Recent Blog Posts
Jointly Owning Real Estate With Your Siblings Is a Sticky Situation
If you own a house, you are one of the lucky few. If you own a house, then chances are you inherited it, or else you inherited money that enabled you to buy it. Admonishing people not to attempt to micromanage from beyond the grave is the province of estate planning lawyers, not of… Read More »
New Law Requires New York Real Estate Sellers to Disclose Flood Risk
When real estate agents show a property to a prospective buyer, they point out all the features that have been newly replaced, and the old ones that are built to last. When young couples look at properties, eager to fall in love with their dream home, their Baby Boomer dads accompany them, knocking on… Read More »
How Much Financial Stability Do You Get From Owning Your House Outright?
For a large segment of the population, YouTube videos and advice articles about home ownership and real estate purchases are purely aspirational. They can only dream of saving enough money for a down payment and qualifying for a home mortgage. You, a long-time homeowner, have a whole other set of problems. You bought your… Read More »
What Are the Consequences If Landlords Fail to Maintain a Residential Building?
Tenants are constantly complaining about the repairs that their landlords fail to make, but if you get far enough into the suburbs that there is no subway transportation, you will find out that the situation is not exactly rosy for homeowners, either. The ugly truth is that home repairs are expensive. If you are… Read More »
How Not to Lose Your Earnest Money in a Real Estate Purchase
Buying a house is a long and complicated process; it is the most expensive and most complex financial transaction that most people make in their lifetimes. Every time you complete one step and think that you are getting close to closing on the purchase, more hurdles appear that you must clear before the house… Read More »
New York Landlords Cannot Conceal Their True Identity Behind Shell Corporations
Many visitors to New York have had the experience of eating in a restaurant where the tables were immaculate and the food was beautifully presented and reasonably priced, but something didn’t feel right. The restaurant was too quiet; there were few, if any, other customers. How does a restaurant like that stay open unless… Read More »
Cash for Keys Agreements
Being a landlord is difficult even when the tenants make a good faith effort to pay rent and abide by the rules. Yes, it’s expensive for you to fix the plumbing, but it is bothersome for them to have to go to a friend’s house to take a shower, especially when their budget is… Read More »
Understanding Your Rights When Screening Prospective Tenants
The tenant screening process is a minefield of stress for tenants, but it is no picnic for landlords, either. A landlord’s nightmare is an apartment that stays vacant month after month while the bills continue to come due, or at least, you think that it’s the worst-case scenario until you get stuck with a… Read More »
New Law Protects Homeowners Against Partition Sales
Probate lawyers come to the aid of the personal representatives of deceased family members’ estates when they must face their worst enemy, estate research firms that are in the business of convincing people to try to claim an inheritance from the estate of a distant relative they have never met. To give just one… Read More »
Putting the Unaffordability of New York Homeownership in Perspective
For decades, New York City has been a byword for the high cost of living. People who live almost anywhere else in the United States either look longingly at New York for its fast-paced lifestyle or balk at the cost of lunch from a sandwich counter or food truck while they visit, while the… Read More »