Blog Posts: Real Estate

Buying a Home and Not Married?  Arizona Co-Habitation Agreements May be the Answer If you're in a long-term, committed relationship but are not married, buying property together in Arizona can be tricky. Without a formal marriage or legal contract, the rights to property, finances, and other assets may not be clearly defined. This is why a co-habitation agreement...

One of the most common assets that divorcing couples own is real property.  In many cases, the real property is limited to the marital residence.  However, some cases also involve either residential or commercial investment properties.  In those “more complex” cases, it is important to understand how each investment property and the income it generates will ...

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) is a federal law that establishes protection for consumers from abusive debt collection practices. The FDCPA covers debt used for “personal, family, or household purposes” incurred by a consumer.   Generally, when people think of the FDCPA, they are considering credit card debt, third party-debt buyers, med...

There has been a good amount of commentary regarding Arizona House Bill 2617, which amends the Arizona Homestead Statute, and related statutes, effective January 1, 2022. Despite what appears to be the consensus, the Bill is not primarily anti-consumer, and has significant redeeming qualities. On the other hand, the statutory amendments raise a host of new question...

Everybody is familiar with the part of a wedding where the audience is given an opportunity by the person officiating to express why the couple about to be married should not proceed with the ceremony, telling all present to "speak now or forever hold your peace." Does that concept, where the failure to immediately object will bar any later objection, appear anywhe...

As any parent with more than one child can attest, most people, including not only children but also adults, believe that if another person commits the first offense, then a counter, or retaliatory offense is justified. Such behavior is often criticized with the age-old adage that “two wrongs don’t make a right” (which we know is mathematically incorrect, i...

There are many situations, both in real estate transactions and in non-real estate transactions, when a party to a contract wishes to transfer, or assign, its contractual rights to somebody else. Assignments are commonplace in commercial leases, when a tenant wishes to sell its business and assign its rights as a tenant to its buyer. Or, on the other side, when a ...

Many real estate contracts include an “arbitration provision,” whereby the parties to the contract agree that they will resolve any disputes which may arise between them through arbitration, and not through the judicial system.  When deciding whether to agree to such a provision, a party should consider both the advantages and disadvantages – and there are s...

The reason that many people want to live in a community that is governed by “Codes, Covenants and Restrictions” (“CC&R’s) is to have the peace-of-mind that comes with knowing that everybody in the community is “playing by the same rules.”  But are there exceptions to those rules, where a Homeowner’s Association that is tasked with enforcing the r...

Most anybody who works in real estate knows what a mortgage is.  Simply stated, a mortgage is a lien against property given by the property owner to a lender to secure the repayment of a loan made by the lender to the property owner.  Clearly, such a loan transaction is far different from a sales transaction, whereby the property owner, as the seller, conveys the...