Property Law and Real Estate Commons^™

Legal And Policy Choices In The Aftermath Of The Subprime And Mortgage Financing Crisis, Gerald Korngold

Articles & Chapters

This essay, delivered at a symposium at the University of South Carolina in October 2008 and forthcoming in South Carolina Law Review, sets out initial thoughts about to the legal and policy choices that decision makers must address in the aftermath of the subprime crisis that has since triggered a global financing crunch. After tracing a narrative of how subprime lending grew into a mortgage financing crisis and then a broader financial dislocation, the essay addresses two issues. First, while it is commonly stated that increased regulation will be required in secondary mortgage markets going forward, the essay explores competing …

Practitioners Need Broader Expertise: Real Estate Law Is Undergoing Profound Changes, John R. Nolon, Shelby D. Green

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article discusses the sweeping modifications to real estate law practice as legislators, courts, and lawyers attempt to accommodate a number of real world challenges. The authors’ discussion analyzes several of these transitioning influences, such as an increase in environmental concerns, shifts in environmental legislation, the subprime mortgage crisis, the effect Kelo v. New London has on the lawyers’ role in facilitating redevelopment, as well as the influence of new E-sign laws has on drafting real estate documents.

Acquisition Of Real Estate In Mexico By U.S. Citizens And American Companies, Jorge A. Vargas

San Diego International Law Journal

Buying real estate in Mexico, or enjoying the beneficiary rights through a real estate trust, known in Mexico as fideicomiso, involves a considerable amount of money and effort. One must take into account that this legal transaction is executed in Mexico in accordance with Mexican law-a foreign legal system belonging to the civil legal tradition, contrasted by the U.S. legal system derivative of the common law tradition-and recognize that Americans and U.S. legal entities are typically quite unfamiliar with Mexican law. This Article provides a complete overview of the process of acquiring real estate in Mexico by Americans and U.S. …

Title Insurance In Mexico: A Necessary Protection, Duplicative Expense, Or Something In Between, Christina Clemm

San Diego International Law Journal

This Comment is written for those interested in buying property in Mexico and for the professionals who advise them. It begins by analyzing whether title insurance companies provide a necessary service for those purchasing property in Mexico. This section of the Comment addresses issues related to the protections afforded by Mexican law and whether title insurance is duplicative in light of those protections. It also discusses another option for a buyer, obtaining an opinion from a Mexican attorney. It goes on to analyze whether having a title insurance company maneuver the Mexican courts is a justification for its purchase. It …

Do Foreigners Need Title Insurance In Mexico? - An Analysis Of U.S. Title Insurance And Mexican Real Estate Law, Jeffrey G. Boman

ExpressO

This paper analyzes the title insurance industry in the United States and comparable institutions in Mexico. It begins with an overview of the history of title in both counties, followed by a description of their respective real estate systems. Finally, a summary of the laws that affect holding title to property in Mexico reveals that, although title insurance may provide other benefits for foreign investors, it provides duplicitous coverage for property in Mexico.

Slides: Ecotrust Forests, Bettina Von Hagen

Community-Owned Forests: Possibilities, Experiences, and Lessons Learned (June 16-19)

Presenter: Bettina Von Hagen, Ecotrust Forests, OR

25 slides

Real Estate Law, Brian R. Marron, Christopher M. Gill

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

State Regulation Of Real Estate Settlement Services--Letting Free Enterprise Evolve While Protecting The Public, Joyce Palomar

Other Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Real Estate And Land Use Law, John V. Cogbill Iii, D. Brennen Keene

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Electronic Real Estate Documents: Context, Unresolved Cost-Benefit Issues And A Recommended Decisional Process, Sam Stonefield

Faculty Scholarship

This essay begins with a prediction: that electronic real estate documents will soon begin to replace paper documents in many, if not all, phases of residential real estate transactions. It describes the costs and benefits of electronic documents, and the many forces supporting and impeding their widespread adoption. It concludes by urging all those participating in the process to use their best efforts to address the obstacles and to work towards a successful transition to a world of electronic real estate transactions and electronic recording.

Digital Recording Of Real Estate Conveyances, Dale A. Whitman

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to describe how such a revolutionary change in the recording system can take place, and to identify and discuss the major policy issues that must be resolved in order to accomplish it. This change ought to happen. Failure to update the system will result in the continued imposition of unnecessary costs and delays on those who buy, sell, or mortgage real estate in America.

Withholding Tax On Phantom Gain, Alan Appel, Michael Hirschfield

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Buyers Beware: Statutes Shield Real Estate Brokers And Sellers Who Do Not Disclose That Properties Are Psychologically Tainted, Ronald B. Brown, Thomas H. Thurlow Iii

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Relief To Subsequent Home Purchasers In Kentucky: The Past, Present, Future, And Franz, D. Brent Marshall

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Comparing The Concepts Of ‘Property’ And ‘Value’ In Real Estate Law And Real Property Taxation, Gerald Korngold

Articles & Chapters

This article first explores property law 's model for addressing split ownership of land so that its relevance to real estate taxation can be examined. It then discusses the public policies and pragmatic concerns that influence the judicial definitions of "property" and "value" in real estate taxation. Finally, four areas, of property law are examined that raise questions of "property" and land "value" that are analogous to those in real estate taxation. Each of these four areas of property law teaches an important lesson about the comparative meanings of "property" and "value."

Buyers Beware: Statutes Shield Real Estate Brokers And Sellers Who Do Not Disclose That Properties Are Psychologically Tainted, Ronald Benton Brown, Thomas H. Thurlow Iii

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Future Advance Mortgages: A Brief For The Restatement Approach, Dale A. Whitman, Grant S. Nelson

Faculty Publications

The advantages of such arrangements, under which the mortgagor takes none or only a portion of the loan at the outset but receives the balance in the future, are substantial. The mortgagor saves interest on the unadvanced portion until it is needed and avoids the need to invest this portion at an interest rate that at least equals the rate being paid to the lender. Moreover, both parties avoid the expense and paperwork inherent in refinancing the initial loan or in executing a series of junior mortgages to secure each advance. Finally, in the construction loan context, before committing large …

Of Hotel Revenues, Rents, And Formalism In The Bankruptcy Courts: Implications For Reforming Commercial Real Estate Finance, R. Wilson Freyermuth

Faculty Publications

This article is intended to continue the dialogue begun by the proposed Restatement and has two distinct goals in this effort. Parts I through III argue that the position of the Restatement drafters is both legally and functionally sound and that bankruptcy courts should embrace and apply the proposed Restatement in administering distressed real estate developments. Part I reviews the reasoning articulated in the hotel bankruptcy cases, demonstrating how courts have applied the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and state law in a formalistic manner to extinguish the hotel mortgagee's lien upon postpetition room revenues. Part II rejects the analysis …

California Code Of Civil Procedure Section 580b Revisited: Freedom Of Contract In Real Estate Purchase Agreements, Jamie O. Harris

San Diego Law Review

Section 580b of the California Code of Civil Procedure makes purchase-money deeds of trust in California "nonrecourse" by prohibiting any deficiency judgment following foreclosure. In Spangler v. Memel, the California Supreme Court created an exception to the antideficiency rule of section 580b where the seller subordinated the buyer's purchase-money deed of trust to a construction loan deed of trust that was subsequently foreclosed, leaving the seller without security. This Article suggests that upon analysis of Spangler, the judgment is a misconceived attempt to protect sellers as a "class" from certain risks of real estate development, even though sellers of developable …

Mortgage Prepayment Clauses: An Economic And Legal Analysis, Dale A. Whitman

Faculty Publications

Most mortgages on income-producing real estate (as distinct from owner-occupied housing) contain clauses restricting early payment of the loan. These clauses are highly controversial, and borrowers often resist their enforcement. While other writers have discussed prepayment clauses in the recent legal literature, my objectives in this article are to advance this discussion in three respects: first, to provide an economic perspective on mortgage prepayment as support for a set of legal recommendations; second, to consider whether the bankruptcy of the mortgagor should affect enforceability of a prepayment fee clause; and third, to analyze the cumulative effect of the presence in …

Rolling Down The Curtain On "Roll-Ups": The Case For Federal Legislation To Protect Limited Partners, Kenneth R. Hillier

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines roll-ups and the lack of alternatives available to reluctant limited partners. Part I focuses on existing judicial remedies for limited partners, such as injunctions and actions for damages, and explains why these courses of action provide inadequate protection. This Part then reviews recent attempts at statutory protection and points out the shortcomings of these remedies. Part II examines safeguards afforded analogously situated corporate shareholders and sets forth arguments why limited partners should receive similar protection. After demonstrating the need for legislation, Part III suggests a workable structure for this statutory protection. Then, the Note discusses the relative …

Refining The Itemized Deduction For Home Property Tax Payments, J. B. Mccombs

Vanderbilt Law Review

By enacting a $1 million debt limit for deductible home mortgage interest in 1987,' Congress opened the way for a fresh inquiry into the home property tax deduction. Adoption of that debt limit reflects a major change in policy-a re-evaluation of the benefits and costs of subsidies to luxury housing.

At first glance a $1 million limit seems ridiculously high if the debt ceiling reflects a decision to stop subsidizing luxury housing. The debt ceiling, however, does not contain an inflation adjustment provision. Because such provisions are common in the Internal Revenue Code, the absence here must be by conscious …

Potential Liability For Misrepresentations In Residential Real Estate Transactions: Let The Broker Beware, Dawn K. Mcgee

Fordham Urban Law Journal

While the caveat emptor (buyer beware) theory has traditionally applied to real estate purchases, courts are continuously recognizing a brokers' duty to disclose. Some courts have found duty under an agent-principal relationship; others have found a duty as a matter of public policy, statutory language, ethics codes, or malpractice case law. Courts also differ on whether brokers have a duty to investigate the property and disclose defects. The author recognizes three issues of broker liability about which courts are divided: (1) the level of culpability required to find broker liability; (2) the basis of a real estate broker's duty to …

Tenant Remedies For Breach Of Habitability: Tort Dimensions Of A Contract Concept, Jim Smith

Scholarly Works

This article advances the premise that the hybrid contract-property model of leases may be appropriate to provide flexible choices for many areas of landlord-tenant law and, perhaps, may be suitable as a general model, but that it has failed as applied to the question of the tenant's remedies for breach of the warranty of habitability. As applied to remedies, the contract-property hybrid is a false dichotomy, or perhaps more accurately, the wrong dichotomy. The proper analysis of tenant remedies when the landlord breaches the habitability duty requires that a line be drawn between the tort duties and the contract duties …

Dancing On The Edge Of Article 9, James J. White

Articles

Despite the fact that Article 9 is a much more comprehensive personal property security statute than was ever found in American law prior to its enactment, cases continue to present issues on the scope of the Article. Gone are the cases in which a court was called upon to determine whether a "conditional sales contract" could be dealt with under the "factor's lien" law; it is now clear that all such personal property security devices are governed by Article 9. Yet many problems remain for the unwary lawyer. I will identify several and deal in detail with three of these …

Effects Of Legislation On The Reverse Annuity Mortgage As A Means Of Home Equity Control, Dorothy E. Cumby

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This student note explores the plight of elderly home-owners whose income cannot meet their expenses, and the federal legislation designed to meet their needs, specifically the Reverse Annuity Mortgage (RAM), which draws on home equity to provide monthly cash payments to homeowners. The author explains the legislation authorizing the RAM, describes the pros and cons of different forms of the RAM for elderly homeowners, and suggests modifications that will allow homeowners maximum support without sacrificing their other sources of income, such as Social Security payments and tax benefits. The author also explores New York state legislation dealing with the RAM, …

Perspectives On Foreign Investment In The Southeastern United States: An Introduction, Harold V. Morgan, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

International practice in the Southeast is primarily divided between representation of industrial and business investors and representation of real estate investors. In both cases, the legal skills required are those necessary to represent domestic clients engaged in the same activities, with an overlay of specialized expertise. For example, closing a real estate purchase on behalf of a foreign purchaser involves the same elements of real estate practice as any domestic purchase and sale. If the purchaser is foreign, however, the lawyer must consider the applicability of tax treaties, Internal Revenue Code provisions governing repatriation of real estate income, various state …

Sale-Leaseback Transactions By Tax-Exempt Entities And The Need For Congressional Guidelines, William L. Vallee, Jr., William L. Vallee, Jr., William L. Vallee, Jr., William L. Vallee, Jr.

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note explores the use, mechanics, and financial and tax ramifications of sale-leaseback transactions, focusing on their growing use by tax-exempt entities and the concerns this use has created in Congress. This analysis demonstrates that these transactions do not pose the problems feared by Congress, the Treasury Department (IRS), and the current Administration. Furthermore, it will show that under most circumstances sale-leaseback transactions by tax-exempt entities, although causing a revenue loss, are a useful device for providing certain tax-exempt entities with the financial means to maintain services in the face of rising costs and the withdrawal of federal funding. Finally, …

The Real Estate Installment Sale Contract: Its Drafting, Use, Enforcement, And Consequences, Maurice Cathey

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Property—Zoning—The Courts Further Define Their Limited Role, Audrey Riemer Evans

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.