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New FindLaw.com "Real Estate Center" Helps Homeowners, Renters, Landlords Understand Their Rights, Connect with an Attorney
EAGAN, Minn., Feb. 22, 2005 -- Whether you're a homeowner, renter or landlord, legal issues can shift the focus of Home Sweet Home from your house to the courthouse. Knowing your legal rights can help prevent or resolve problems, such as contract violations, zoning issues, contractor disputes, evictions, and health and safety issues.
The new FindLaw Real Estate Center (http://realestate.findlaw.com) provides a one-stop legal resource, covering the major topics in real estate. The site provides intuitive navigation that allows people to quickly and easily find the information that meets their specific needs, such as explanations of legal rights; links to applicable state laws, government agencies and other resources; and help finding and hiring an attorney.
Real estate is a central part of most Americans' lives. A home represents the single largest purchase most people will make. A record 69.2 percent of American households own their own home, according to July 2004 U.S. Census Bureau data. For the 32.6 million households that rent, housing is often their largest monthly expense.
The FindLaw Real Estate Center explains the legal essentials involved in owning or renting real estate through comprehensive, yet easy-to-understand articles and FAQs, covering information, including mortgages, how to work with a real estate agent, tips to follow before closing on a new home and a checklist for renters to use before signing a lease.
Topics covered include:
For Homeowners:
- Buying and selling a house
- Home construction and improvement
- Health and safety (radon, asbestos, lead, etc.)
- Neighbors and house boundaries
- Land use and zoning
For Renters and Landlords:
- Lease agreements
- Fair housing requirements
- Rent and security deposits
- Repairs and maintenance
- Privacy
- Lease termination and eviction
Having legal counsel can often be helpful in real estate matters, including drawing up or reviewing contracts or helping settle disputes. The FindLaw Real Estate Center provides helpful tips for working with an attorney and easy access to West Legal Directory, the Internet's largest directory of lawyers and law firms. West Legal Directory contains more than one million lawyers and legal professionals and is searchable by attorney or law firm name, practice specialty and location. It also features profiles of lawyers and law firms that contain details of their legal experience and expertise.
About Thomson FindLaw
Thomson FindLaw (www.findlaw.com) is the leading provider of online legal information and solutions for the legal community, businesses and individuals. According to comScore Media Metrix, a leading independent Web usage reporting service, the FindLaw.com Internet portal is the highest-trafficked legal Web site with 3.7 million unique monthly users - three times more than its closest competitor. The site provides comprehensive, plain-English legal information to businesses and individuals. These resources include West Legal Directory©, the Internet's largest directory of lawyers and legal professionals. FindLaw.com also offers comprehensive information, resources and services for law practice and legal career development, including free case law, an online career center, breaking legal news, newsletters, message boards, service directories, continuing legal education and legal search tools. In addition, Thomson FindLaw provides access to tools and services that help connect legal professionals with potential clients. Thomson FindLaw is a business within The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC)
About The Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2003 revenues from continuing operations of $7.44 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson has approximately 38,000 employees and provides services in approximately 130 countries. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).
