Many landlords – both residential and commercial – have been trying to set themselves apart and attract more tenants by allowing pets. It’s true that pets can cause damage to a building, but it’s also true that there’s a growing demand for pet-friendly environments, and allowing pets can make a rental property much more attractive. Some 17 percent of businesses across the U.S. now allow pets at work, according to one recent survey. Most of these

With the real estate market still in the doldrums, a lot of people are thinking that this is a good opportunity to buy a brand new condominium, rather than one in an older community. New construction has a lot of advantages – but it can also be more complicated, and there are some potential trouble spots as well. You should definitely speak with your real estate attorney before you sign anything in order to make sure

A small but growing percentage of real estate is being sold at auction. The advantage of an auction for a seller is that the property will definitely be sold quickly, although usually at a lower price. So auctions often attract sellers who simply want to unload a property, such as a lender that has foreclosed on it, or an executor whose heirs want cash and not real estate. Auctions often attract buyers who are looking for

The Americans With Disabilities Act was passed 20 years ago and required retail and other commercial business owners to renovate their properties to make them accessible to the disabled. For the first time since then, the U.S. government has comprehensively revised the requirements. The new requirements will go into effect on March 15, 2012. The changes include new rules for the following: van-accessible parking, maximum height and “reach ranges” for certain objects, service animals, communication devices

Karen George had a lovely apartment on New York’s Upper West Side, except for one thing – her downstairs neighbor, the pop star Madonna. According to George, Madonna had people over to her apartment for an hour and a half to three hours every day to conduct dance training and exercise routines. During this time, Madonna played loud music. According to George, the music was “deafening” and caused her walls and floors to shake. She says

Home appraisers are the unofficial umpires of residential real estate sales, deciding whether offering prices are fair or foul. But much more often than in the past, they’re striking out deals and sending buyers and sellers back to the dugout. Each month, between 10 and 20 percent of real estate agents are seeing accepted offers to buy a home founder or collapse as a result of appraisals that came back too low, according to recent surveys

A man agreed to buy a house on New York’s Fire Island for $1.2 million. He wrote a deposit check for $120,000, and signed a contract saying it was a cash deal and wasn’t contingent on his being able to arrange financing. However, the man told the seller that he needed some time to deposit the $120,000 in his account, and asked that the check not be cashed right away. The seller verbally agreed. After 12

As more and more states allow medical marijuana use, landlords face the question of whether to allow tenants to smoke pot for medical reasons. On the one hand, even if medical marijuana is legal under state law, it’s still technically illegal under federal law – even if the federal government is doing little or nothing to block the drug’s medical use. On the other hand, landlords are generally required to make reasonable accommodations for disabled tenants,

Back in the old days, the typical homebuyer was a married couple. But today, there’s a huge increase in the number of unmarried couples who are buying a home together. It might not sound very romantic, but it’s a good idea for such couples to think about what their financial obligations will be regarding the home, and what would happen if they were to split up at some point in the future. For instance, you might