Housing consumers have just gotta love the Internet.

Information-bearing real estate Web sites provide easy access to relevant and timely information and tools to quickly ferret out and filter the specific content you need.

Just a few short years ago, much greater effort was necessary to glean the information you needed from books, newspaper articles, classes, seminars and other sources.

Given the need for speed to make decisions about what was likely your largest and most trying transaction, the unwieldy nature of gathering pertinent information in "the old days" likely left you behind the curve when you least needed to be.

Reams of regulations, building codes and ordinances from all levels of government casts a confusing net of governing law over real estate. Legislation to draft still more laws, court cases to help decipher laws already on the books and court hearings, mediation and arbitration to settle disputes over legal interpretations add to the confusing morass.

Let's not even get into the brain busting rent-vs.-buy, fixed-rate-vs.-adjustable-rate and fix-it-up-or-sell-it home economics.

The Internet's embarrassment of information riches has changed that. Surf the Web and you can easily tap just the information you need, when you need it and as fast as you need it. Often news you can use comes to you in one of those ubiquitous e-mailed e-newsletters.

This month, renters are the beneficiaries of information access boom -- provided you've subscribed to Berkeley, CA-based legal self-help publisher Nolo.com's free Nolo Briefs.

For the effort, you would have received two free so-called "e-guides" same address "Housing Discrimination: What Every Landlord Needs to Know" (What renter doesn't what to know what the landlord knows?) and "Get Your Landlord to Make Repairs".

These aren't flimsy brochures or Pop dos or don'ts lists, but Nolo's carefully researched legal dissertations you can count on -- each in chapter length.

Formerly Nolo Press, Nolo.com continues to reveal its commitment to trustworthy information on and off the Internet by publishing real estate and other self-help legal information, unfettered by advertising or other potential conflicts of interest.

The 33-page "Housing Discrimination" e-guide includes information on seven different reasons landlords can refuse you a rental home and nine different ways he or she could discriminate against you. It cites the Federal Fair Housing Acts, state and local anti-discrimination laws, valid occupancy limits and standards on the federal, local and state level, and more.

Just as extensive, the 31 page e-guide about landlord repairs presents your rights for livable quarters under state, local and court-imposed rules, your repair and maintenance responsibilities, the landlord's responsibilities, how to get or make the repairs you need, what to do when the landlord won't raise a hammer, how repairs can affect your security deposit and other relevant information.

Truly electronic guides, the two e-guides allow you to link back to the Net for additional literary information, software, related forms and other resources from Nolo.com's vast library for renters and landlords.

The August Issue of Nolo Briefs also contains lease and rental contract dos, success tips for landlords and tenants, an eviction prevention Q&A and a host of other resources for renters and landlords.

For the e-guides, you need Adobe's Acrobat Reader (which you should have if you are serious about gathering all Web information), a word processor and a Web browser that admits you to the Net from within the e-guides.

But other than the required software, all your really need is minimal effort to sign up for Nolo Briefs and real estate information you can count on will find you -- and, again the newsletter is free.

Editors Note: Broderick Perkins has penned articles in Nolo.com's real estate library, though not those mentioned in this story.

Published: August 11, 2000

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.