Uncategorized

Cyber crime targeting wire transfers is on the rise.  Criminals have developed viruses that hack into email accounts of buyers, sellers, real estate agents and escrow companies.  The malware records login information and then sits undetectable by commercial anti-virus software.  When an email is sent or received that mentions a wire transfer, the virus alerts the criminals who then use

Read more

The Federal Fair Housing Act was enacted in 1968 to prevent discrimination in the housing market based upon race, color, religion, sex or national origin.  In 1989, the Fair Housing Act was amended to broaden the definition of “protected class” to include persons with disabilities.  The Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities act and the Rehabilitation Act all require

Read more

The California Association of Realtors Residential Purchase Agreement (RPA) has not contained terms allocating the cost of repairing items appearing in a termite report for over 15 years.  The amendments to the RPA in 2002 eliminated the terms allocating the costs of repairing “Section One”  and “Section Two” items.

The “Cite and Fine” statute contained within Business and Professions Code Section 10080.9 is a little more than a year old, Brokers and Agents can learn from how the Bureau of Real Estate is using its citation powers.

The California Bureau of Real Estate (Cal BRE views websites maintained by salespersons as solicitation of business on behalf of the responsible broker.  As salesperson must act through his or her responsible broker, the Cal BRE views such a solicitation is an act that requires a license.

Unfortunately, short sales or short pays are more common every day. The following are a few items that agents and brokers should either learn about or remind themselves of prior to handling a potential short pay transaction.