Chattel, Emblements, Trade Fixtures... Oh my
The distinction between real property and personal property sounds simple until you're sitting in an escrow at the closing table and someone asks whether the chandelier stays or goes. That's when the line between what conveys (real and attachments) and what does not (personal and some fixtures) [...]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED APRIL 15 2026 FOR THE PIEDMONT POST
Alphabet Soup: A Piedmont School’s Tax Mystery
Piedmont's property tax bill reads like a cozy mystery or soap opera. There was G the flat parcel tax and H the square foot tax, H1 the bond debt, and Prop 13—which is now G, P (see below) H1 and [...]
One of the most important contingencies buyers have in an agreement is the appraisal contingency. Appraisals provide a third-party reality check on the value of (anything really) real estate. If a property doesn’t appraise at value, then a buyer can renegotiate the agreement—as long as the appraisal contingency [...]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FOR INMAN.COM APRIL 2026
The housing industry keeps talking about single women like they are a specialty segment. For much of modern history, they were treated that way by the financial system, too, because women were blocked from basic access to credit on their own [...]
Real Estate 101: Agency
Real estate is full of words people use every day without really knowing what they mean. Agency is one of them. Buyers hear it and assume it means “my agent is on my side.” Sellers hear it and assume it means “someone is handling this for me.” Agents hear it and sometimes assume everybody knows the rules [...]
Originally Published March 2026 for Piedmont Post
Those of you that are attorneys may be familiar with the saying, “The wheels of justice grind slow, but grind fine” well Lady Justice hold my beer because the wheels of municipal government have the option to grind at a pace that rivals Bleak [...]
Let me preface this by saying there will always be all cash $300k above asking price in two day offers to talk about, but those are now the exception and not the norm. Real estate is cyclical with each new market cycle bringing some fresh new hell for agents, buyers and sellers. And the fresh new hell for a lot of newer agents is the [...]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH 2026 FOR REALTYTIMES.COM
Clients think the deal is done when the offer is accepted. That is the cute part. That is the Instagram moment. The real work starts the second the signatures dry. The paperwork is where deals live or die, and it is where most agents—especially new ones—get [...]
There is a lot of real estate topics agents don't talk about because, A) no one really knows anything about the topic, and B) it isn't "sexy." There are no glossy photos, no vanity videos, pod casts, bidding wars, and no closing day champagne. But basis is what keeps the tax man from taking a bigger slice of your pie than he's legally [...]
