Closing Table Notes

One dated issue a month: the real numbers from the closing table — promulgated rates, doc stamps, surtax exceptions, recording fees — with the statute or rule linked next to every figure. No filler, no forecasts we can’t support.

Issue № 5 · October 21, 2026

How to read a title commitment: Schedule A, the requirements, the exceptions — and Florida's gap rule

Before any policy issues, the title agent delivers a commitment — the insurer's written terms for insuring the title. Issue #5 walks its three schedules (what is being insured, what must happen first, what will not be covered), the Commitment Date, and the Florida statute that covers the gap between that date and recording. No numbers this time — just the document most parties never read.

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Issue № 4 · September 2, 2026

The two taxes on a Florida mortgage — and the $25 lender's policy that changes cash-to-close math

Financed and cash estimates for the same price never match, because Florida taxes the loan itself: $0.35 per $100 in documentary stamps on the note and a 2-mill intangible tax on the mortgage. Issue #4 walks both, plus the flat $25 simultaneous-issue lender's policy — with a worked $500,000 file.

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Issue № 2 · August 1, 2026

FIRPTA has three brackets, not one rate — and the buyer is the one the IRS bills

When a foreign person sells U.S. real estate, federal law makes the BUYER withhold. Issue #2 walks the three brackets — 15%, 10%, and zero — the certification that unlocks the lower two, and why withholding is computed on the price, not the profit.

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Issue № 3 · August 1, 2026

The reissue credit: the reduced rate most sellers leave on the table

Florida sets title premiums by rule, so no company can discount them — but the same rule writes in reduced-rate categories, and the one sellers most often miss is the reissue credit. Issue #3 explains what it is worth in real dollars and the single document that unlocks it.

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Issue № 1 · July 28, 2026

The five numbers on every Florida closing statement — and the Miami-Dade exception

Florida's title premium is set by the state, not negotiated — and four more government-charge lines follow fixed formulas. Issue #1 of Closing Table Notes walks the five numbers, including the Miami-Dade surtax exception that surprises out-of-area agents.

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