Blake F. Deal III

Blake F. Deal III

Areas of Practice: Real Estate, Construction, & Contracts Law

Contact: bdeal@jaxrelaw.com | (904) 285-5299

Although I'm a lawyer and lawyers are known for being hard to deal with, picky, and difficult, I pride myself on being a deal maker, not a deal breaker. The art of putting a deal together is the ultimate skill and it is what I do for a living. Making things overly complicated doesn't help anyone. If someone can't read and understand a contract then it does no good. A real estate transaction is often the biggest deal of a person's life, but that doesn't mean that it can't be made simple and reasonable to understand.

Education & Experience

  • North Carolina State University, Mechanical Engineering, Magna cum Laude
  • University of Florida Levin School of Law, With Honors
  • Admitted to Florida Bar, 1996. Member - Florida real property and probate section
  • Over 10,000 closings performed ranging in value from $100 to $72,000,000
  • Instructor for Northeast FL Association of Realtors™ & NE FL MLS - Contracts and Listing Agreement

Biography

Blake moved to north Florida in 1990 from his native Charlotte, NC after graduating from engineering school. His first job in Jacksonville was working for Unison Industries as a Mechanical Engineer designing aircraft ignition systems. His permanent magnet alternator and ignition exciter box project designs are on the Boeing 777 (GE90 Engine), Canadair Regional Jet (Rolls Royce RB211 Engine), Allison 250 jet helicopter engine, and the Saab Grippen fighter jet.

He earned his Certified Flight Instructor Rating in 1993 and paid his way through law school at U.F. working as a flight instructor and charter pilot. While at U.F., Blake was proud to win the Trial Team competition his freshman year, and then place 4th in the nation in the ATLA National Trial Team competition. He graduated with honors in 1996 from U.F. and entered private practice in real estate law that same year with the predecessor firm of Briley & Deal.

An entrepreneur at heart, Blake has owned several businesses including Sterling Flight Services Air Charters and Flight Instruction at Craig Airport, Ocrakoke Investments real estate development, Briley & Deal, and most recently Florida Homestead Check, LLC, which he started in 2019 and which specializes in delivering property tax advice and consultation to Florida homeowners. Blake's engineering background coupled with experience building houses gives him an in-depth understanding of the needs of both builders and clients who are building houses. Blake also has experience in land development, having been a managing partner in the development of the Ponte Vedra East and Payasada Estates communities in St. Johns County. During his almost two decades of real estate law practice, he has successfully handled over 10,000 closings ranging in value from $100 to $120,000,000. His experience has covered almost every aspect and area of real estate transactional law. He represents one of Florida’s largest apartment complex developers as well as land developers, banks, real estate brokerages, several area builders, numerous small businesses, and countless residential homebuyers and sellers. His list of clients includes many of the C-Suite executives of many of NE Florida’s most recognized companies. He is an Airline Transport Rated Pilot with over 12,000 hours flight time and is rated in the Boeing 737, Embraer E175/190 passenger jets, Rockwell Sabreliner, and Cessna Citation Series business jets. When not practicing law, Blake also serves as a pilot for United Airlines flying the Boeing 737 passenger jet throughout the western hemisphere.

Blake obviously enjoys flying, but also loves fishing, the islands, boating, traveling, and snow skiing. He is an active church member where he has served as a missionary to Honduras, Brazil, and in Carrefours, Haiti where he helped to set up and grow a children’s clinic for a period of approximately 5 years. He is a proud and loving father of his two children- Ian born in 1999 and Julia born in 2001. Blake married Sarah Speer (now Sarah Speer Deal) in 2016, a talented interior designer from New York (www.sarahdealinteriors.com) and they enjoy splitting their time between their homes in South Ponte Vedra Beach and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia- and of course spending as much time as possible with their two dogs Wilbur and Tokey.

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