Three books on what property actually costs
Written from the source documents, not from summaries. Each one exists because something changed, it has a date on it, and nobody had explained it properly to the people it affects.
Why these were written. Dominion Hard Money places deals with third-party lenders. That means watching transactions fail — and a growing share of them fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the borrower. The building does not qualify. The carrying costs were never worked out. A law changed and the advice everyone is repeating describes a version of it that never passed. These books are what got written down along the way.
The Landlord's Cost Map
What a Rental Really Costs to Hold, Across Twelve States
Everyone models the mortgage. Almost nobody models the rest. This book works through what a $400,000 rental actually costs to hold in twelve different states — property tax, insurance, and the legal requirements that turn into money.
The gaps are larger than most investors expect. Florida insurance on $300,000 of coverage runs roughly $7,136 a year against a national average near $2,543. Connecticut property tax on the same assessed value swings from $19,586 in Hartford to $2,835 in Greenwich — a factor of nearly seven, inside one state. And Massachusetts has three specific security deposit failures that carry mandatory treble damages, which is a legal cost rather than a line on a budget.
Who it is for: anyone buying a rental outside the market they know, and anyone who has ever been surprised by a carrying cost after closing.
Paperback Kindle Read the state-by-state breakdown →
The Small Landlord's Field Guide to the ROAD to Housing Act
What Actually Changed, Where It Changed, and How to Buy in the Gap
On January 7, 2027, entities controlling 350 or more single-family homes can no longer buy another one. That much is true. Almost everything else circulating about the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is stale, garbled, or describes a version of the bill that never became law.
There is no cap on how many homes an institution may own. There is no seven-year forced sale — it was stripped by amendment in May 2026. And the $30 million set aside to help small landlords repair property does not exist; it was removed before enactment, and advocacy pages still promote it.
The book works from the enrolled statute. What the law says, which markets it changes and which it does not, how to check your own ZIP code, and how to recognise institutional inventory in a listing. It also says plainly when the honest answer is that nothing happens where you live — which, for most readers, it is.
Who it is for: small landlords being told a law was written about them when it was not.
The Owner's Field Guide to the 2027 Condo Financing Rules
What Fannie and Freddie Changed, What It Means for Your Unit, and What Your Board Has to Do Before January
On March 18, 2026, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac published sixteen pages between them that reshaped condominium lending. Most of it is already in force. The last deadline lands January 4, 2027.
If a project falls out of compliance, units in it cannot be bought or refinanced with conventional financing — and owners find out when a sale falls through, over a budget decision a volunteer board made eighteen months earlier.
What the coverage got wrong: there is no joint letter. Fannie issued LL-2026-03, Freddie issued Bulletin 2026-C, and they differ in ten places. Limited Review was retired entirely, not "for projects over ten units." The 15% reserve requirement is not universal — it applies when using the Full Review process. And roughly half these changes are relief rather than tightening.
The change most likely to cost an owner personally: since July 1, 2026, if your master policy carries a per-unit deductible, you are required to hold an individual policy covering at least that amount. Most owners have no idea.
Who it is for: condo and co-op owners, HOA board members, and anyone buying or selling a unit before January.
How they fit together
Three questions, in the order they usually matter.
| Question | Book |
|---|---|
| What does this property cost to hold? | The Landlord's Cost Map |
| What changed in the law, and does it reach me? | The ROAD to Housing Act field guide |
| Can the unit be financed or sold at all? | The 2027 Condo Financing Rules |
The method, which is the same in all three
- Read the source document, not the summary. Every statutory or regulatory claim in these books can be checked against the enrolled text, and each book says where.
- Say which figures are vendor research rather than government data, and say so in the text rather than a footnote.
- Where sources cannot be reconciled, say that too — including one case where a book's own primary source contradicts itself.
- Name which chapters will go stale first, and where to check the current position.
About the author. Maurice Johnson arranges hard money and private lending. He does not lend his own funds; he places deals with third-party lending partners who pay him when a loan closes. That is worth stating plainly, because it shapes the books — and it means he has an interest in people borrowing money. Each book is written to be worth reading by someone who never calls him.
If you have a deal to place
The books are the long answer. If you have a specific property and want the numbers looked at, that is a phone call.
Call 903-636-7511 How hard money works →
Dominion Hard Money does not lend its own funds. It arranges financing through third-party lending partners and is compensated by those partners. Nothing here is a loan commitment, an offer of credit, or legal, tax, insurance or investment advice.