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Miami-Dade County may have cleaned up some of its dirty real estate deals in 2016, but title questions and problems continue to arise - which is why title verification services from lawyers like Guillermo Mancebo at Mancebo Law And Title continue to be so important.
Prior to 2016, Miami-Dade County was a hotbed of dubious cash real estate purchases, often by shell companies. Most of these deals were luxury purchases, often condos that went for millions of dollars or more. Yet on their title, it would be entirely unclear who actually owned, much less lived in, these properties. Until the federal government stepped in to regulate it.
In 2016, FinCEN (The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) passed a six-month regulation requiring the actual buyer’s identity be recorded, and renewed it year after year afterwards. And it worked, sort of. Condo and other luxury real estate cash purchases by shell companies dropped by nearly 90%.
Given that overall sales, and prices, did not plummet however, it appears those determined to anonymously acquire popular Miami-Dade county real estate simply moved on to other methods. Besides, title secrecy issues are only one of the battery of potential title problems plaguing the real estate sector and community that local lawyers like Guillermo Mancebo handle on a daily basis.
While the FinCEN’s crackdown was arguably a success, it only solved a federal/legal title problem. At every level of real estate sales and purchases, from individual homes to major commercial deals, title verification remains an essential step. Not just to avoid sketchy foreign buyers or criminal money laundering.
Miami-Dade County real estate has been booming for years, but the crowded, profitable playing field also attracts its fair share of fouls, cheats, scams, and unpleasant surprises.
Title issues, such as buried liens, partial title ownership, foreclosures and more, can come back to haunt buyers, and undo all the hard work by sellers in any real estate transaction. That is why common sense, and often the law in Miami-Dade County, requires a title opinion be produced by an attorney in a whole host of circumstances, not just sales, including for development, zoning, permits and subdivisions.
An opinion of title letter, also called a “statement of opinion” or just an attorney title opinion, is a crucial legal document in many real estate procedures and transactions. It requires extensive research and verification and has two main components.
First, it confirms the ownership of the property, which is where those shell company issues from the 2000s came into play, and its legal description. The legal description includes all sorts of key details about the property, such as its size, current state, status, and other information that requires legal verification.
Second, and perhaps even more importantly, a title opinion identifies any threats to the integrity of the title. These could be liens, judgments, encumbrances, or mortgages that mean some or all of the property does not belong to the current title holder. If anything could, would, or is interfering with the title or the transaction it is being requested for, the lawyer must include it in the title opinion.
Given that the title opinion can be requested for a variety of reasons, those requirements are not always exactly the same, though the categories and their contents are roughly similar throughout. 
Real estate is a vast and complex field. Fortunate Miami-Dade County homeowners may only ever need the services of a title attorney for their initial purchase or loan. However, such simple and straightforward transactions only scratch the surface of the legal foundations of Florida real estate.
Title opinions are required on all sorts of transactions besides sales and purchases, though those are the most frequent for most Floridians. In addition, other actions include:
Instead, you should always work with an experienced local Miami-Dade County title services lawyer, preferably as soon as possible, regardless of the project or purpose you have in mind.
Copyright©2024. Mancebo Law & Title. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright©2024. Mancebo Law & Title. All Rights Reserved.
