One crucial step is often overlooked when preparing your home for sale: checking the deed before selling a home. This oversight can create major real estate closing delays, and correcting it can be both costly and time-consuming, and it can even jeopardize the real estate closing entirely.Continue reading
As an increasing number of unmarried couples purchase real estate together, this creates financial risks for the parties in the event the relationship ends, and the property needs to be sold. Unlike married couples, unmarried couples do not have the option of divorce proceedings to determine an equitable distribution of the couple’s property. Continue reading
Yes, landlords are allowed to include smoke-free provisions in residential lease agreements, but the provisions do not have a significant chance of being enforceable in a court of law.¹ The Ohio Department of Health (the “Department”) has officially released literature encouraging landlords to include smoke-free provisions in lease agreements. The Department believes that including these provisions will aid in preventing fires and eliminating the effects of secondhand smoke on other tenants.² Nonetheless, the Baldwin’s Ohio Handbook regarding Landlord Tenant law provides doubt that a smoke-free provision will be enforceable in a court of law.³Continue reading
A question we commonly get asked not only from people who are starting their rental property investment portfolio but also from people who have been operating rental properties for years is whether or not they should create an LLC (limited liability company). As the name suggests, an LLC helps limit liability. The follow-up question is then, why would I need to do that?Continue reading
Discovering defects in a newly purchased home can be a frustrating and costly experience for any buyer. In Ohio, buyers carry a significant responsibility to inspect the property thoroughly before finalizing the purchase, which can complicate matters if defects are later discovered.Continue reading
Deeds are the most frequently utilized real estate tool that is essential to every purchase and sale of real property. A Deed is a physical legal document, which transfers ownership of real property from one person or entity to another. A deed can also be utilized to add one person or entity on title to the real property.Continue reading
A land contract is a form of seller financing for a real estate purchase. Similar to a lease, the buyer makes monthly payments to the seller to be credited toward the purchase price.Continue reading
A real estate purchase contract constitutes a binding and enforceable agreement between the parties. This agreement cannot freely and unilaterally be terminated because, “you do not like the color of the house, the location of the property, or the neighbor’s dogs are barking too much.”Continue reading