INDUSTRY EVENTS
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INDUSTRY NEWS
Public Official Standing Doctrine: county school district that benefited from ad valorem taxes charged by county could not challenge constitutionality of statutory tax exemption claimed by homeowners association - The School District of Escambia Cnty., Fla. v. Santa Rosa Dunes Owners Ass'n, Inc., No. 1D18-91 (Fla. 1st DCA May 30, 2019) (affirmed)

These are not hard and fast forecasts for the industry, just possible future scenarios with a percent probability (assigned by yours truly) based on the previously noted factors in Part 1.

States Title Holding, Inc., one of the top ten largest real estate settlement service companies in the United States, was issued a patent for “Machine Learning Using Multiple Data Types” by the US Patent Office on April 9, 2019.

Two title insurers have filed suit against real estate closing firm Dickason Law Group and its affiliated title company, alleging at least $1.6 million in shortfalls to the firm’s IOLTA account caused by “financial impropriety.”

In 2018, the U.S. Treasury offered several recommendations to improve the electronic closing and recording process.

President Trump has signed an Executive Order establishing the “White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing.”

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP has been monitoring recent legislation in both New York State and Washington D.C. that will increase the applicable transfer taxes imposed on conveyances of commercial property over $2 million.

The Beehive State’s housing market is buzzing, but buyers, sellers and real estate agents aren’t the only ones in on the action.

On June 12, 2019, Kenneth A. Blanco, Director of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), provided remarks at the NYU Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement that underscored the agency’s evolving approach to emerging threats in money laundering and terrorist financing.

LEGAL NEWS
Supreme Court Rules Landowner Can Sue Over Gov’t Access
A Pennsylvania woman says officials in her town violated her privacy when accessing a private cemetery on her property.

New Jersey’s mortgage and property creditors must comply with new foreclosure provisions that accelerate title transfers and sales of abandoned properties and provide added protections for residential homeowners.

Can a Combined Zoning Lot Include a Partial Tax Lot?
Recently, the Manhattan Supreme Court issued a decision regarding the definition of zoning lots. The issue before the court was whether the New York City zoning regulations mandate that a zoning lot containing more than one tax lot (a “combined zoning lot”) must include the entire tax lot or can it include a portion of a tax lot.

3rd Circuit: Each premium payment could violate RESPA’s prohibition on kickbacks
On June 19, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit  affirmed  the dismissal of a RESPA class action against a national bank, concluding the suit was not timely filed.

TECHNOLOGY & SOCIAL MEDIA
The National Association of REALTORS® and other real estate organizations are urging the Federal Communications Commission to heed caution and ensure that its proposal to expand high-speed 5G networks nationwide doesn’t violate property owners’ rights.

The bill passed out of committee on a 9-0 vote, sending it to the House floor for debate. Suddenly, it got serious. You could hear the buzzing swarm approaching. "The lobbyists go nuts," Gio said.

WORLD NEWS
A WOMAN convicted of fraudulently obtaining the full title of a dying Mackay man's house and - after his death - the title of his car, has had a win in court.

TITLE AGENCY & PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
You probably drive by Florida Land and Title most every day. However, have you ever thought about what an asset the business and family behind the business are to the community?

PLTA announces new officers | News
At its recent conference in Hershey, Pa., the Pennsylvania Land Title Association (PLTA) announced its new officers and presented awards to title professionals.

Title Agents Go Nationwide
For agents interested in growing their businesses by expanding into multiple states, we’re here to make the process simple and profitable. We offer you one point of contact to streamline your options and solutions.

OTHER TRENDING NEWS
Take one look at this futuristic compound in Ennis, MT, and you might think it was created by the minds at NASA.

Rikers Island—the 415-acre piece of land between Queens and the Bronx—always had a bit of a dark history, even before housing the city’s notoriously brutal jail complex.

Food halls, landscaped parks and fitness centers are familiar must-haves these days for urban mixed-use developments.

A man has bene arrested for attempting to steal Halle Berry’s house. Not stuff from her house, the whole g-d thing. Windows to wiring, 59-year-old Ronald Eugene Griffin was going to do a House Heist.

Marianne Mathieu, NTP
Vice President/National Agency Accounts
Fidelity National Title Group
(347) 987-0677