Mette Evans and Woodside, legal counsel for both the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS® and the Greater Harrisburg Association of REALTORS®, provides a legal column to our membership.
You may not have run into them, but options to purchase exist. What do you need to know about them, and why? An option to purchase exists when an owner conveys to another the right to purchase the property (options to lease also exists, but to keep this article to its customary size, we will talk about options to purchase)…
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Covenants not to compete, non‐solicitation agreements, and confidentiality agreements are the subject of numerous Hotline calls. The simple question “Are they legal?” is met with the simple answer of “It depends.” They can be. Covenants not to compete, in particular, are disfavored by the law. Any agreement that limits a person’s right to earn a livelihood will be suspect and for that reason Pennsylvania provides that covenants that are too broad will not be enforced…
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You’ve experienced it. A prospective buyer wants to know if they can have horses or other animals on the property; a psychologist wants to know whether she can meet clients in her home; a sales representative wonders aloud if he can work out of a home office. What do you answer? These questions are all part of the due process that a buyer should undertake before settling on a purchase…
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Broker fees are all over the place. And I am not referring to listing commissions. Rather, I am referring to the many documents that refer to the “fees” to be charged and paid in a transaction. Of course, the listing agreement is principle among these. It establishes the broker’s fee and informs the seller how much the broker will compensate the selling agent who produces the ready…
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Terminating an agreement of sale falls into one of three categories: 1) termination based on law; 2) termination based on a contractual right; and 3) termination unsupported by law or contract. An example of termination based on law is where the agreement of sale fails to include a statement of the zoning classification if the property is zoned other than to permit single‐family dwelling…
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Time is relative so whether May 31 is fast approaching or is way far out is for you to decide. What I can tell you is that by the summer and fall of 2018, many of you will be calling for help with license problems. So what can and should you be doing now to avoid the potential problems that may be unfolding a year from now?
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There is a lot of fake news out there! And there is a lot of fake news about news that is claimed to be fake that isn’t fake. You, my readers, are not alone in your quest for the truth. Before we fact check, we are going to run a quiz. Below you will see a number of myths that just might be true…
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Who remembers when the pages of the agreement of sale came sandwiched with carbon paper? For the youngsters in the group, I am talking about the days before computer generated forms and e-signature software. Believe it or not, offers were hand-delivered, as were the counter- offers and acceptances. Gas might have been cheaper, but one did far more driving…
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A 100-level course on communication would focus on returning calls promptly, being clear and precise in all communication, and being accurate in grammar and spelling. It would include a section on social media and why one should avoid divisive and ideological discourse. This, however, is a 200-level course. Like you, I am a fiduciary to the clients I represent…
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A frequent subject of the Hotline is what to do about a difficult client. A recent call involved a seller who flatly refused to disclose a likely material defect with the property. I say “likely” because while the subject property had not been diagnosed with the problem, every other home built by the same builder in the neighborhood eventually exhibited a common structural problem…
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