The latin maxim “caveat emptor”, or “Buyer Beware”, was long the standard for the purchase of real estate. This was mostly true in Pennsylvania until the passage in 2000 of the “Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law, 68 Pa. C.S.A. Section 7301, et. seq., also known...
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Real Estate Practice
Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite You or Your Wallet
I remember the good night saying “Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite” from my childhood. But for many years, I didn’t think bedbugs were real, and for many more, thought they were extinct. Recently, however, they have come back, and are the...
Mortgage Fraud Task Force Hits Real Estate Investors Close to Home
Beaver Financial Services was for several years a vendor member of Acre of Pittsburgh, and several of its loan officers attended meetings each month, in their light blue shirts with beavers on them, offering to help investors obtain bank financing. The company...
A Little Fraud Goes a Long Way, But You Can Stop It
In just over a month, I have seen three Pittsburgh Real Estate Lawyers lose their careers, reputations, huge sums of money, and soon, their freedom, over mortgage fraud. I knew and dealt with each of them. They all had good educations, many years of...
Collection of Bad Checks
The expressions “bouncing a check” or “writing a bad check” are popular in today’s society. The question arises though: what do they really mean and what can you do if someone issues you a bad check? In Pennsylvania, bouncing a check occurs when a person...
EPA Delays Enforcement of Certification for Lead Safe Renovation, Repair and Painting
If you have not yet taken the EPA approved RRP contractor certification class, and have work to do on your pre-1978 properties, you have a little breathing room. The EPA announced Friday, June 18th that it is postponing the enforcement of the requirement that...
When do Spouses Need to Sign Deeds and Mortgages in PA
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...
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...