By Joseph E. Seagle, Esq.

👋 Happy Friday! This weekend is the 🏈 Florida Blue Florida Classic at Camping World Stadium 🏟️ in Orlando. Colonial Drive in front of our office will shutd own later this afternoon and last throughout the weekend as crazy cars and motorcycles cruise the strip into gridlock. Therefore, we’ll be closing our office at noon today.

❗Situation Awareness: Our offices will be closed next Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday, and there will be no newsletter next week.

Also, all tax bills we have received for all land trust properties have been shared with the trusts’ contacts through the Clio online portal. If you have not received an e-mail to access your tax bill through the secure portal, please e-mail [email protected] for assistance.

Florida’s condo market is finally seeing a potential breakthrough as a key executive pushes Fannie Mae to loosen the chokehold that has stalled sales, refinances, and new development across the state. The effort targets the strict condo-certification rules Fannie imposed after the Surfside collapse—rules that sidelined thousands of units and trapped owners in unsellable properties.

Why it matters: Florida’s professional class—doctors, lawyers, practice owners, tech entrepreneurs, and real-estate investors—has been navigating a frozen condo market that slowed expansions, delayed relocations, and complicated succession planning for professional practices tied to real property. Some say Florida’s condo market has been in a recession for at least a year.

The bottleneck: Fannie Mae’s post-Surfside requirements demanded extensive documentation of structural integrity, deferred maintenance, and funding reserves. Many associations couldn’t comply, either because repairs were ongoing or record-keeping was incomplete. That meant thousands of condos became “unwarrantable”—mortgages couldn’t be sold to Fannie, killing buyer financing and torpedoing values.

A Florida executive, working with Fannie Mae leadership, is pushing a revised framework that would allow loans on buildings making “good-faith progress” on repairs and reserves, even if the work isn’t fully complete. Insiders say the proposal is gaining traction.

What’s changing

If Fannie signs off, approvals could hinge on verifiable engineering plans, repair contracts, and realistic reserve restoration schedules—not perfection. That’s a major shift from the current all-or-nothing system.

For entrepreneurs and professionals, that means more predictable closings, restored buyer confidence, and the ability to refinance units used for business planning, family trusts, and long-term investment strategies.

What Florida should watch next: State legislators are already debating tweaks to the 2022 condo-safety laws that triggered massive special assessments and large loans for HOAs. If federal finance policy softens at the same time the state adjusts compliance timelines, Florida’s condo economy may reboot far faster than expected.

The bottom line: A Fannie Mae pivot could unlock inventory, stabilize values, and revive the condo pipeline—especially in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and coastal markets where professional buyers concentrate. Watch the next 60 days: if Fannie greenlights the new guidance, Florida’s condo gridlock may finally break open.

A new report from Mortgage Professional America highlights why lenders see promise in flexibility-focused mortgages, yet remain wary of how they’re structured and sold. The debate hits Florida directly, where high prices, mobility, and investment activity make alternative financing especially tempting.

Portable and assumable mortgages are marketed as a workaround to high interest rates—letting sellers move a loan to a new property or letting buyers assume an existing low-rate mortgage. But unlike a standard 30-year fixed, these products create a structural headache: the collateral itself can change mid-loan.

Brokers told MPA the idea has appeal, but the execution is “complicated, expensive, and ripe for misunderstandings.”

Both may become part of the 50-year mortgage product that is being debated around D.C. as well.

Lenders rely on the property as security. When that property changes—or might change—the risk model breaks.

The result: higher fees, longer timelines, and more layers of review until people are trained, processes are built and streamlined, and agreement terms are judicially vetted.

Exotic mortgage products almost always come with gaps in education. Borrowers may believe “portable” means seamless, when in practice it means:

Brokers warn that shady actors could package these as “innovative” or “money-saving,” even when the long-term math tilts against the consumer.

Florida investors, practice owners, and entrepreneurs—accustomed to buying, selling, and repositioning property frequently—may see portability as a strategic edge. It can be, but only with clear contracts and strong underwriting.

Medical practices relocating, law firms upsizing, or short-term-rental investors swapping properties will need to weigh flexibility against real cost.

We already see portability with private lenders and hard money lenders who allow investors (think flippers and builders) to “spread” mortgages from properties that are renovated or built out and sold to properties where renovation or construction has yet to begin.

Portable and assumable conventional mortgages could become a niche tool in Florida’s high-velocity real-estate climate. But unless secondary-market rules evolve and pricing becomes predictable, these mortgages remain an advanced move—best used sparingly, with eyes wide open.

Did you know some credit cards can actually help you get out of debt faster? Yes, it sounds crazy. But it’s true.

The secret: Find a card with a “0% intro APR" period for balance transfers or purchases. This could help you fund a large purchase or transfer your debt balance and pay it down as much as possible during the intro period. No interest means you could pay off the debt faster.

Learn More

Families often face the overwhelming task of sorting, valuing, and distributing a lifetime of possessions after a parent dies. In Florida, this challenge expands when homestead rules, retirement assets, out-of-state property, digital accounts, and business interests are involved. Planning early reduces future conflict, keeps valuable assets out of probate, and gives families clarity while parents are still able to communicate their wishes.

Why it matters: Aging parents increasingly hold more complex asset portfolios than previous generations: vacation homes, investment properties, LLC interests, digital assets, and long-held sentimental items or collectibles. Florida’s combination of strong homestead protections, unique probate rules, and high inbound migration means many families are dealing with multistate estates, blended families, and mismatched documentation.

What to do now:

Key takeaways:

Bottom line: An organized plan for your parents’ belongings is one of the smartest—and kindest—steps a family can take. A Florida estate planning lawyer can help align the legal structure with your parents’ wishes so their legacy is administered smoothly and respectfully.

Go deeper for more tips.

The mark of a great leader isn’t how well they manage today — it’s how well they prepare for tomorrow. In a world of rapid disruption, the leaders who thrive are the ones who anticipate change, develop adaptable teams, and build organizations designed to evolve.

Why future readiness matters

Small businesses often get caught reacting to market shifts instead of predicting them. That’s how once-strong teams end up behind the curve — because their leader was focused on maintenance, not momentum. A future-ready business is one that:

1. Build a culture of learning

Change is constant — so make curiosity your company’s default setting. Encourage employees to take ownership of learning new technologies, trends, and methods. Consider EOS-style “L10” meetings that include time to share insights or brainstorm future opportunities.

2. Strengthen accountability through clarity

Your Vision should clearly define what your company looks like in three years — not just what it sells, but how it operates, who it serves, and why it matters. Then break that vision into quarterly Rocks that everyone can own. Future preparation starts with alignment today.

3. Empower problem solvers, not task takers

Teach your team to identify issues before they escalate. Give them authority to solve problems at their level. A business that depends on the leader for every solution won’t survive the next wave of change — but one built on empowered accountability will.

Bottom line: Future-ready leaders don’t predict the future — they prepare for it. Start by cultivating a learning culture, aligning your team around a shared vision, and empowering them to execute without waiting for permission. That’s how you stay ahead of the curve — and build a business that lasts.

We hope you found this helpful — any feedback is appreciated and can be shared by hitting reply or using the feedback feature below.

Be on the lookout for our next issue! 👋