Lead Based Paint Disclosure - New EPA Rule Starts April 22, 2010

Before ratification of a contract for housing sale or lease, sellers and landlords must:

• Give an EPA-approved information pamphlet on identifying and controlling lead-based paint hazards.

• Disclose any known information concerning lead-based paint or lead-based paint hazards. The seller or landlord must also disclose information such as the location of the lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards, and the condition of the painted surfaces.

• Provide any records and reports on lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards which are available to the seller or landlord (for multi-unit buildings, this requirement includes records and reports concerning common areas and other units, when such information was obtained as a result of a building-wide evaluation).

• Include an attachment to the contract or lease (or language inserted in the lease itself) which includes a Lead Warning Statement and confirms that the seller or landlord has complied with all notification requirements. This attachment is to be provided in the same language used in the rest of the contract. Sellers or landlords, and agents, as well as homebuyers or tenants, must sign and date the attachment.

• Sellers must provide homebuyers a 10-day period to conduct a paint inspection or risk assessment for lead-based paint or lead-based paint hazards. Parties may mutually agree, in writing, to lengthen or shorten the time period for inspection. Homebuyers may waive this inspection opportunity.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Requirements:

Common renovation activities like sanding, cutting, and demolition can create hazardous lead dust and chips by disturbing lead-based paint, which can be harmful to adults and children.

Under the rule, beginning in April 2010, contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 must be certified and must follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination.

Until that time, EPA recommends that anyone performing renovation, repair, and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in pre-1978 homes, child care facilities and schools follow lead-safe work practices.

• All contractors should follow these three simple procedures:

1. Contain the work area.
2. Minimize dust.
3. Clean up thoroughly.

• Read EPA's Regulations on Residential Property Renovation.

• Read about lead-hazard information for renovation, repair and painting activities in the EPA lead hazard information pamphlet.

• Read about how to comply with EPA's rule in the EPA Small Entity Compliance Guide to Renovate Right.

• Find additional EPA publications and brochures on lead-safe renovation, repair and painting and on lead poisoning prevention.

After April 22, 2010, property owners who perform these projects in pre-1978 rental housing or space rented by child-care facilities must be certified and follow the lead-safe work practices required by EPA's Renovation, Repair and Remodeling rule. To become certified, property owners must submit an application for firm certification and fee payment to EPA.

Property owners who perform renovation, repairs, and painting jobs in rental property should also:

• Take training to learn how to perform lead-safe work practices.

• Learn the lead laws that apply to you regarding certification and lead-safe work practices beginning in April 2010.

• Keep records to demonstrate that you and your workers have been trained in lead-safe work practices and that you followed lead-safe work practices on the job. To make record keeping easier, you may use the sample record keeping checklist that EPA has developed to help contractors comply with the renovation record keeping requirements that will take effect in April 2010.

• Read about how to comply with EPA's rule in the EPA Small Entity Compliance Guide to Renovate Right.

• Read about how to use lead-safe work practices in EPA's Steps to Lead Safe Renovation, Repair and Painting.

In order to get access to the EPA's Renovation, Safety and Compliance Guides, please see the original post at www.epa.gov.

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Free Real Estate Advertising - How to get it.

Even though We BUY Houses here in Knoxville, we still have to implement online strategies that will differentiate us from our competitors. Now this doesn’t mean that we at Roberts Investment Properties necessarily have to pay for high priced advertising. Like all business owners, we strive to get great advertising for a great price. Thanks to the internet, this is now possible.

How would YOU like to learn how to get the best possible search engine rankings when advertising your business? What if you could also learn how to implement these strategies for FREE? You may be asking if it is even possible.

Time and time again my partner and I at Roberts Investment Properties have used older methods of advertising. Most of the time this unfortunately led to a higher cost per lead. It took a lot of time, money and experimentation until we eventually cracked the code. In the end we decided that we were no longer going to place high priced ads in the local newspaper. No more high priced advertising of any sort. And finally, we decided that we no longer were going to pedal our real estate business opportunity to anyone and everyone that came our way.

If you’re going to use newer methods of advertising then your campaign of choice is the internet. You may have heard that internet advertising costs a lot of money. If you’re using pay-per-click (like Google Adwords), then the answer is yes. However, if you use other methods, then the answer is no. They can generate a lower cost per lead if used correctly.

Exactly what are these other methods of inexpensively advertising your business on the internet? You already know what they are, but you may not use them to your advantage. Here are a few to get you started in the right direction. They are: (1) blogs, (2) forums and (3) social networking sites. Now I know what you’re thinking. What does a grandmother gardening blog, a geek squad forum about the latest gadget, and a high school MySpace profile have to do with We BUY Houses advertising on the internet? Well nothing if they are not used strategically.

Use the above three to your advantage. Network and sign up with groups that share similar interests. Have something intelligent to say, and give the reader something that they can actually use. Most importantly, put yourself in the reader’s position and think about what it is that brought them to you in the first place. Use them because they're effective and best of all FREE!

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