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Trust This.
By Joseph E. Seagle, Esq.
👋 Happy Friday! Today is National Repeal Day, the anniversary of the repeal of the Constitutional Amendment that prohibited the sale of alcohol 🍺 in the United States. It also happens to be National 🍷 Bartender 🥂 Day. Is the universe telling us something?
❗Situation Awareness: Monday, December 8, from 6 to 8 pm, I’ll be at the Matador in Orlando at the Highest and Best Meetup. If you’re into real estate investing, come out and say “hi.”
1 big thing: Property tax repeal could supercharge housing prices
Florida entrepreneurs eyeing practice expansions, real estate plays, or succession planning just got a huge “what if” dropped into their spreadsheets: a push to eliminate Florida property taxes that could instantly lift home prices 7–9% if enacted, according to new modeling tied to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposal.
Vision: A tax-free homestead, a pricier Florida
Realtor.com’s analysis says wiping out property taxes on homes would boost the value of Florida’s owner-occupied housing stock by roughly $200–$250 billion, a windfall for existing owners and longtime investors.
But it would also:
Push entry-level prices further out of reach for first-time buyers and young professionals you need to recruit.
Deepen the gap between wealthy homeowners and renters or staff who don’t yet own.
For professional practices banking on talent moving here, a 7–9% bump on top of already-elevated Florida housing costs is not background noise—it’s a strategic risk.
Traction: What might actually pass in 2026
Lawmakers are signaling they’re not ready to nuke property taxes outright. Instead, they’ve floated eight relief options—everything from gradual phase-outs of non-school homestead taxes to larger exemptions—most slated for the 2026 ballot.
Key realities:
Any full elimination needs a constitutional amendment and 60% voter approval.
Several proposals spare school millage, limiting savings but protecting a core part of local funding.
Short version: Expect meaningful tweaks before a moon-shot repeal.
People / Process / Data: Model the cost shift now
Economists warn Florida “cannot afford” to lose property tax revenue—$50–60 billion a year that pays for schools, police, infrastructure and more—without hiking sales taxes, fees, or cutting services.
For practice owners and small businesses, that likely means:
Higher consumption taxes hitting patient and client spending.
Local service cuts that affect quality-of-life—schools, safety, amenities—that drive where high-earning professionals choose to live.
Greater volatility in any downturn: a housing correction plus thinner public budgets is a double-whammy for Florida’s growth story.
The takeaway for Florida professionals
Treat the “end of property taxes” less as a promise and more as a directional signal: Florida is serious about re-engineering how it funds growth. For you, that means stress-testing:
Compensation and housing stipends for new hires.
Long-term site selection for clinics, law firms, and other professional practices.
Exposure to Florida residential real estate in your balance sheet and retirement plan.
What’s next: Watch the 2026 ballot language closely. The details—what’s exempt, what replaces the revenue, and how fast changes phase in—will decide whether this is a tailwind for your net worth, a headwind for your talent pipeline, or both at once.
2. Florida mortgage originators could face tough new data privacy laws
Florida’s Senate Bill 540 — if passed — would impose sweeping new data-security and compliance requirements on mortgage professionals across the state. For licensed loan originators, brokers, and lenders under Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) jurisdiction, this signals a shift from minimal standards to full-blown written security programs.
Vision — Why Florida is tightening the screws
SB 540 would require every licensed mortgage originator, broker or lender to create, implement and maintain a comprehensive written information-security program. That includes administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for customer data — whether stored digitally or on paper.
Firms must also craft written incident-response plans, investigate cybersecurity events, retain security documentation for a minimum period, and notify the OFR if a breach impacts 500 or more individuals.
The goal: to protect “nonpublic personal information” — sensitive borrower data like financial records, account numbers, addresses — from breaches, unauthorized access or misuse.
That means Florida is moving to treat mortgage originators with the same kind of cybersecurity rigor long applied to banks and large financial institutions.
Traction — What organizations will need to build or overhaul
Written security policies covering data collection, storage, processing, transmission, disposal — whether electronic or physical.
Incident-response and breach-notification procedures.
Systems for logging, documenting, and, on request, producing those records to OFR.
Internal controls, trainings (for staff handling sensitive info), periodic reviews/audits. (While SB 540 doesn’t itemize every technical detail, best practices would point that way.)
For smaller outfits: evaluating whether they qualify for any exemption (as SB 540 reportedly provides some carve-outs under certain thresholds).
People / Process / Data — Operational and compliance impact
People: Loan originators and brokers will likely need to assign compliance oversight (perhaps hire or designate a compliance/data-security officer), train all staff on data handling, and embed ongoing vigilance in day-to-day operations.
Process: The underwriting/origination workflow will expand — beyond application, underwriting, closing — to include secure data handling, encrypted storage/transfer, controlled access, regular audits, and breach readiness.
Data: Borrower data must be treated under defined standards: nonpublic personal information can no longer be loosely stored or casually shared. The threshold for reporting breaches (500+ individuals) means firms have an incentive to build strong containment and monitoring — because failure could mean disciplinary action, license jeopardy, or regulatory penalties.
Takeaway — What this means for Florida originators and borrowers
Licensed mortgage originators and brokers: expect compliance costs, both in time and possibly new hires or consulting help. Businesses with thin margins — think small broker shops — may struggle and need to adapt fast.
Borrowers: The law could significantly strengthen protections for your personal and financial data, reducing risk of identity theft or data-breach fallout when getting a mortgage.
Market: Compliance overhead could raise the barrier to entry for smaller players — leading to consolidation, or incentivizing automation and secure fintech solutions.
Looking ahead — What to watch
SB 540 has been filed and referred to Banking & Insurance (among other committees). If the bill becomes law (effective July 1, 2026), firms should begin scoping compliance efforts immediately — better to lead than scramble. Watch for subsequent rule-making by OFR, guidance on exemptions, and possible industry pushback (especially from small brokers).
For Florida’s mortgage ecosystem: this could be the beginning of a security-first era.
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3. Parents’ failure to discuss inheritance can cost families
A new CNBC report highlights a growing problem: parents avoid talking to adult children about inheritance, even when they’ve built substantial wealth. In Florida, where retirees hold some of the country’s highest concentrations of home equity and investment assets, silence can trigger chaos, taxes, delays, lawsuits, and permanent fractures. At this time of year, when families are gathering for jovial celebrations, it’s pertinent to be thinking about this issue and addressing it head-on.
What’s new: The CNBC piece shows a widening “expectation gap.” Kids assume they’ll inherit far more than they actually will. Parents assume their estate plan is clear… even when it’s incomplete, outdated, or undocumented. Florida estate planning lawyers are seeing more disputes tied to this communication freeze—especially blended families, second marriages, and siblings with unequal financial situations.
Key takeaways:
Florida homestead rules complicate assumptions. Kids often believe the family home is easily split—Florida law says otherwise.
Silence leads to litigation. A lack of clarity pushes families into probate court, where outcomes rarely match the parent’s true wishes.
Asset protection starts before incapacity. Conversations about trusts, Florida LLC and asset protection structures, beneficiary designations, and succession planning prevent the “who gets what?” crisis later.
Unequal inheritances must be explained, not hidden. When parents gift or plan around one child more than others, a simple explanation now avoids a courtroom battle later.
Talking early builds capacity protections. Children need to know who will manage finances or businesses if the parent becomes incapacitated.
Bottom line: The most expensive part of inheritance isn’t taxes—it’s silence. Families who talk openly and bring in a Florida estate planning lawyer early protect both wealth and relationships. A 45-minute conversation now can save $45,000 in legal fees later. Families who treat inheritance planning as a “business conversation, not an emotional minefield” preserve legacies instead of watching them go up in smoke.
4. Jealousy is fuel that can be destructive or a superpower
The National Gingerbread Competition at Asheville’s Grove Park Inn last week probably created a lot of powerful jealousy among the competitors. This is not a picture of flowers. Everything in this picture is edible, made out of gingerbread and confections. I have no idea how it tastes, but it is an amazing work of artistry in food.
Jealousy hits entrepreneurs harder than most. You see a competitor scaling faster, a peer launching a new product, a colleague getting recognition you feel you’ve earned. That sting can feel like torture — or it can become one of the most potent teachers of business growth and personal development in your toolbox.
The truth: comparison is inevitable. Letting it defeat you is optional.
Why jealousy shows up
Jealousy is a signal, not a sentence. It’s your brain’s way of pointing to an unlived part of your potential — a place where your vision, discipline, or execution has room to grow. Entrepreneurs who ignore that signal stall. Leaders who interrogate it evolve.
Turn comparison into strategic clarity
The EOS mindset treats emotion as data — jealousy included.
Clarify your Vision: Instead of spiraling, ask what someone else’s success reveals about what you want. Jealousy pinpoints gaps in your long-term plan faster than any annual planning session.
Strengthen your Traction: Turn the feeling into a Rock — a 90-day priority that narrows the gap between where you are and who you want to become.
Boost Accountability: When jealousy triggers frustration, channel it into a commitment. Build scorecard metrics that directly move the lever you’re craving.
Transform envy into aligned action
Use the emotional energy. Entrepreneurs grow when they turn discomfort into disciplined movement: a clearer offer, a cleaner process, a tighter team. When you stop treating jealousy as shame and start treating it as intel, your business strengthens at the root.
The bottom line: The goal isn’t to eliminate comparison — it’s to use it. Let jealousy be the clarion call to your best future self. Treat it as an invitation to sharpen your vision, set better Rocks, and lead with renewed focus. Jealousy should be a teacher; not torture, as Mel Robbins writes in her book, “The Let Them Theory.”
If you’re ready to turn emotional triggers into strategic breakthroughs, let’s build that momentum together.
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