New Texas Real Estate Laws

The following is an overview of bills passed during the 2011 Texas legislative session that affect real estate. Please note that this overview does not include every new law affecting real estate; it is simply an overview of certain important changes.

Landlord-Tenant-Residential Certificates of Occupancy H.B. 1862 allocates liability to a landlord whose certificate of occupancy is revoked by a city or county for the landlord’s failure to maintain the premises. The landlord is liable for the full amount of the tenant’s security deposit, the pro rata portion of any rental payments paid in advance by the tenant, and the tenant’s actual damage which includes moving costs, utility connection fees, storage fees, lost wages, and attorney’s fees.

Property Owner’s Associations (HOAs and COAs)

· Collections and Foreclosures H.B. 1228 requires certain POAs to adopt and file reasonable guidelines allowing owners to make partial payments for delinquent assessments. The law also regulates foreclosure of assessment liens and the use of collection agents. Lastly, the bill requires the Texas Supreme Court adopt rules for expedited foreclosure proceedings.

· Flags H.B. 2779 prohibits a POA from adopting or enforcing restrictions on displaying the U.S., Texas, or armed forces flags, except as allowed by law (ex. reasonable restrictions relating to flags, flagpoles. lights, and noise).

· Solar Panels H.B. 362 prohibits a POA from restricting solar devices, except as allowed by statue. The law also prohibits POA architectural review committees from withholding approval of a solar device unless the device substantially interferes with the use and enjoyment of the land.

Ad Valorem Taxes-Protests H.B. 1887 provides that before delinquency, an owner who disputes the appraised value of their property need only pay the amount of tax attributable to the portion of the appraised value that is not in dispute in order to preserve their right to have the appraised amount corrected by the appraisal review board (ARB).

Ad Valorem Taxes-ARB Hearings S.B. 1546 amends Tax Code Section 41.45 (e-l) by providing that a property owner’sagent who fails to appear at an appraisal review board (ARB) hearing is now entitled to a new hearing in the same manner as a property owner who fails to appear to such a hearing.

Co-owners of Residential Property S.B. 1368 permits certain co-owners of property to file an affidavit in the county clerk’s office to establish the authority to act as agent for the other co-owner for the purpose of entering into mechanic’s liens, materialman’s, and deed of trust liens.

Bahin Ameri is a Houston-based real estate attorney. The focus of her practice is on real estate law and business law. She handles a variety of cases including contract/lease disputes, property disputes, and small claims. Bahin also handles business formations, applications for state benefits, and homestead exemptions. Her clients include homeowners, small business owners, landlords, tenants, and individuals seeking state benefits.

Working From Home – How to Quickly Start a Home Based Business

Every year, millions of Americans consider working from home. Many are either stay at home moms, retired, or handicapped. Working from home permits many people, who would otherwise be jobless, to earn a living. Although the previously mentioned individuals most generally work from home, you don’t have to be among those people to work from home.Among the numerous reasons why working from home has increased in popularity is due to the small number of expenses. While you think about it, the price of going to work at a traditional job can easily add up. You might not give it any thought, but, in a sense, your gas, commute, food and drinks away from home, could each be counted as additional expenses. This is because if you were working from home, you would not need to pay them. That’s why a multitude of ordinary people are making the switch to an occupation that permits them to work from home.Among the most fascinating home based business opportunities are turnkey websites. Turnkey websites are among the best selling items on the Internet today. The only thing the buyer has to do is “turn the key” and they’re set up to do business. Turnkey websites are literally ready to go businesses. All of the complex computer programming is already done for you. The website pages are already stocked with products for you to sell, and you simply have to download the whole website to your computer. You will be able to be ready to run your online business on the same day, sometimes in an hour or less. Turnkey websites are made entirely for novices. An online turnkey business can save you time, and give you a professional looking website to market your products.Frequently, the products being dealt on a turnkey website will include master resale rights. These products might include eBooks, large collections of articles, or software packages. Many of the most beneficial offers include the resale rights for eBooks. This is because the popularity of eBooks has rapidly increased. As an alternative to checking out a book from the library or purchasing a brand-new book, more and more people are reading material that comes in the form of an eBook. Once you get Master Resale Rights of an eBooks or software packages, it means that you not only possess the right to sell them to your customers, but you also to give your buyers the right to sell them or just keep them for their own use.An online home based business is as easy as a turnkey website. A turnkey website that has products with master resale rights lets you to rely upon the expertise of professionals who are experts at website development. You don’t need the technical knowledge involved in setting up a website. Online marketing with your own turnkey website allows you to work from home with an online home based business. It’s the easiest home based business opportunity you’re going to find.

A Guide on Successful Product Creation and Internet Marketing

Product creation in Internet marketing is getting stiffer and stiffer nowadays owing to tough competition between Internet-based businesses. Putting up a new product requires plenty of brainpower and finances along with an ability to take risk. With that, even if you have the product well-set already, you have to position it strategically in the Internet landscape for others to notice. You should get the interest of Web users and turn them to actual customers. Aside from the usual physical products, many different products that thrive well on Internet marketing include E-books, membership sites, and video lectures.

The long and difficult process of product creation begins with ideas. They are easy to get – compared to the effort that comes with analyzing the market for that idea. Before the idea turns to a product, businesses often spend money, even amounting to millions of dollars, to ensure the success of the new product that emerges from an idea. Businesses undertake many types of market research and surveys before releasing their products to the public. Now, you may think that because your business is small, you can’t afford research or you don’t have to do research; you can and you should. The Internet allows you to disseminate materials needed for your market study to many people at once without your having to spend a cent.

It is a common maxim in business: Look at your destination first before mapping out your journey. So what are the goals you intend to accomplish with your product creation ventures? The everyday travails of your business may make you forget the end in sight. On the other hand, prepare to entertain new developments that come to your mind in your product creation. Your conception of a product may have started this way, but a few tweaks here and there along with some market research results and it ends up another way. Take it as the result of a creative process, not as a failure to reach your goal. After all, your product creation activities are intertwined with a long-term goal that you should strive to sustain at your utmost: profit generation. So if your less profitable initial idea evolves to a more profitable product, be thankful!

With your product made up already, start doing some aggressive Internet marketing. A product purchase typically comes after more than five times a customer is exposed to an informative call-to-buy message. Thus it is important to get the contact details, like the e-mail address, of potential customers who are on the brink of a sale. Use the results of your market research to determine the demographics to which you should concentrate your marketing efforts.

With consistent product creation, you can make an inventory of your products that you can market in due time. Just keep making products – the moment you succeed in making and marketing a product, customers are surely wanting more from you, so give it to them. Keep them on your side through constant product creation.