Articles about scams and legal updates ruled 2017

We’re all busy. The constant stream of emails, tweets, calendar appointments, text messages and phone calls has changed how Americans interact. And we miss important updates or changes.

One big change for Pennsylvania Realtors® this year was the location of PARJustListed. When we began the website redesign process in 2015, the end goal was to fold the daily knowledge sharing articles into our main website.

This year brought that goal to fruition.

It hasn’t been without bumps in the road, but we’re happy that the daily post of real estate news you love now lives on PARealtor.org. Thank you for staying connected with the association and important updates about real estate in Pennsylvania.

Let’s get to the real reason you’re reading this post: our top 10 list of 2017. Below you will find the top posts based on unique user traffic according to Google Analytics. Enjoy a refresher or some important things you missed this year:

Real estate agents targeted in phishing scam
Recent reports about one particular scam indicate that multiple Pennsylvania Realtors® have been targeted.

Coming soon
There’s been a recent surge of confusion and angst over “coming soon” or other similar “pre-marketing” techniques. Whatever you might call it, brokers and agents need to remember that all marketing and advertising has to abide by the same basic rules.

What remodeling projects give homeowners the most resale value?
Of the 29 home projects in 2017’s report, for resale purposes, the average return on investment is 64.3 cents to the dollar, according to Remodeling Magazine’s annual Cost vs. Value Report.

FIRPTA comes full circle in Agreement of Sale
PAR’s Standard Forms Committee has reverted the language regarding FIRPTA on the Agreement of Sale back to the original paragraph.

Best of the hotline: Inspection contingency
If a buyer relies on a previous home inspection report, without conducting their own, are they waiving their inspection contingency?

Radon fees to increase
The cost of radon system installation is set to increase in Pennsylvania with the recent adoption of new fee regulations from the Department of Environmental Protection.

Walk-through issues
What to do when the problem is not seen until the walk-through? What are the buyer’s rights and the seller’s obligations?

Forms on lockdown
Inappropriately providing forms to others is not only a violation of PAR’s copyright, but also actually devalues the contracts and your services. In the end, sharing the forms on social media or websites helps no one.

The enforceability of liquidated damages
In order to be enforced, liquidated damage must be a reasonable forecast of the potential harm to the non-breaching party.

Pennsylvania Realtor® warns of text and email scam
If you receive an email or text from realtor.com® advertising the purchase of leads, be wary.

I hope you enjoyed our annual year in review. Start off the new year by registering to be notified about posts via email. Happy New Year!