Red Hot Apartment Investment Market Starts to Cool
Creative Reuse: The Opportunities and Challenges of Converting Office Space to Residential
Office-to-Apartment Conversions – A Good Idea, but Tricky to Pull Off (Audio)
Credit Eco to Go Podcast - Not a Normal Mortgage Crisis: How the Mortgage Industry Weathered the Pandemic
Law Brief: Urban Living After COVID-19
California CRE to Expand in 2022
Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson Forecast Winter/Spring 2015: Southern California Primed for Commercial Real Estate Surge
Two appellate courts recently examined the scope of a homeowners policy’s requirement that the insured reside at the property at the time of loss....more
The interpretation of a property insurance policy may seem like a dull endeavor, but courts sometimes face fundamental questions about what words mean, or how we conceptualize cause and effect. In Taja Investments LLC v....more
Property policies typically provide, if there is coverage, that the insured can recover for the costs to repair or replace the property damaged by loss. But when an insured does not repair or replace the damaged property (or...more
In the Ridgewood Group LLC v Millers Capital Insurance Company, No. 1138 EDA 2016, February 27, 2017, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania analyzed two often troublesome policy provisions, the surface water exclusion and the...more
Florida homeowner insurers are seeing a significant increase in claims and litigation and are seeking ways to avoid costly litigation and expedite the claims process for their insureds. One option for the insurer is to...more
The Florida Supreme Court recently issued a widely reported decision, Sebo v. American Home Assurance Co., which applied the concurrent cause doctrine in ruling that an all-risk homeowner’s insurance policy provides coverage...more
We have discussed on a number of occasions the issue of causation when there are multiple causes of loss, some covered and some not covered. Most jurisdictions apply what is known as the efficient proximate cause analysis...more
In Johnson v. Omega Ins. Co., 2016 Fla. LEXIS 2148 (Sept. 29, 2016), the Florida Supreme Court determined that the 5th DCA misapplied and misinterpreted two statutes, the first providing a presumption of correctness to the...more
In February 2013, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development adopted a “Discriminatory Effects Rule,” which established liability under the Fair Housing Act for conduct that is otherwise lawful, but which has a...more
Harris v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company, __ F.3d __, 2016 WL 4174381 (6th Cir. Aug. 8, 2016) - Case at a Glance - Plaintiffs purchased a home located in a federal flood zone, but they did not purchase...more
Condominium association property claims can be contentious and confusing. Large condominium buildings often are the subject of multi-million dollar insurance claims, lawsuits, and appraisals.The “cookie cutter” nature of...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Vacation of Subdivision Plats: boards of county commissioners have limited authority under Fla. Stat. sec. 177.101(3) to grant or deny platted property owner’s request for vacation of plat; if...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE: Jurisdiction/Deficiency Judgment: Second DCA agrees with Third DCA that “a circuit court has subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate an independent deficiency action when the plaintiff had...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - - Sovereign Immunity: DOT prohibited from using sovereign immunity defense in negligence action resulting from railroad crossing accident where DOT bound by crossing agreement, including indemnity...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - - Ad Valorem Taxation: lessee holding 99-year leasehold interest in unimproved land owned by government entity is not “equitable owner” and thus not liable for ad valorem property taxes pursuant to...more
The U.S. government’s aggressive push to combat international money laundering is entering a new phase by focusing on real estate investments. On January 13, 2016, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the U.S....more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - - Foreclosure/Standing: although bank established it had possession of note prior to commencement of action, bank did not demonstrate when blank endorsement was placed on note, nor did it prove it...more
Two weeks ago in Wheeler v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2015 WL 5714392, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131736 (C.D.Utah, Sep. 29, 2015), a Utah court barred coverage for a mold loss caused when a vacant log cabin suffered a long-term water...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Certiorari; discovery: Certiorari review was not available to an owner of property seeking review of a trial court’s order denying his discovery requests, where the order did not completely...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - - Foreclosure/Standing: owner, who took title to property after lis pendens was recorded and who did not appeal denial of motion to intervene, did not have standing to appeal judgment of...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Default Judgment/Voidable: because default judgment was merely voidable, rather than void, where complaint upon which judgment was based failed to state a cause of action, Rule 1.540(b) was not...more
The August 28, 2015 LEAN Email Blast contains information on the final rule regarding fire safety equipment, the new delegated underwriter approval process, the Green Lane, and the mortgage termination process, among other...more
If there is anything that galls servicers of government-insured loans, it is the forfeiture or curtailment of all accrued interest from mortgage insurance claims resulting from the failure to foreclose fast enough within...more
On Tuesday of this week, a unanimous panel of Texas’ intermediate level appellate court rejected arguments that an appraisal award that set forth lump sum replacement cost, depreciation, and actual cash value amounts for real...more
On August 4, 2015 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a compliance bulletin on the private mortgage insurance (PMI) cancellation and termination provisions contained in the Homeowners Protection Act (HPA)....more