Buyers and Sellers | firsttuesday Journal

Lead-based paint disclosures

by Amy Platero | Sep 8, 2026 | Buyers and Sellers, Fundamentals, Laws and Regulations, Licensing and Education, Real Estate, Your Practice | 0

Learn about the federal lead-based paint disclosure and how to timely disclose to buyers the existence of a lead-based paint hazard on residential properties built prior to 1978.

Property disclosures: buyer retains a home inspector

by Amy Platero | Aug 20, 2026 | Buyer Representation, Buyers and Sellers, Fundamentals, Laws and Regulations, Licensing and Education, Real Estate, Your Practice | 0

Learn how a buyer agent uses a home inspection report (HIR) to confirm the condition of a property as disclosed by a seller or seller agent and advises their buyer on remedies for material defects in the property noted in an HIR but not disclosed prior to the seller entering into a purchase agreement.

The home inspection report: to disclose and shield

by Amy Platero | Aug 6, 2026 | Buyers and Sellers, Features, Fundamentals, Laws and Regulations, Licensing and Education, Real Estate, Your Practice | 0

Learn how to use a home inspection report (HIR) to mitigate liability risks for misrepresentation in the preparation of a seller’s Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS), exercise care in the section of a qualified home inspector and use an energy efficiency audit report by a certified home energy rater to market property.

Safety standards for improvements

by Amy Platero | Jul 28, 2026 | Buyers and Sellers, Features, Fundamentals, Laws and Regulations, Licensing and Education, Real Estate, Your Practice | 2

Learn common safety standard conditions and violations found on residential properties and how to provide terms to remedy safety issues in a real estate transaction.

Opinions with erroneous conclusions

by Amy Platero | Jul 16, 2026 | Buyers and Sellers, Fundamentals, Laws and Regulations, Licensing and Education, Real Estate, Your Practice | 0

Learn the difference between opinions, assurances and guarantees as well as estimates, projections and forecasts.

Form-of-the-Week: Escrow instructions, and beneficiary statement — Forms 401 and 415

by Amy Platero | Jul 8, 2026 | Buyers and Sellers, Finance, Forms, Fundamentals, Mortgages, Real Estate | 0

An agent or escrow officer uses RPI Form 401 when preparing instructions to open a purchase escrow with an escrow officer, and RPI Form 415 when escrow requests mortgage information from a mortgage holder regarding their lien on a property to confirm the terms of the debt or obtain a payoff demand.

The seller agent and the prospective buyer

by Amy Platero | Jun 2, 2026 | Buyers and Sellers, Fundamentals, Laws and Regulations, Licensing and Education, Real Estate, Your Practice | 0

Learn the difference between a broker’s specific agency duty owed only to their client and the limited general duty they owe to others in a transaction and how to observe and disclose conditions adversely affecting value and qualify statements when they are opinions, not facts.

The representation of a seller-client

by Amy Platero | Apr 30, 2026 | Buyers and Sellers, Fundamentals, Laws and Regulations, Licensing and Education, Real Estate, Your Practice | 0

Learn how to manage licensed activities as a seller agent from soliciting a seller-client and organizing the marketing of their property through closing a transaction.

CFPB cuts into mortgage discrimination rules

by Carrie B. Reyes | Apr 29, 2026 | Buyers and Sellers, New Laws, Real Estate, Your Practice | 0

A new CFPB federal rule shaves down the definition for what lender actions qualify as mortgage discrimination.

Condition of property: the owner’s disclosures for symmetric information

by Amy Platero | Mar 26, 2026 | Buyers and Sellers, Fundamentals, Laws and Regulations, Real Estate, Your Practice | 0

Learn the seller broker duty to inspect and disclose their observations and knowledge about a property’s condition to prospective buyers, preparation and delivery of the seller’s Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS) and recognize the home inspection report (HIR) as a risk mitigation activity.

Analyzing the buyer representation agreement

by Amy Platero | Mar 13, 2026 | Buyer Representation, Buyers and Sellers, Forms, Fundamentals, Laws and Regulations, Real Estate, Your Practice | 3

Learn to explain to your buyer and tenant clients the provisions contained within the buyer representation agreement and tenant representation agreement.

Buyer representation

by Amy Platero | Feb 26, 2026 | Buyer Representation, Buyers and Sellers, Fundamentals, Laws and Regulations, Real Estate, Your Practice | 15

Learn when to enter into a buyer representation agreement with a buyer-client and distinguish between representing individual and entity clients and the forms and retainer periods used for each.

Form-of-the-Week: Modification of Representation Agreement and Release and Cancellation of Employment Agreement — Forms 120 and 121

by Amy Platero | Jan 15, 2026 | Buyers and Sellers, Forms, Fundamentals, Real Estate, Your Practice | 1

After entering into a representation agreement with a client, an agent uses the Modification of Representation Agreement to change the terms of the employment without canceling it and to terminate the authorization to represent, an agent uses the Release and Cancellation of Representation Agreement.