Business Insider has an article called 11 Clauses to Beware The Next Time You Sign a Lease that I thought was better serving to the first time landlord rather than the first time tenant. You see, so often landlords call their attorneys and say how much do you charge for a lease and my firm's standard answer is; what do you want in it as leases range from $300 to thousands and thousands?

While we could spend 3 hours educating the client, than a lease will not be affordable to most weekend warriors. Instead, its best for a landlord to think about, in English, what they want the functional relationship with their tenant to be and then to see an attorney to make it enforceable and to provide additional suggestions.

I found this article to be a great start for first time landlords to think about their tenants' rights and responsibilities before they see their attorney.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau just published its 2013 CFPB Dodd-Frank Mortgage Rules readiness Guide.

This Guide should serve as the basis for banks' / financial institutions' internal compliance system. It includes information concerning the following topics:

1. Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Standards (Regulation Z)
2. Escrow Requirements under Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z)
3. High-Cost Mortgage and Homeownership Counseling (Regulation Z) (Regulation X)
4. Mortgage Servicing Rules (RESPA) (Regulation X) (TILA) (Regulation Z)
5. ECOA Appraisals for Higher-Priced Mortgage Loans (Regulation B)
6. TILA Appraisals for Higher-Priced Mortgage Loans (Regulation Z)
7. Loan Originator Compensation Requirements (Regulation Z)

One of the finest real estate brokerage attorneys in our State, Anthony Gatto, Esq. of NYSAR, presents a free explanation on the new ad regulations that are effective January 2, 2014, which you can watch here.

Its a must watch for licensed real estate agents in New York State. Learn the new regulations by as many sources as possible as they will be enforced and you must be prepared and in compliance.