The landlord did not require us to pay a security deposit. 

She rents primarily to girls, has an ironclad rental agreement signed, takes a large security deposit and visits the building often.

As always, the law in your area will dictate whether thats right or not.But I can tell you right now, if someone gave me 30 days notice that they would be out by the end of February and then said they needed to stay 3 more days thru March, I'm not giving them their security deposit back.

If the title to all or any part of the Property is unmarketable, or is subject to liens, encumbrances, easements, conditions, restrictions or encroachments other than those excepted in the preceding sentence, Seller will be responsible for remedying or removing the title defect or at its election may choose not to cure the title defect in which case the Buyer may waive the title defect and proceed to Closing or may terminate this Agreement in which case any Earnest Money deposit and/or any other funds held in escrow by the Closing Agent shall be refunded to the Buyer.4.

Many would say the only thing you're permitted to do is check your account periodically to make sure all the deposits are coming in.  

My question is about something he said in his article:"...be careful of separating the real from the pretend buyers by simply asking for a non-refundable earnest money deposit from your buyer."

I explain this to tenants, because some feel they have more rights and power over their roommates, but according to the law they don't.We do not touch the security deposit until a future point in time when all parties have vacated and possession of the unit is returned to us.

Does the requirement to pay taxes in the state hinge on whether you deposit the rent into a bank account there or receive payment at an address in that state?  

Though they acknowledged it was their error they would not be reimbursing any of the thousands of dollars the housing authority had to pay in bank fees incurred after having to order duplicate copies of every deposit item for an entire fiscal year.She also acknowledged there was no warning or disclaimer on the QB update that money orders were not a viable payment option and as a result all previous and future money order data would be altered or deleted by the program during the software update.2.

Since I assigning I am not sure if the attorney has to1) prepare for closing2) obtain title work (I can as the cost it's minimal but not necessary)3) preparation and review of closing documents4) Representation at closing.5) recording of the documents6) obtaining the title policy.She also went on to say that once we are out of attorney review the assignment is complete.I am not too thrilled by her lack of knowledge of Assignment of Contract.The service I require is1) review purchase contract in attorney review stage2) once out of attorney review, I want her to draft an Assignment of contract and send it to the buyer's attorney and collect the deposit for the assignment.3) buyer will then conduct his inspection and if all goes will schedule a close with the seller.4) At closing, the buyer will wire or send a certified check towards the balance of the assignment fee, I do not thing my attorneyneeds to be at the closing.