Greg Nino Houston Texas

Imagine being the owner of a 3 bedroom lease home or having an agent represent you for a lease listing. What is your initial thinking about an applicant who has 3 kids, a spouse and and aunt that want's to move in? That's 6 people total. The kids aren't infants, and all credentials are perfect. Are you legally allowed to "house" this many people in your home? Does it conform to your state laws, specifically the property code? Can you deny the lease because you don't like the idea of that many bodies in your home? And wait... is there even a state law that governs occupancy or is that a county law thingy? Oh brother.

What if 6 adults want to live in the same property? Say, couples?

Should you ask a woman who appears to be 9 months pregnant if she's pregnant? Imagine if she wasn't pregnant and you denied the lease based on "how many kids" would be in the house. Most of all lawsuits in the real estate industry hover around deceptive trade practices and LEASES.

This is why it is so critical that you know exactly what you're doing or you hire someone that does.

The standard lease agreement in Texas has verbiage that limits the number of vehicles the tenants can park at the property. Obviously you would never allow six cars at a home that only has a 2 car garage, even if you could fit 2 in the drive-way because that would leave two on the street... and this is almost always going to be a violation of the deed restrictions in almost all standard neighborhoods with an HOA. Most of my leases limit the number of vehicles to just 3. That would allow 2 in the garage and one in the driveway - max. Or however the tenants wanted to merry-go-round their cars. I suppose one might be driving a motorcycle or moped.

Saying 'yeah, sure... move-in & collecting rent' is the easy part.

I just signed up with Pinterest last night. And to my amazing credit I've uploaded like 5 pictures. I am officially a GURU Rockstar and before long will become a Pinterest Coach. Maybe not. And the previous statement is meant to be funny.

Take a look at the facebook response I got from a friend of mine. Pinterest for women?? Really? I had no idea that this was a girly hobby. Actually, I did. But like I told my friend Lilly, where there's women there's women who buy houses and I'm all about throwing myself on people and showing them my listings over and over again.

Not. Best not to be "that" guy.

How would you have responded to this?

Is Pinetrest for women?

Today was "Daddy Day." It's my opportunity to take the kids for most of the day and do whatever me and the little ones want to do. It's been at least 10 years since I've been to the movies, so what better time to go than now.

Prior to heading to the movies me and the kids had some lunch. As we were leaving we walked past two parked police cars. I told my son that when people get into trouble they wind up in the backseat of the cruiser and "go to jail." My daughter's too young to put that together, but my son understands. Sometimes he walks up to police officers and and just stares at them. He's mystified by fire trucks, sirens and loud motorcycles. He's five.

When we approached the ticket counter at the move theater I grabbed my money clip and in horror noticed the prices. $9.50 PER ADULT. I can't believe how much it costs to watch a movie these days! When I was in high school I remember paying $2.25.

Anyways,

I got in line and waited my turn. I told a lie. I think every parent has lied about their kids age at least once. I said my daughter was 2, which she is and then I said my son was 4, which he's not. He's five.

I was convinced that UNDER 5 would somehow provide me some liberating discount.

Not 2 seconds after I said my son was four did the embarrassment begin....

"Hey! I'm NOT FOUR Daddy, I'm FIVE!"

"Tell that man I'm FIVE & not FOUR!"

"Why are you telling him I'm FOUR!"

Preston didn't let up. The people behind me were giggling and the ticket guy behind the glass was bouncing up & down like Santa with laughter. I was humiliated.

As we were walking away Preston said LOUDLY: "You're gonna go to jail Daddy!"

"I'M NOT FOUR!"

I was clearly busted. I learned my lesson. Preston said I was going to go to jail because I joked with him as we left the restaurant that if he didn't behave that I was going to put him in the back of that police car.

I'll never pull that again!

You just found a home that you're so excited about that it makes your slap you husband. You guys are stoked! You submit an offer through your buyers agent and wait for a response from the Listing Agent.

24 hours later...

Oh my gosh. You just found an even more exciting home! This time your husband lets you tackle him in the living room of the house that you are REALLY REALLY in love with!

But what about that "other" offer? How do you walk away? Or can you? Do you have to fill out paperwork, pay a fine or plead your case?

No. The only thing IN TEXAS that you have to do is simply notify the other agent by either email, text or phone call. It's polite to have a discussion and explain why.... that way the seller can have some closure as to why. Once upon a time a listing agent here in Texas got so mad that my buyer backed out of "an offer" that he demanded the earnest money so he could cycle it through the title company ... punishment slash retribution for getting him and his seller all excited for nothing. I wish I could have assessed fines for this when I was single.

I had to educate the other agent that he and his seller had ZERO right to my buyers option fee money and/or earnest money. An offer isn't binding. An executed contract IS. Executed means the seller has signed the offer. Other parts of the country use different terminology for different things, even though they might mean the same thing. In Texas we "close" on houses, in some states they "have settlements."

Every state is different. Do not back out of a contract and then site Greg Nino as the guy who said you can get your money back. I could be wrong if you live in Puerto Rico, Ohio or California. Contact a local attorney or Realtor for clarity.