If you are one of those people that are going to buy a real estate property taking advantage of the current buyer's market please read this carefully!

As the new owner you will inherit any illegal improvements made to the property. Sooner or later, you will be penalized and will have to pay unexpected costs and waste a lot of time figuring out what's wrong.

If a property's violations are discovered prior to the sale, you will be able to make the right decisions before the sale.  This does not mean that you shouldn't buy a property with violations. What this means is that you will have valuable information to negotiate and work with the seller in the best way to close the transaction.

As a buyer of a residential or commercial property, you must order the search as soon as possible; preferably before signing any contract or immediately after signing, so we start working and will deliver your results promptly.

Then, you or your agent can inspect the property and compare what is built with the information we provide. Whatever the results are, and based in the available information, you will be able to make the right decision avoiding costly mistakes

We can provide the following services for you depending on what kind of property you are going to buy:

Get Microfilm Records Only:

We schedule and attend the appointment to get any microfilm records you may need for a single family residence, townhouse, duplex, condo, warehouse, office building, multifamily, or any other commercial or industrial property.

It could be records of when the property was originally built, additions, renovations or alterations, expired permits, etc.  We can also find out if an interior renovation like a mezzanine or 2^nd floor was done with or without permit.

Because our staff holds several years of experience performing this service they know exactly what to ask for, therefore you will save time and get better results by hiring us instead of doing it yourself.

For example, commercial properties have several addresses (bays, units, suites, buildings, etc.). The Microfilm Search fee is $18.75 per address. If you want a complete search on all the units, you will be charged $18.75 per each, you make the numbers. Also, the Microfilm Section will perform this type of search as a project and getting the results could take up to two weeks. You will get better results if we do this for you.

According to what you may need, we will make sure of the following:

• Pre-search each address before scheduling the appointment to avoid unnecessary search fees.
• Obtain the right plans for your property.
• A complete and thorough search performed by the microfilm technician.
• Copies that are printed as clear and legible as possible.
• Avoid paying for unnecessary copies.

Collect and Gather All Construction History Information:

There is other information you must have in addition to microfilm records. This other information may be:

• All property's permit history.
• Existing open and expired permits.
• Existing violation cases.
• Existing penalties and liens to pay.
• In commercial properties confirm if interior renovations like mezzanines, 2^nd floors, elevators, office partitions, etc. have been done with permit or not.
• Any other specific information.

Get Tax Records:

Miami-Dade County's Property Appraisal's Office registers all additions and improvements of a property no matter if they were done with or without permit.

They adjust the new square footage of the property according with the new additions and increase the taxes. Owners pay more taxes but, if the addition was done without a permit, it's still a violation an eventually you as the new owner will be penalized.

Sometimes (Not in all properties) it's necessary to get the tax cards, known also as building jackets, to confirm if an addition/improvement was built with or without a permit. This could save you thousands of dollars!

Write the Construction History Report:

Many people experience difficulty in understanding plans, reports and records obtained from county offices. Documents obtained from County Offices are not easy to read and understand if you don't have the experience, therefore as part of our service we will read these documents, interpret them and write a summarized report in English or Spanish that will be easy to understand for you.

That report will be supported by the printouts and plans obtained from the different Miami-Dade County offices.

Complete Search (All of the above)

We will collect and gather all the available construction history information (Microfilm, permit history, tax records, etc.) to discover any change in the square footage from the original construction and improvements done until the present date. Also, we will look for any existing expired permits, violation cases, liens, etc., and will write a report that is easy to understand (English or Spanish). We will support that report with the documents obtained from the different County offices.

How to order:

We offer four options:

1. On-Line: You can order on-line through our secure web site. Internet orders take priority over faxed, e-mail or phone orders.
2. Fax: You can print the Search Request Form directly from our web site, fill it out and send it by fax at 1-888-202-5969. Our staff will process the payment and then will start the service.
3. E-mail: You can also send us an e-mail to Info@SearchBeforeUBuy.com with the complete contact, service and payment information.
4. Phone: You can order by calling us at 1-888-202-5969 Ext. 1. Please be sure to have ready the complete contact, service and payment information.

Turnaround Time:

Depending of the specific service you may need we can deliver the results from 1 to 2 business days for residential properties and from 1 to 3 business days for commercial properties.

Delivery Method:

We can deliver your results in a PDF file by e-mail first and then by U.S. mail. If you need the original documentation sooner, we can deliver your results by courier. (Extra fee applies).

Our Services and fees:

Below you will see a partial price list, if you have any question or want to receive more information, please contact us by e-mail to Info@SearchBeforeUBuy.com or calling at 1-888-202-5969.