Real Estate & Property Law

Katrina Tax Break Promotes Luxe Condos

Federal tax breaks billed as providing rebuilding aid for areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina are promoting construction of luxurious homes far inland. As red tape and disorganization, among other issues, delay rebuilding in some of the most severely damaged areas, the tax breaks…

Aug 14, 2007 6:45 PM CDT

Foreclosure: One California Home’s Story

A single foreclosed home in Southern California is part of a much bigger story. It’s emblematic of what went wrong in the U.S. subprime mortgage industry, leading to turmoil in world financial markets and a downward spiral of decreasing real estate values that isn’t expected to end anytime soon. As…

Aug 13, 2007 4:20 PM CDT

Ruling Speeds NJ Foreclosures

A federal appeals court has cleared up a dispute in New Jersey over how long homeowners have to cure a mortgage default. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 3 that the right to cure ends when the auction gavel drops, adopting the so-called gavel rule, the New…

Aug 10, 2007 10:45 AM CDT

Home-Demolition Derby in New Orleans

Chanel Debose has spent $90,000 to fix up her New Orleans home since Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. But it is now reportedly on the list of homes to be demolished as the city rushes to meet a deadline for qualifying for federal aid to do so. At least she knows about…

Aug 9, 2007 8:19 PM CDT

Blame Game Begins in Bridge Tragedy

Although it’s too early to know exactly what caused Wednesday’s horrific rush-hour collapse of the Interstate 35-W bridge in Minneapolis, fingers are pointing in various directions, and some are thinking about possible litigation. Likely potential targets would include state and federal government entities and private contractors responsible for constructing and…

Aug 3, 2007 7:50 PM CDT

Subprime Woes Good News for Lawyers

As the nation’s subprime mortgage market continues to implode, a booming practice area is being created for lawyers in various related areas of practice. In fact, subprime mortgage issues—which apparently are likely to include a heavy focus on white-collar crime—will be virtually a full-employment act for attorneys, in much the…

Aug 1, 2007 9:26 PM CDT

Homes Targeted for Gang Activity

The owners of Los Angeles properties that served as a base for gang activities may be in for a rude awakening. Prosecutors are seeking to seize five properties and to force the owners of five others to clean up and control their buildings, the Los Angeles Times reports. The suits…

Aug 1, 2007 1:15 PM CDT

Mortgage Foreclosures Rise 58 Percent

Mortgage foreclosures nationwide were up by 58 percent during the first half of 2007, compared to the first half of 2006. That translates to a total of 573,397 homes at some point in the foreclosure process between January and June 2007, from a notice of default to repossession, reports the…

Jul 31, 2007 3:30 PM CDT

Condemnation Thriving in N.J., N.Y.

Forty states have passed laws to curb eminent domain powers since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2005 that cities may seize land for private economic development. But strong protection bills have failed to pass in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, the New York Times reports. “New Jersey…

Jul 30, 2007 4:52 PM CDT

Curbs on Condo Signs Upheld

Legal observers were taken aback last year when a New Jersey appellate court extended the state constitution’s free-speech requirements to a private homeowners’ association. Frank Askin, a law professor at Rutgers-Newark, told the ABA Journal eReport in February 2006 that the decision was the first of its kind at the…

Jul 27, 2007 4:43 PM CDT

Almost 800% Rise in Calif. Foreclosures

The number of California mortgage foreclosures has risen by almost 800 percent compared to the same period last year, according to figures released today. And experts predict the record-breaking situation is likely to get worse (or better, from the standpoint of lawyers who make a living representing foreclosing lenders), as…

Jul 25, 2007 12:35 AM CDT

Six Arrested in $3 M Fla. Mortgage Case

Following a three-year investigation, six men have been arrested by Florida authorities and charged with racketeering and conspiracy in a home-repair scam that allegedly bilked at least 31 homeowners of $3 million. Run at least in part by a recently released convict, the alleged scheme preyed on low-income and minority…

Jul 20, 2007 9:47 PM CDT

Feds to 150 LA Landlords: Evict or Else

A number of government officials in California, including at least one federal judge, have been openly unenthusiastic about helping the feds’ wage an all-out war on drugs as far as medicinal marijuana—which is legal under state law—is concerned. So the feds are trying another tactic. In a recent letter-writing blitz,…

Jul 18, 2007 1:15 AM CDT

New Regulations for Subprime Lenders

A new regulatory pilot program for subprime lenders was announced by a group of federal and state agencies today—the eve of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s planned two-day testimony before Congress. Focusing initially on approximately a dozen “nondepository” subsidiaries of banks and thrift institutions, as well as mortgage brokers who…

Jul 17, 2007 11:01 PM CDT

New Housing Rules Hit Katrina Victims

Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, displaced residents from the lowest economic rungs of the region’s economic ladder are still struggling–often in communities far from home. But as many businesses desperately seek workers, and former residents fruitlessly seek…

Jul 13, 2007 2:17 AM CDT