David Nicklas is a “details man.” He is retired from the Port Authority of Allegheny County, where his last position was Manager of Warranty Enforcement. Through his careful scrutiny of warranty language as it applied to defective parts, buses and equipment, David saved the Port Authority and the citizens of Allegheny County millions of dollars.

David brings this careful attention to detail to the table each time he has a real estate client. He’s been doing this as a Realtor® for almost 15 years and has left many satisfied customers in his wake.

Lawton Stokes states, “David has been our friend and customer for over 10 years. Personally and professionally, he has provided me with a lot of guidance. I’m proud to work closely with David and his customers.”

David lives in Whitehall with his wife, Carol. He enjoys spoiling his five adorable grandchildren.

David represents clients throughout the City of Pittsburgh and its suburbs.

To view David’s listings, click here.

As a leader in telecommunications technology, Toshiba Digital Solutions designs and manufactures America’s highest quality business communications solutions. Achieve Realty is proud to utilize Toshiba telephones and voice-mail systems.

Lawton Stokes states, “Toshiba is used at the majority of real estate brokerages in Pittsburgh. The time our new recruits will need to adjust to our telephone system will be minimal.”

Toshiba telephone systems enable inbound callers to reach the sales associates no matter where they are. Once a caller reaches the voice-mailbox for an individual Realtor®, by pressing “1,” the telephone system automatically connects the live call to Achieve staff.

If sales associates are going to be on an appointment, they may opt to have the phone system immediately notify them when new messages are left in their voice mailbox. This ensures the finest personal service for our clients.

The “Administrative Fee” (aka Brokerage Fee, Technology Fee) is a flat dollar fee that real estate brokers charge to buyers and sellers above and beyond the real estate commission. The charge ranges from $100 to $395.
This fee has been implemented only during the last few years but already, consumers and real estate sales associates have become complacent with it. If consumers refuse to pay it, many brokers collect the fee from the sales associate.
Achieve Realty does NOT charge an “Administrative fee.” This results in an immediate, obvious savings for buyers and sellers. Ask your Achieve sales associates how they can save you even more money.

Transfer tax is a sales tax. Whenever Pennsylvanians transfer property, a 1% tax is paid to the state. There is an additional tax for the municipality and the school district. This amount of this additional tax varies from one municipality to the next. For municipal transfer tax rates within Allegheny County Pennsylvania, click here. For municipalities outside Allegheny County (but within Southwestern Pennsylvania), the transfer tax is 1%. According to the standard PAR (Pennsylvania Association of Realtors) Agreement of Sale, payment of the transfer taxes is split evenly between the Buyer and Seller.

Achieve Realty, Inc. is a residential real estate brokerage founded in the Spring of 2004 by husband-and-wife attorneys Kristen P. Stokes and D. Lawton Stokes. Both Stokes’ have extensive experience in the real estate field.

Kristen is the owner of Allegheny Settlement Company, Inc., a provider of title insurance and settlement services since 1993. She is a Pennsylvania-licensed Title Insurance Agent. During her 10-plus years in business, Kristen has conducted thousands of closings. Her business is comprised primarily of real estate purchases and refinances.

Lawton has worked at Allegheny Settlement Company since 1994. He has conducted thousands of closings. He manages the business aspects of the company, including human resources, technology, purchasing, accounting, web-site and marketing.

From 2000-2004, Lawton co-owned a real estate franchise with two local offices. Lawton managed various aspects of the company including human resources, technology, web-site, intranet, accounting and purchasing. In a legal capacity, Lawton reviewed contracts for the company, including real estate leases, equipment leases, non-compete agreements and employment contracts.

Furthermore, Lawton served as full-time in-house legal counsel for the company. In this role, Lawton acted as a legal resource for all of the real estate sales associates within the company. He was available to provide legal counsel 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition, he conducted many training classes for the sales associates.

In 2004, Lawton’s partners purchased his ownership interest in the real estate franchise. Subsequently, Lawton and Kristen decided to start their own real estate company, Achieve Realty, Incorporated.

One frequent question they receive is, “Why didn’t you purchase a franchise?” Lawton’s response: “From a consumer standpoint, franchises give name recognition to sales associates who don’t otherwise have name recognition. We work with Realtors® who already have name recognition—their own.

Furthermore, franchises charge their brokers and their sales associates advertising fees. This results in higher costs for buyers and sellers. National advertising is designed to bring business to the company. National advertising, however, will never get YOUR house sold or find you a house to buy.”

Beside its’ independent brokerage status, there are many other features that distinguish Achieve Realty:

Achieve Realty does not charge an “Administrative fee (aka Brokerage Fee, Technology Fee”). This is a flat fee that franchised real estate brokerages charge to buyers and sellers above and beyond the real estate commission. The cost ranges from $100 to $395. Thus, Achieve’s customers realize an immediate savings.

Achieve Realty does not hire brand new real estate sales associates. When a client calls, they are guaranteed to talk to a Realtor® who is a top producer and has many years of experience.

Achieve Realty is a one-stop-shop. Buyers can obtain a top notch Realtor®, title insurance, mortgage financing, home warranty and homeowners insurance by making one telephone call to the office.

Achieve Realty has full time in-house legal counsel who encourage Realtors® to ask questions and do not charge for their assistance. This translates into a better-educated, better-equipped sales force.

Achieve Realty is a subscriber to the West Penn Multi-List and its IDX system. This means every Achieve listing is visible on Realtor.com. It also means that virtually every listing on the West Penn Multi-List is available on AchieveRealty.net and vice-versa.

Every Achieve listing has a virtual tour. This gives online buyers the most comprehensive views of the inventory of homes for sale. There is no extra cost to home sellers for this important service.

Achieve Realty is at the top of page one on Google, the major internet search engine. This insures maximum exposure of our inventory to online home shoppers.

Achieve’s website does not require a password to enter. In other words, online home shoppers can view all the information available on the West Penn Multi-List without having to divulge their personal information. Achieve gets all the information to consumers faster.

Achieve does not require that its sales associates “push” or sell their brokerage’s ancillary services. Therefore, the customer is encouraged to find the best deals for themselves versus the best deal for the real estate brokerage.

Every sales associate at Achieve Realty practices real estate as a full-time career. Achieve Realty is a company that is dedicated to elevating the real estate profession and proving to you, the consumer, that Realtors® are worth every dollar of the commission that they earn.

Settlement companies provide closing services to Buyers and Sellers. Primarily, their job is to provide Title Insurance to Buyers and their Lenders. They also act as an escrow agent. They explain all the loan paperwork to the Buyer. They organize the settlement statement, which shows Buyers how much money they need to bring to closing. Also see. From the escrow account, they pay all the bills listed on the settlement statement. “Settlement Companies” are also known as “Closing Companies” and “Title Companies.”

Even if you are purchasing title insurance, surveys are rarely required by title agencies or their underwriters. This is dramatic change in policy from the title industry that only occurred since the turn of the millennium.

Even though the title industry doesn’t require surveys, Achieve Realty strongly recommends that you purchase a new survey.

Wondering whether a new survey really is necessary is an age-old question.  Often, buyers weigh the value of a new survey against its cost and decide to use an existing survey and spend their money elsewhere.  Most often, they make this decision with little knowledge of what a survey is and what it reveals about one of the largest purchases they will ever make their new home.

For residential property purchases, the survey performed is usually a boundary retracement survey with additional surveying to meet the specific needs required by title insurance companies. The map of such a survey must show particular information in detail and exactness of matters discoverable from survey and inspection, and not necessarily evidenced by public records. Unrecorded easements, access roads to other properties, physical encroachments of buildings, and other visible adverse uses of the property by other parties, are examples of matters of particular concern for a land title survey. Furthermore, surveys show the dimensions of the lot, location of the home and driveway, building setback lines, recorded easements affecting the property, and access to a public or private road and bodies of water that may exist.

In the big picture, it may be a bargain for a few hundred dollars.

This site is designed to be a reference for people interested in real estate in greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My name is Lawton Stokes and I am a real estate attorney working in Wexford, Pennsylvania, which is a suburb 20 miles North of downtown Pittsburgh. My wife and I own a real estate brokerage called Achieve Realty and a title insurance agency called Allegheny Settlement Company. We are also partners in the law firm Matthews, Antol & Stokes, P.C. I welcome any questions or concerns you may have about real estate in greater Pittsburgh. Thanks for visiting this site!