Real Estate: A Tale of Two Citadels; the fall of Guaranty Title and Trust and the Shoring up of Commonwealth and Lawyers Title.

So, Citadel GTT has fallen. Citadel LandAmerica is holding. However, if the purchase by FNF does not happen, there is speculation that Nebraska may take further action. The fact that LandAmerica lost $599.6 million in the third quarter cannot have escaped the attention of the Nebraska Insurance Commission. What happens in Nebraska could have a massive impact in Pennsylvania where there are millions of Commonwealth and Lawyers policies in force.

BACK TALK REQUESTED: THE CHUTZPAH OF SOME PEOPLE’S ZOMBIE BOTS!

Dear Comment Poster:

I am seriously thinking about suing you.

Real Estate: LandAmerica Bankruptcy — No, Not Over Claims or Market Decline; Its All About Like Kind Exchanges under IRS Code Section 1031!

But Chapter 11 offered a way out. The bankruptcy trustee would declare the obligations to the 1031 creditors (both current ones and those transacted in the past 90 days) to be “preferences” under the Bankruptcy Act and “avoid” them. With the 1031 creditors reduced to the level of the other general creditors of the 1031 company, the trustee can pay them off at the same rate on the dollar as he/she pays everybody else. Meanwhile, FNF purchases LandAm’s title insurance subsidiaries and LandAm emerges as a healthy company with other healthy subdiaries. Everyone makes out pretty well, except the poor customers who trusted LandAm 1031.

Backtalk Requested: Bot Update

A new family of Zombie Bots have shown up recently. They profess to enjoy my posts so much that they offer to translate them into German and “link back”. Of course, when you try to send an email to the sender it comes right back as undeliverable.

Mortgage Foreclosure: Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Will Announce the Inception of its Much-Awaited Owner-occupied Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program Soon.

The Allegheny County Common Pleas Court is working out the last technical details for implementation of a much anticipated mortgage foreclosure conciliation program. After a meeting this week with Allegheny County officials, President Judge Joseph James expects to sign the order of court launching the program on Friday.

Real Estate:The Coming Disclosure Boom: Who is the Real Beneficiary?

So who benefits from all of these disclosures? If the disclosures are made fully and correctly, it is primarily the party giving the disclosure. Later, when a problem arises, the buyer/borrower cannot claim that he/she was not informed of the risk. The more comprehensive the disclosure, the more effective it usually is for this purpose. One page grows to two, then five. One disclosure is replaced by two, then five. Signatures are required on every one of them. The obvious purpose is to prove that the consumer actually laid eyes on the disclosure document, however fleetingly. Some even require that the signatory certify that he or she has read and even understood it. Some documents require initials on every page. With a keystroke in a check box, the preparer of a two hundred page loan package can require initials on almost every one of the pages. I have encountered borrowers at loan closings who were physically unable to sign and initial all of the required documents in the loan package.

Back Talk Requested: The Invasion of the Zombie Bots.

The most scary looking of these includes a page of code. No blogger would ever post such nonsense. Unlike bots set loose for the purpose of bringing readers to the sender’s site, these are sent anonymously. The only purpose they serve is to be a pest.

SEC v. Cuban: Is it Personal?

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog contains a post which suggests that a former email correspondant with Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban (who many Pittsburghers claim as a native son) who works at the Securities and Exchange Commission held a grudge that may have been responsible for the SEC insider trading suit.

Real Estate: The Risky Business of Buying Foreclosure Properties.

The regulators are back — and they are just getting started. That means Fannie Mae, as well as Treasury, OCC, OTS, etc. Don’t forget the Pennsylvania Department of Banking. They are all going to be trying to prevent the subprime mortgage crisis from happening again by writing acres and acres of new regulations.

Real Estate Tax Exemption Available for Needy Disabled Vets.

If the Commission in fact, determined that Vanderhoef was in need of an exemption from the payment of real estate taxes then it was incumbent on the Assessment Board to grant the exemption of the payment of real estate taxes, without exception. . . .The exemption of one acre was completely arbitrary and had no correlation to the individualized need of Vanderhoef which was a decision of the Commission. Consequently, the trial court’s acceptance of the Assessment Board’s exemption of only one acre was cleary an error of law which must be reversed.”

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Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

Legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus.

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