A familiar scene unfolds every day at real estate closings across Pennsylvania. John Smith, a married man, shows up at closing to buy a house in his own name. He’s getting a mortgage from ABC Mortgage Company, for which he applied in his own name. He has...
Knowledgeable and efficient closing services.
Bradley Dornish
What Should the Landlord Do if the Tenant Abandons the Premises
A. Termination of Leaseholds Generally A Landlord can terminate a leasehold for any one of three reasons: (1) the term for which the property was rented is over; (2) the Tenant is behind in rent; or (3) the Tenant has breached (broken) some clause of the lease...
The Uniform Planned Community Act
On February 2, 1997, The Uniform Planned Community Act became effective. The Act applies to all Planned Communities created in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that contain more that 12 units. The provisions of the Act do not apply to Planned Communities in...
Seven Rules on Screening, Hiring and Working With Lawyers
I am not only a real estate investor and lawyer marketing my law firm to others. I am also a consumer of legal services from other lawyers, and I help my clients to find lawyers in other states and other areas of practice, even in Pennsylvania, to help me to...
Seven Things You Need to Know Before You Buy Rental Property — Thing Seven: The Return on Your Investment
I have saved the most important thing to know about a rental property before you buy it, THE RETURN ON YOUR INVESTMENT, for the last in this series of articles. After all, we call ourselves real estate investors because we buy and operate real estate as an...
Lead Certification Training for Landlords and Rehabbers
As I write this article, we are less than a week away from the imposition by the EPA of its new requirements to minimize lead exposure during remodeling and renovation of pre 1978 housing units. Since last month, I have attended along with over 20 other ACRE...
EPA Lead Based Paint Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule Effective April 22, 2010
The EPA promulgated in June 2008 a new “Lead Based Paint Renovation, Repair and Painting Program Rule” which affects renovation work done on rental housing units, child care facilities and schools (Covered Properties) built prior to 1978. We first reported on...
Seven Things You Need to Know Before You Buy Rental Property — Thing Six: State of Repair and Contractors
Looks can be deceiving. You can’t judge a book by its cover. Beauty is skin deep. All of these sayings are even more relevant to the purchase of rental property. When I began renovating properties and holding them for rental, I tried to cut corners in the work...
First-time Homebuyer Credit Extended Through April 2010
Before we review the changes in the First-time Homebuyer Credit for 2010, we need to summarize the prior law. In August, we wrote an article explaining the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” which expanded the previously created first-time...
Seven Things You Need to Know Before You Buy Rental Property — Thing Five: Taxes
Spring is in the air, and tax season is in full swing. What better time to write about taxes? But the taxes I’m talking about in this article aren’t income taxes, or even transfer taxes, but the property taxes you will pay every year on every property you own...