted, um, just to, just to hear the scoop. And, and that confirmed with me that I, and, and the reason I went anti is cause so many people can’t. Right. So many people can’t because of where they are at their jobs, their positions, they, they can speak to politics. So, um, I, I thought I needed to, uh, defend Andy, um, just for his wife and kid’s sake. Um, and for his own mental sake that, to, to see somebody defending him against the horrible, horrible things that were said about him. Um, so going through, going through the ballot, then judges, right? So it’s weird in Florida you have judges are appointed by the governor and then one year later they’re up for a yes or no vote by the public. And then every six years, another yes or no vote. And I don’t know how I feel about it. I I don’t think the public is generally aware, knowledgeable enough. There’s no way to know. And, and there’s 15 judges. It’s, we’re not following them. There’s no baseball cards are, but where are we getting this information? <laugh>. So, so
Staci Garcia:
This is why I wanna say it’s really important what your name, your kids. Yeah. Because I choose by name Uhhuh. I’m like, no, I don’t like that name. I do like this name though.
Matthew Maschler:
Joe Bud <laugh> the Republican for
Staci Garcia:
Congress. I do wanna say something though. We didn’t
Matthew Maschler:
About Joe Bud. We didn’t
Staci Garcia:
Talk about him. Joe Bud, uh, I don’t know Joe Bud Uhhuh, but Mike Bud Uhhuh was my, um, was my chairperson for my master’s thesis Uhhuh. And he was really hard on me. So I didn’t vote for Joe Bud.
Matthew Maschler:
Even though there’s no relationship between Mike Bud and Joe Bud.
Staci Garcia:
Any Budd o Budd <laugh>.
Matthew Maschler:
I think if I could have advised the Joe Bud, uh, campaign, I would’ve had him, um, put a parenthesis that, you know, bud is, you know, short for Bud Valki. <laugh>. Right. Ait. How do you, how do you He’s running in such a heavy Democrat Jewish district. The, the, the Republic, the Democrat candidate has the most Jewish team you ever see. It’s like Jewish, but Jewish <laugh>. And, uh, I mean, he’s gonna, it’s the old Ted Deutche seat. And, uh, one of David’s friends is Ted Deutsche’s nephew. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and has been working on, on this guy’s campaign campaign, uh, Jared Moscowitz. He’s been working on the Jared Moscowitz campaign. So, uh, so, so I think, um, yeah,
Staci Garcia:
But
Matthew Maschler:
I think Dave’s gonna to support his, his his friend. Uh, so he has another, uh, Democrat has, um, consider. But, um, but Joe Bud, I mean, it’s, it,
Staci Garcia:
Yeah. He didn’t get
Matthew Maschler:
My vote. Kevin Rader actually changed his last name to make it more Jewish sounding really. When he used to run for office, he was using, he used his, I think he edited his mom’s maiden name to like, as his middle name. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> to, to make it more Jewish sounding, to get the Jewish vote in, uh, in Boca Delray. Um, but yet Joe Bud versus Jared Moskowitz for Ted Old seat, um, it’s a very heavy Democrat, uh, seat. So it’s very safe and doesn’t even make sense for a Republican to run in that seat. But, um, Joe Bud will get a couple of votes, I guess not from me. And then, uh, and then judges that Remy, so <laugh>, so then judges, so now half the judges that are on that ballot were Chris appointees. So that’s when we go back to Charlie Kris. So it’s kind of mind, mind blowing, right? Because they were Kris appointees when Chris was Republican governor, so the Republican appointees by the <laugh>, by the, um, former
Staci Garcia:
Republican,
Matthew Maschler:
By the Democrat candidate. Right? So it’s like, do you vote if you support Chris, do you voted for or against his appointees? But judges shouldn’t, I don’t think judges should be voted on by politics. So it shouldn’t matter if they’re, you know, dissents, appointees or Chris appointees to matter if they’re acting ethically it might be and doing good job. So it’s,
Staci Garcia:
It be just in your best interest to vote em out because then you know that you’re circulating judges.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. But, but you want judges and you want long term tenure to experience judges. The the conventional wisdom is to just, is to, is to affirm ’em. That’s what most, I think most of the bar associations say, uh, people get into politics. There’s one, there’s one particular judge that I know there’s some Republicans are trying to vote out. And I think there’s three total that, um, some of the Republicans are saying, uh, to vote no on. But some of the Republican sample propaganda says to keep ’em all. So, um, the conventional wisdom is to, to keep ’em all. It’s a, it’s a good check and balance to be able to get rid of a bad judge if they do something so horrible that enough people have to start a campaign against them. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it’s a good check and balance to get that judge out. But I think a better check and balance is just that the executive or the legislative should be able, or the should be able to remove them for, for cause. Um, but that’s, but that’s the system. We have judges on the ballots to, not, not for the appointment, but just should they stay on. And, uh, if you’re looking at your ballots, I’d say just go ahead and vote for, vote for all of ’em to say. And then there’s about six, uh, questions at the end. Uh, three are constitutional questions and I think think three are county questions. Uh, so they get interesting. I remember a couple years ago there was a question about, uh, solar energy. Yeah. And if you wanna support solar mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um,
Staci Garcia:
Sounded innocent. Right.
Matthew Maschler:
But wasn’t sounds so innocent. But the Yes. To, um, support solar was being, was propaganda from the electric company
Staci Garcia:
Right. Where they made the money
Matthew Maschler:
And Yeah. And a yes on solar would’ve, would’ve meant that the electric company got paid for customers they didn’t have that were using solar.
Staci Garcia:
Right. They got their overages
Matthew Maschler:
Or something. Yeah. Yeah. So it was like, it was the craziest thing that you had to vote no against solar if you wanted to support salt, this solar industry. Right. It was just very confusing for everyone. And, and, you know, you had to get the word out and that, that that bill did not pass or, uh, so luckily for people who, um, want to eventually power their homes on solar, which will probably be more, um, it’s interesting. Cars have caught on so quickly.
Staci Garcia:
People ask me a lot, um, if a solar, uh, roof situation or putting solar on your roof is a good idea. And then as a real estate agent, my, what, what’s my opinion on that? The only thing I’ve seen recently is that people go to closing and they have issues with their solar. Yeah. And so it’s, it kind of breaks down the, the closing a little bit.
Matthew Maschler:
And, um, some people they finance their solar. Right. So then it’s a liability for the buyer. The buyer doesn’t want that liability. They didn’t even want the thing in the first
Staci Garcia:
Place. Yeah. And also, um, it’s part of the roof now, you
Matthew Maschler:
Know? Right. And holes in the roof are not very, not always very good. And then when we have these big storms, you know, then you have to fix the solar afterwards.
Staci Garcia:
And if the roof needed to be replaced, then they put the solar on before replacing the roof. Now you have a roof versus solar situation.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. So I, I’ve stayed away from solar. Everybody. I had no stayed away from solar in the house. I love the idea of the Tesla roof, but I don’t know if it, if the look, I don’t think it’s popular. It’s, it started in Florida yet. And I don’t know if the look would look good on my house, but I need roof. Oh. But, um, and then, so that basically gets us through the, uh, through the ballots. So election day, very exciting. Um, but we weren’t talking about taxes, <laugh>, and that’s how we got on this. So, uh, so taxes in Florida are paid in arrears. So right now it’s the year 2022. 2022. Taxes have not been paid yet. Um, so the 2022 tax bill, um, is, is about to come out and, uh, every month early that you pay it, you get a discount. So it’s like a 5% discount in November, 4% in December, 3% in January, 2% in February, 1% in March.
And then it’s due April 1st. I think it’s, it’s right around that. Um, so what happens is, if you had a closing at any time in 2022, you were using the 2021 numbers as an estimate mm-hmm. <affirmative> and the closing agent would prorate from January 1st to the closing day. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> belonging to the seller. And because that belonged to the seller in the 2022, taxes haven’t been paid yet, it’s credited to the buyer on the closing statement cuz the buyer is the one that’s ultimately gonna have to pay the taxes. Right. Unfortunately, most of the time the buyer doesn’t take that credit and after the closing, put that money somewhere aside to pay the taxes that are eventually gonna come. Right. Right. So I don’t think it’s, it’s usually not a problem. But that’s what happens there. Um, there’s a, there’s, there’s a, the tax man’s coming. So yeah, if you close this month, you can get a big credit from the seller on the unpaid taxes. And then those taxes will be due in a few months. Most people have a mortgage, have the taxes and insurance, um, escrow as part of that. Um,
Staci Garcia:
I always pay, I have a investment property, and when the tax comes, my brothers, he texts me, you know, did you pay the taxes? Yeah. It’s a goal for me to pay it in November. Yeah. You know, to try to get it out because I know I’m saving, but that’s not, you know, easier said than done, but that’s my goal.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. Um, so I think that answered the question right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you get a, um, the day of the closing if, if it belongs to the seller or the buyer, but you get a credit if the taxes were not paid yet, the seller credits the buyer at the closing. And, um, and then, uh, if, let’s say, let’s say the tax came out in November and, and was fully paid and then immediately for whatever reason, uh, in December they, they, they try to sell the house and then close in December. So it’s probably never the case that taxes are paid. Yeah. But, uh, but yeah, like January 1st, that, um, I guess it’s a small credit from the seller. So Yeah. So it’s, it, it generally works out. Now there is usually a piece of paper signed at the closing that says if the 2022 tax, if the taxes are, are much, much higher, the buyer could actually go back to the seller and ask for more money. Um, it’s very rarely done, um, but it can happen. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it can happen. So, um, speaking of that, and speaking of the closing, one of the things I really wanna talk about is the closing agent, um, versus the escrow agent, because people, I keep seeing people mess this one up, so I just wanna talk about that for a little bit. Okay.
Staci Garcia:
Okay. And the walkthrough,
Matthew Maschler:
That’s the other thing I wanna talk about. Okay. So, uh, when the buyer writes the offer, right, generally it, it starts as the buyer writing the offer. And, uh, the buyer and the buyer’s agent will fill out the Florida as is, uh, real estate contract. So even though it’s called a contract, it’s only an offer offer, it doesn’t become a contract until it’s signed. It’s like a bill by all parties, by the <laugh>. It’s like a bill that wants to be a law. My daughter brought that up with me last night, <laugh>, and she said every social studies teacher brings that up every, every year. Yep. So, um, okay. So yeah. So it’s, it’s an offer when it’s signed by everybody, it’s a contract. Contracts are binding, it’s a contract is a legally enforceable promise. Um, but until it’s all signed, it’s an offer. The buyer writes the offer on the first page of the offer.
And the, and you know, the power of writing is that you set the terms, right? You write down the price, you write down the closing date. You write down how many days for inspection. You write down who the escrow agent will be. The escrow agent’s job is to hold the deposit. So there’s a first deposit, maybe a second deposit, escrow agent is holding the deposit. Sometimes the seller will indicate that they want a different escrow agent, and that’s a negotiation. The buyer doesn’t have to do it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> write it that way. Um, it, it becomes a negotiation. Um, just because the showing instructions say we want this person to be the escrow agent, doesn’t mean the buyer has to abide. Doesn’t mean the seller has to accept your offer. It’s, you put the terms in and if, and if the seller counters your offer on price or other terms like who the escrow agent is, that, that, that happens.
But it’s generally accepted that the buyer chooses the escrow agent. Um, at signature, we use signature title to be the escrow agent. Um, if the seller says that they want a particular closing agent, closing agent’s, the one that issues the title policy, um, that doesn’t mean you should, you should put that person down as the escrow agent on the first page of the contract. The escrow agent and the closing agent are different parties with different responsibilities in the contract. So the number one thing I wanna say is, let’s not confuse the escrow agent with the closing agent. Earlier on in the real estate funder podcast, months and months ago, we had Bob Schwartz. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, I think it was episode 12, but I can’t be entirely sure. Um, and one of the things that he said, which enlightened me, is all these title agencies around here, they’re not title companies.
The title company is the one that issues the title policy, the Chicago titles or Fidelity titles of the world. There’s only a few title companies, big companies, all these offices in, in in town are not title companies. They could be title agencies. They could issue title. Um, so because everybody calls ’em title companies, and I don’t like to be wrong, and there’s lots of words for them, right. Because sometimes it’s a lawyer who issues the title. Sometimes it’s a title agency that was issues the title. So in the last few months or weeks, I’ve been very, um, aware mm-hmm. <affirmative> of trying to call that the closing agent. Uh, and why am I using the word closing agent? One, because title company is wrong, should be title agency. And two, because a lot of times these title agencies are also the escrow agent or offer escrow agent services, like signature title, right.
Being the escrow agent. So we said, who’s the title company? Signature title, but no signature titles. The escrow agent, the contract doesn’t say the title agency or the title issuer or the title company. The contract has escrow agent, closing agent. So I’m making it a concerted effort and I’m gonna ask my agents to make a concerted effort to use escrow agent, title agent. See I’ve got it wrong. Escrow agent, escrow agent, closing agent. And that way we know who’s who because there could be two different title. I wanna say companies, because that’s, these are companies, they’re LLCs, right? There could be two title companies, title agencies involved in the transaction. We don’t know which one’s which. And the contract doesn’t use that word. The contract says escrow agent, closing agent. So I’m making a consistent effort to use the word closing agent going forward. Okay. The closing agent, um, sometimes the buyer chooses the closing agent, sometimes the seller chooses the closing agent and never is the name of the closing agent written in the contract. Maybe it should,
Staci Garcia:
I like to put stuff in broker remarks.
Matthew Maschler:
Okay. But you have situations where in Palm Beach County, the seller chooses the closing agent. Right? And in other counties, the buyer chooses the closing agent. So if we’re in, if you’re listing it and it’s Palm Beach County where the seller chooses, you’re right. You could put it in the broker remarks who mm-hmm. <affirmative> the seller is going to choose. And that way the buyer knows that way. The buyer can just put that closing agent as the escrow agent if they want to make things easier later. Uh, and there’s good reasons why in Palm Beach County, since the seller chooses to put the seller’s preferred closing agent. In the broker remarks, uh, as a general rule, um, because I think real estate finder audiences worldwide, <laugh>, you may or may not, uh, want, want to do that. But if you live in a county in Florida, or if you live and, and I think it’s about 40% of the counties in Florida, or the seller, I don’t think it’s half, but it’s not only Palm Beach County.
Right. Um, where the seller chooses. So if you live, if you, if you practice an area where the seller chooses, it is a good practice to put the closing agent. The sellers prefer closing agent in the, uh, broker remarks. But remember, the escrow agent is named as a, in the contract, in the offer. The closing agent is not named. What does happen in the, in, in the offer is that the buyer can choose one of three options, right. That the seller picks and pays for the closing agent. That the buyer picks and pays for the closing agent and the Miami-Dade provision. And I don’t, um, look at the Miami-Dade provision, cuz I don’t practice in Miami. I’m pretty sure it’s the same as the buyer picking, uh, the closing agent Uhhuh. It just, it’s an additional requirement that the seller provide back title to the buyer if available. Oh, interesting. And what back title does is, um, the seller would go to their closing from when they bought it and show the buyer their old title policy mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and that way the title, uh, agency, the closing agent can run title and connect it to that old policy and save a few dollars.
Staci Garcia:
I gotcha. That’s pretty cool. I was wondering why that was. Yeah. On the signature title app, um, the app Yeah. Where you put in the, um, financing information, right. And it’ll tell you, and then one of the options was, does you have previous title for the last three years?
Matthew Maschler:
Right. Because it can continue the policy. So now if the seller is paying for the closing, um, for the closing agent, then the buyer doesn’t care if the seller gets that discount. Right. That’s why it’s not there. Interesting. Right. Because, because why should the buyer, why should the buyer care if the seller can get a discount on something that the seller’s going to choose and negotiate? Right. Gotcha. And that’s why Miami did, had to come up with that provision. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it’s weird. On statewide form, there’s a Miami-Dade provision, right. Because it makes sense to say, Hey, I’m the buyer, I can get a discount if the seller does X. Right? But if the seller doesn’t have to do X, then he is not even gonna try. Right. So the seller could say, I don’t have it, or I don’t know where it is. But, but they should at least try.
Yeah. Because there’s an old policy and it, and we’ll save money if we can use the old policy. So that’s where, where, where the Miami-Dade provision came in. But ultimately, Palm Beach County, um, seller, seller pays, seller chooses. And, um, and one of the reasons why the closing agent’s not named the buyer chooses also, but the buyer doesn’t have to choose right then and there and write it in. So the, um, name of the closing agent is not in the contract. The name of the escrow agent is, uh, and I’m gonna try not to say title agent because they’re both title people that do both jobs. And, and it can be confusing. And what I found is, as I’m, as agents are asking me questions, they’re getting confused. I’m getting confused. And one of the reasons they’re getting confused is, is the title agency, but they’re, are they talking about the escrow agent or the closing agent?
Because they do both. Because they, because they, because it’s the same people that, that act in those roles. So, um, you know, I I also get confused sometimes with, um, with, with, uh, with pronouns. He or she, or they, and, and, and when he changes in a story, there’s three different, he’s Right, right. There’s the seller, there’s the buyer, there’s the seller’s agent, there’s the buyer’s agent. Right? So let’s, let’s use those words when you tell me a story, because otherwise I’m gonna get confused, especially if there’s another transaction, right? If, if your seller’s a buyer somewhere else, right. And the buyer somewhere else. Well, he told him that blah, blah, he told him who, who, who he talking about. Mm-hmm.
Staci Garcia:
<affirmative>. I actually make it a point not to use pronouns when I
Matthew Maschler:
Write. Yeah. Let’s not use pronouns when we’re, when we’re trying to tell me what’s the facts of, of the real estate. You know, there’s the seller and the seller’s agent, and you don’t wanna confuse them because they’re, they have different roles, right? Like, are you the, are you the buyer or the buyer’s agent? The buyer’s? It’s, I’m like, sometimes that question, that’s not a question. You know, you’re the buyer’s agent. That’s not a question for you. You have to relay that to your buyer and let the buyer decide. Right? But the reason my agent has to come to me is they don’t understand. Well, it’s
Staci Garcia:
Kind of back, it’s in there because it’s called the person who is the buyer’s agent is really the seller’s agent, right.
Matthew Maschler:
Selling, selling agent, selling agent.
Staci Garcia:
So in a way, it does get
Matthew Maschler:
Confusing. And that’s, that’s in the, where that comes in is that’s in the party’s relationships to each other, right? In when we’re, when we’re, when we’re talking about our customers, right? There’s the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But when we’re talking amongst ourselves in the industry, there’s the listing agent and the selling agent, right? So in the mls, right, if you represent the seller, you have a listing, you enter the information into the mls. So in the club, in the association, who, who are you, you’re the listing agent. And then who am I? Right? I’m the one that sold the house, right? The listing, you know, I went out and I found a buyer for the house. You know, in, in Florida, we’re all deemed to be transaction brokers. Um, before that, it used to be deemed that the buyer’s agent actually worked for the seller because
Staci Garcia:
They got paid by the seller. Seller.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. And they got paid. Right? They, they shared that commission from the seller. So when they created this transaction broker in Florida, transaction agent in Florida, that’s how they had a, they were saying, okay, there’s no agency relationship between anyone. So you have one party who lists. So if, if, if the agents are working together, right? If an agent at Keller Williams lists the property and the mls and an agent at Signature sells the property to their customer, right? I’m a salesman. Everything in the MLS is available for me to sell to my customers. So if I find a buyer and I sell my buyer a house, he’s the, I sold him the house. So it’s the closing day. This is John Smith. I sold him the house. I was his, his, I was his agent. Now, te legally I was a transaction broker. I wasn’t his agent.
Right. The legal definition, what did I do? Right? It’s, it’s closing day. That’s my buyer. What did I do? I sold him the house. That’s why I’m the selling agent. Because as a, as real estate agents and transaction brokers, that was our legal role in the transaction. The, the listing agent put the house in the mls, they advertised the house, they marketed the house, and then they shared their commission with me because I sold it to a customer. I sold the house to the customer. I’m the selling agent, listing agent selling agent. And the, as far as who were the brokers involved in the transaction? According to the association and the mls, but when we’re working with our customers and talking to vendors and title agents, we use buyer’s agent and selling
Staci Garcia:
Agents. Like when you go to our auto, uh, place and you ask for a sales person. Yeah. Right? They’re selling a car to you. Yeah. They’re selling agents. They’re not your buyer’s agent.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. When you Right. The guy that, that’s
Staci Garcia:
Kind of how I
Matthew Maschler:
Remember it. Yeah. The guy that went, the guy that sold me the car, he didn’t own the car. It wasn’t his car,
Staci Garcia:
And he didn’t represent you as a buyer’s agent. He
Matthew Maschler:
Sold me the car. I’m his customer. This is my buyer. Right. He’s like, when he talks to his manager, he’s like, listen, I have a buyer here, but he’s the salesman. He sold me the car. The, the, I’m the transaction as far as the transaction goes. I’m the transaction broker. I sold the house to my customer, to my buyer. I sold the house to my bar. So there’s a, so in the transaction and in the, in the association world, listing agent, selling agent, but while you’re doing the deal, it’s just easier. So that’s the legal relationship. It’s just the, um, the in the deal points when we’re talking with, um, vendors or we’re negotiating and the, and the selling agent is negotiating with the listing agent. We’re not talking about the, we’re talking about the parties. So it’s, they’re the seller’s, the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent, seller’s agent, selling agent.
Totally, totally different. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And that’s why in one of our forms, we actually have to, we have a thing for our, our buyer customers are gonna pay the selling agent. And sometimes they go, why am I paying the selling agent? I’m like, because that’s me. I’m the one that sold too much. Right. Exactly. Um, and, and, and, and I think it makes sense. I sold them the house. It’s my customer. It’s my buyer. I sold them the house at over at my, my synagogue. Um, I would, I would, um, people talked about the rabbi. I said, the rabbi married us. I was confused. I’m like, wait, the rabbi, the guy says the rabbi married my daughter. I’m like, the rabbi married your daughter. They got married. No, he performed the marriage. Right. Okay. So I I I performed the cell. Um, so that’s, uh, hopefully we’ve cleared that up
Staci Garcia:
Or made it really confusing
Matthew Maschler:
Or made it really confusing, or really, I think, I think I did a good job. Okay. Yeah. If you’re listening to this, please let me know if I, if I confused you or if I explained it. I’m hoping all my agents are listening. You know, how, how can you be one of my real estate agents? You don’t listen to my podcast. That’s
Staci Garcia:
Ridiculous. I like to listen to myself. So Uhhuh, you know, it’s like a win-win. Mm-hmm.
Matthew Maschler:
<affirmative> <laugh>. I called my wife wife listening to one of my podcasts. You did? Yeah. She keep trying to interrupt me. <laugh>. I can say whatever I want here. She’s not listening. She
Staci Garcia:
Doesn’t put you on, on
Matthew Maschler:
Hold. I don’t think she’s listening. All right. So we talked about taxes. We talked about, um, the, the closing agent versus the escrow agent. We talked about the selling agent versus the buyer’s agent. The other thing I wanted to talk about, do we have time? We don’t really have time. Let me ask in the back, do we have time? Is it, do you have someone coming in? 1230. All right, we’re gonna go five more minutes. We’re gonna talk about the walkthrough. Okay. All right. Buyer found the house that they liked. They negotiated a price. They have an inspection. Now they’re renegotiating the price. We literally had this happen to us just now. We, you know, the, the buyer, the, the asking price was 6 0 5. The buyer wanted to offer five 50. Uh, we came up with something in between, but we said that the condition of the house, the roof was original.
The pavers were all unsettled. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And we used that when we negotiated the price. So after we have the inspection and the inspection report says that the pavers are uneven and that the roof is original, we tried to negotiate an inspection credit, and the seller called us out on it. The seller said, go f yourself. Right. You knew that when you bought the house. That’s why you got the price you got. Right. You can’t, the buyers were trying to double dip, you know, in, in the stock market. They say like, um, bulls of bears, bulls are people that think that market’s going up. Bears are people that think market markets going down. Um, bulls get fed. Bears get fed. Pigs get slaughtered. Right. Had we just asked for the reasonable repairs that were in the thing, we might have gotten a bigger credit. Right. But we shot for the moon and we got Xed out.
So, okay. So you negotiate the price, then you negotiate the inspections at the walkthrough. That is not another bite at the apple. That is not a time to try to renegotiate the deal. It people have that same attitude that they have in the inspection. Sometimes they’re looking for trouble. They’re looking to negotiate. The walkthrough is not the time to renegotiate the deal. What is the walkthrough for? The walkthrough is just to make sure that the house is in the same condition as when you saw it. You, it’s the day of the closing or the day before the closing. And there’s a family living there. Right. And they, right. Who are you? Uh, we rented this house. When is your lease up? In six months. That’s a problem that if you didn’t do the walkthrough, you wouldn’t have known about. Yeah. And you’d go to the closing and money’s exchanged and there’s no back seats after the closing. So you wanna see if that
Staci Garcia:
Just happened? I just saw that in the news in, in Chicago. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the guy bought a house, was fixing it up, wasn’t there for a little while, and we went back and there was, um, people living it.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Did the house burn down since the last time you saw it? Right. It could be burnt to the ground. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, if it was a single family house. Right. And you, you wouldn’t have known, you go to the house and it’s gone. The, the hurricane could have, you know, that we just have, could have destroyed it. Could have ripped the roof off, could have flooded it. So that’s what you’re going for, to make sure the house is in the same condition. Now there’s issues now because all the furniture’s gone. Maybe there’s some defects that are revealed.
Staci Garcia:
No, you didn’t see it before.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. Maybe there’s some damage from they took the art off the wall, or maybe you thought they were leaving something that they took. So now you have these issues that you have to resolve and, and there’s no real great way to resolve ’em. Uh, so that’s when you’re gonna need the, the lawyer involved, actually. Alright. Remind me later for another episode, I wanna talk about a lawyer. Okay. Okay. Now I’m gonna talk about it right now. Okay. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a short one. I’m going on a tangent from the walkthrough <laugh>. Um, recently, one of my, not my agents, but I saw an agent had, uh, there was an addendum, there was an offer, the seller countered with an addendum. And in the addendum the seller tried to say that the seller took title at foreclosure and at the closing, they’re not gonna give a deed with warranties.
They’re gonna give a very limited deed. And they wanted the buyer to sign off on this. And the buyer asked, and the buyer’s agent rightfully asked the team of managers the signature, what should I do? And I, I had to chime in right away and say, do not accept that. Right. Because you need a good deed. And you know, I’ve, I’ve bought stuff at foreclosures and I’ve sold them with, with regular deeds and said, if you don’t, if, if you accept that you’re not gonna get title insurance, you may not be able to get a mortgage, mortgage one issue because, so it’s very scary sometimes. So sometimes we say in Florida, you don’t need a lawyer, uh, to buy or sell a house. There are times that you need a lawyer. So the Florida adds this contract, it’s perfectly fine. Like I’ve, I’ve had it and then I’ve had my, my customers, you know, contact the lawyer, the lawyer calls me.
But at that point, those are just deal terms. Right. Why did you offer so much money or such a deposit? Well, that was negotiation technique wasn’t a legal issue that people wouldn’t understand. Right. Once we get into these addendums, you gotta be careful. Um, you know, my customers, obviously I would see it and my agents, if they asked me, you know, I, I I can chime in and save them. That’s why I asked them to, you know, keep, keep me in the loop when, when you see something weird. Um, but sometimes you just gotta be careful. That’s
Staci Garcia:
True. When you see on papa that it was more than one
Matthew Maschler:
The property appraiser.
Staci Garcia:
Yeah. Yeah. You see, um, wasn’t what I’d say one handoff to the next of title Uhhuh, more than two hands off. Like, you know, I forget what they, what the terminology is. It says it in there, it’s like a star. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> next to the title, and it’ll say third hand or fourth hand. You know what I mean? Interesting. Yeah. Because it’s gone through so many different people to get to the where it is now. Right, right, right. That there is no title.
Matthew Maschler:
There could be a problem in the chain of title. Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, then you have to, you actually, when that happens, you actually have to have a hire, a lawyer, go to a judge, and to have it have, have the title cleared to you. So, um, alright, so going back to the, uh, back to, and, and speaking of that, I had a, an agent a couple of weeks ago, they were gonna rent out a house, um, that and Steve’s name, let’s say. And, uh, and he asked me if the, if the mother has to sign. And I, I read the deed and I’m like, not only does the mother have to sign, like only the mother, the mother had a life estate, only the mother can rent the house. Only the mother could receive those rents. Steve had no right until after the mother died, um, to have anything to do with that house.
So you gotta be careful when you’re talking to your customers reading dates. And if you don’t understand it, you don’t know, just call me. Yeah. I’ll help you out there. So anyway, um, yeah. So we’re at the walkthrough. It’s not a time for renegotiation, it’s just a time to make sure the house is in the same condition. Uh, that it, that it was in that, that you expected it to be in. Um, and it’s not my job as a real estate agent to do the walkthrough. You, it’s your job as the buyer to do the walkthrough. I am not going to do the walkthrough for you, um, because I’m not looking the way you would look. And if I do the walkthrough for you, and then we close, and then you come in the house and you say, Hey Matt, what happened over here? Yeah.
Well, how did, how did, how did I know that that was gonna bother you? Didn’t seem normal to me. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Right. Or they said they were gonna leave, uh, a lamp and it’s a different lamp. Oh, how did I know they changed the lamp? Yeah. So, um, light fixture, not limp. So yeah, it is on you to do the walkthrough. Um, and if you can’t do it in person, have a trusted person come and help you. Um, but it’s not, it’s not a liability that I could accept by doing, uh, the buyer’s walkthrough for them. I’ll accompany, I’ll provide them access. I’ll come with and I’ll be there with you, but I can’t do it for you. Um, but it’s, and but again, the important part is it is also not a time to, uh, renegotiate.
Staci Garcia:
I just had a walkthrough, well now it would be a couple weeks ago, but it was Friday. And well, the agent didn’t show up. The person who represented the buyer,
Matthew Maschler:
The buyer’s agent,
Staci Garcia:
I was representing the seller mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And when they find, when the buyer, the actual buyer, um, showed up, she brought her children who had never seen the house before. And it was pretty exciting. Like that’s kind of the best part of the job is that she got to show her children where their rooms were gonna be. Oh,
Matthew Maschler:
That is
Staci Garcia:
Cool. Yeah. So I felt really happy about that. That’s a probably the best part of my job. You know, they’re not even my clients. They’re someone else’s clients, but she wasn’t there. But the kids were so excited to find out where their rooms were gonna be, you know?
Matthew Maschler:
Right,
Staci Garcia:
Right. So, um, if anyone’s contemplating whether they wanna be a real estate agent, there’s that one thing, <laugh>
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>.
Staci Garcia:
But, um, you know, it’s somewhat fulfilling when you have, uh, a really good transaction that doesn’t, nothing goes wrong and you finally make it to closing and everything’s great
Matthew Maschler:
Absolutely.
Staci Garcia:
To be set for that.
Matthew Maschler:
Absolutely. All right. Well, thank you for joining us on the Real Estate Finder podcast. Uh, homeowners in, in Florida. Make sure to be on the lookout for your real estate tax bill and make sure to pay that bill while the largest, uh, discount is in effect. Otherwise, you’re paying 1% commission to the tax man, uh, 1% interest, uh, per month that that bill is not paid. Uh, and you had all year to save up for it. So no excuses. And if you do pay it late, start saving up for next year. If you, you know, if you do pay it, it’s not late. Right. If you do pay it on time, people convince themselves it’s not late. Right. You paid it on time. You didn’t get the 5% discount. If you do pay it on time, start saving up from March until November because you know it’s coming due. Um, get your saving plan and put that, uh, you know, take the amount divided by eight.
Staci Garcia:
Doesn’t ever go down, does it,
Matthew Maschler:
Doesn’t
Staci Garcia:
Just
Matthew Maschler:
Checking. You know, it’s didn’t go down in the bad market. It did go down. Yeah. I remember assess values going down. I dunno if the actual resulting tax went down. Right. I think it did. I think it did on some of our properties. All right. All right. Thank you for joining us on the Real Estate Finder podcast and have a great day.
Speaker 3:
The future looks bright and the storms passed by the sky’s dark blue. And it’s almost that time. Light shows cameras flash when I pass. Living in the moment. Forget about the past. They save the best for last Matthew Mania. We about to make a splash. Life is a marathon full of sharp turns, gotta keep pace while the hands on the pop turns hot sticks. S five star real estate. I run a show. You can tell the boss in plate electricity energy vibrates. I’m always on time. Even I make dreams come my life.
Speaker 4:
Know. No, it’s, no, it’s timem. You know what? It’s, you know what som you know what? You know what? It’s, you know what song? Know What? You know what? It’s, you know what you know, you know, it is.
Speaker 3:
You know what, it’s, know what time it is. You know what time Its mania. The time it says, you know what time its, you know who time its, you know what time its, it shook, scared. Can’t look. We’re not afraid of a big bad wolf. First
Matthew Maschler:
Comes the rifle. Are we recording? Yeah. Are you on? Yeah. I don’t hear you in my headphones.
Staci Garcia:
Okay. Hello. Hi.
Matthew Maschler:
Sorry. That’s better. What, what are we gonna talk about?
Staci Garcia:
I don’t know.
Matthew Maschler:
You have something
Staci Garcia:
On your, oh, did you wanna talk about Open Door? I did.
Matthew Maschler:
I don’t know much about Open Door. There was some, was there something on the calendar for November 1st?
Staci Garcia:
Oh, um, seller pays the whole taxes year’s worth of taxes in advance.
Matthew Maschler:
You know what? That question, that would be a good, uh, question for the newsletter. I wonder if the newsletter went out already.
Staci Garcia:
I think it did.
Matthew Maschler:
Okay. Yeah. It’s weird. I don’t have it in my calendar, but, um, um, let’s press enough. The newsletter went out.
Staci Garcia:
I put in a newsletter for next month, but today’s the first, the first day of November. So the taxes.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. And, and I like to send my newsletter out in the first month. It’s weird with the, with the, um, recording studio in there. Now I can’t plug my phone in. Right. It’s weird. Unless, do you guys have a super long cord for plug phones in <laugh>, like goes under the carpet you’s
Staci Garcia:
Capability. You can put it over this
Matthew Maschler:
App. Bluetooth. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. All right. Um, yeah, right now, right? Yeah. What do I set the Bluetooth up to? Just go
Speaker 5:
Look on your Bluetooth
Matthew Maschler:
And then go that,
Speaker 5:
Uh, it’s gonna
Matthew Maschler:
Come up wither. Yep. Rer Pro. Yep. Mm-hmm.
Staci Garcia:
That’s cool. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 5:
And are you using it to call someone
Matthew Maschler:
In or? Yeah, I’m gonna call someone. Perfect. Let’s see.
Staci Garcia:
Let’s you like to phone a friend
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>. I hear it. I hear it in my headphones. I hear it.
Speaker 6:
Hey, what’s up Matt
Matthew Maschler:
Preston, how are you?
Speaker 6:
Good about
Matthew Maschler:
Yourself? Good. Actually, before you answer, you answer, but, uh, I should tell you I’m recording at the podcast studio.
Staci Garcia:
You’re on the air. You’re
Matthew Maschler:
On the air. Okay. All right. Um,
Speaker 6:
Oh, that’s so exciting.
Matthew Maschler:
Cool. Stacey had a note in her calendar to ask me on November 1st about taxes.
Speaker 6:
Okay.
Matthew Maschler:
Um, I was thinking it would be great question for the newsletter if the newsletter didn’t go out yet. Okay.
Speaker 6:
Yeah. No, I can still make that happen.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. It didn’t go out yet.
Speaker 6:
No, not
Matthew Maschler:
Yet. Okay. So I texted, I texted it to you. It says, uh, good morning. My seller paid the full amount of taxes for the year ahead. We just sold their place. Yeah. The seller’s asking how did they get back for the tax money they paid for the whole year? Please advise. And it says it’s, so what happened, what must have happened is Stacy asked me this question in real time. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and I counted it for November 1st. I’m trying to think. We just sold their place at, was there a closing?
Staci Garcia:
I don’t think I asked you this question. I had it on my calendar, but I don’t think it was my question.
Matthew Maschler:
Cause it should have been prorated at the closing. Yeah. Um, so, um, taxes are paid in arrears. So, um, if the seller paid the taxes last November, those taxes were for 2021. The tax bills for 2022 have not come out yet. If the property was just sold and has not closed yet, the taxes will be prorated for 2022 on the closing date on what was paid. I’m gonna have to clean this up a little bit. All right. I’ll clue this up a bit after the, uh, thing. And then we’ll work on, um, tonight we’ll work on getting the, uh, newsletter out.
Speaker 6:
Okay.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. Sounds
Speaker 6:
Good.
Matthew Maschler:
I have, uh, yeah, so do you wanna, are you meeting me at the office at 1230 for the secret meeting?
Speaker 6:
I, I can
Matthew Maschler:
Right. Meet me at the office for the 1230 meeting and then we’ll do the newsletter after.
Speaker 6:
Okay. Secret.
Matthew Maschler:
It’s the secret meeting. Yeah. Is the, it’s a secret meeting because I didn’t tell anybody what it was about. I know. Okay. Which is an invitation to ask me what it’s about. Oh, I didn’t know that’s, it’s like, it’s like I don’t wanna put it in my calendar and I have so many words that I’m gonna, I wanna put something in so enticing that someone’s bound to ask me, Hey Matt, what’s this all about? And then I can tell them. Got it. <laugh>. Um, I’ll see you at the secret meeting and I can’t even, because we’re recording now, I can’t actually tell you, but cuz it’s something not for January. Right, right. I’ll see you at, at the office at 1230.
Speaker 6:
Perfect. I’ll see
Matthew Maschler:
You soon. Everybody. Preston Smith, <laugh> Preston, give out your, uh, email address and how do they contact you?
Speaker 6:
Yeah, so my email address is Preston Real Estate Finder and I have, my phone number is four three Reach. If you are interested buying, selling, leasing estate, I’d love to help you. So Preston, thank you for that plug, man. I appreciate it.
Matthew Maschler:
Preston’s been on the show before, but have we ever had a Preston episode? I don’t think so. We should do a Preston episode.
Speaker 6:
I’d be down for a Preston
Matthew Maschler:
Episode. Right. But you’re gonna have to record some music.
Speaker 6:
Okay. We’re
Matthew Maschler:
Give like three and a half minutes.
Speaker 6:
Sure. I
Matthew Maschler:
Could do that right. Three and a half minutes and, uh, and then we’ll, we’ll put it in the episode.
Speaker 6:
Cool. All right. All right. Sounds awesome. Thank you, Matt.
