New Requirements & Opportunities

New Flood Disclosure Requirement. Effective October 1, 2024, a seller must complete and provide a flood disclosure to a purchaser of residential property AT OR BEFORE the signing of the sales contract. There is no official form out of the FRBAR contract committee yet, so you will need to provide your own form. The good news is that this is easy! The text of the disclosure is IN THE STATUTE. Below is a link to the PDF of the bill/new law that you can easily use to create your form. https://www.thefund.com/TheFund/media/PDFs/GeneralCounsel/Flood-Disclosure-HB-1049.pdf

Freddie Mac disbursement requirements. Freddie Mac recently updated its Multifamily Seller/Servicer Guide to require the title insurance underwriter to receive and disburse all funds associated with multifamily properties. Title agents can continue to handle the closings. Here is ALTA's summary of the new guidelines.  https://www.thefund.com/TheFund/media/PDFs/GeneralCounsel/Freddie-Mac-Updates-Multifamily-Seller_Servicer-Guide.pdf

Giving back to the profession. If you are looking for a valuable way that you can use your experience to better the system of justice in Florida, please consider applying for the Judicial Qualifications Commission with The Florida Bar. The deadline is soon:  October 14, 2024. Here is a link for more information and to download the application. https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/applicants-sought-to-fill-jqc-vacancies/

Legal Education Opportunities. Here is the Legal Education Department’s program information card for Q4 2024. We have several great webinars scheduled for the upcoming months, including three brand new sessions airing during October, when we again participate in the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month initiative. Our guest speakers in October include Tyler Adams, CEO of CertifID, and the return appearance of Bryan Thornton, an I.T. whiz who wowed at Fund Assembly in 2023. Later in the quarter - and keeping with our mantra that “we do commercial” - we present a series of webinars on commercial topics, including a new program on the Commercial PSA.  And don't forget to register for this year’s final offering of Fund Commercial Training (Dec. 11-13).

Refinances on the increase. I've been reading that refinances are increasing with the lowering of the interest rates. You should take advantage of this opportunity to reach out to your contacts in the lending community and offer to support them in their refinances. You can deliver their customer an efficient, professional and accurate transaction! 

That's all for this week.

Let me know how we can help you. We will try.

Melissa Jay Murphy
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer,
and General Counsel