Paying for a Florida Build From a Distance On a custom build, you don’t pay for the house all at once. Money goes out in stages, called draws, as the work gets done. Who checks that the work is really done before money moves is one of the biggest questions for an owner who lives … Read more
Protecting Yourself From Construction Liens When You’re Building From Out of State Florida’s construction lien law surprises many new owners. If your builder doesn’t pay a subcontractor or supplier, that company can file a lien against your property, even if you’ve already paid the builder in full. When you’re building from another state, you can’t … Read more
When you’re building from another state, your builder is the most important decision you’ll make. You can’t drop by the site, run into the foreman, or drive past other houses they’ve built on a Saturday. So you need to do your checking on paper and online, and get a contract that protects you when you’re … Read more
The Roadmap Many people moving to Central Florida don’t buy an existing house. They build one, often while still living and working somewhere else. It can work well, but being 1,000 miles away changes how you choose a builder, how you pay, how you check the work, and what you sign. This guide is the … Read more
What They Check and How They Affect Your Insurance Buy a home in Central Florida and your insurance agent will likely ask for two short inspections that most out-of-state buyers have never heard of: a 4-point inspection and a wind mitigation inspection. Neither replaces a full home inspection. The 4-point tells the insurer whether the … Read more
A builder’s price per square foot covers the house. It usually doesn’t cover everything else: getting the lot ready, permits and inspections, utility connections, interest on the construction loan, and the rules that apply to the land itself. In Central Florida, some of those costs are specific to the state: protected gopher tortoises living on … Read more
Tiny homes look like the simplest answer to Florida’s housing costs: buy a cheap lot, put a small house on it, and live with no mortgage. In practice, it’s one of the most misunderstood topics in Florida real estate. Whether you can legally live in a small home depends on what the state calls it, … Read more
Building a house in Central Florida costs about the same per square foot whether you build in Lake County or Seminole County. Labor and materials are priced regionally, not county by county. What changes a lot from one county to the next is everything around the house: impact fees, water and sewer hookups or a … Read more
Anyone building a new home in Central Florida pays impact fees, one-time charges that counties and school districts collect to pay for the roads, schools, parks, and fire stations new growth requires. They’re one of the biggest costs of building that most people never hear about. They rarely show up as a separate line in … Read more
Vacant Lot Checklist “Zoned residential” and “buildable” are not the same claim. A lot can be zoned correctly, priced fairly, and still turn out to need a federal wildlife permit, a wetland determination, or an environmental assessment before a shovel goes in the ground. This is the deeper, step-by-step version of the due diligence covered … Read more
