The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, is targeting a small Chicago-area mortgage lender, alleging it violated, among other things, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. The lender vehemently denies the charges and is unwilling to roll over. In this episode, the defendant's attorney Marx Sterbcow joins us to share why a settlement or CFPB win would negatively impact the entire real estate profession.

Affirmative Defense / Waiver: Homeowner unable to raise statute of limitations affirmative defense for the first time in motion for summary judgment – Deer Brooke S. Homeowners Ass’n of Polk Cty., Inc. v. Battles, No. 2D19-1988 (Fla. 2d DCA Aug. 7, 2020) (reversed and remanded)

The wage gap between men and women in commercial real estate has widened over the past five years, leaving women at all levels underpaid, underrepresented and increasingly unsatisfied with their careers in 2020, according to a new benchmark study report by Commercial Real Estate Women Network.

On August 28, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland certified a class of mortgage borrowers who alleged a national bank (defendant) referred them to a title firm in exchange for free marketing materials pursuant to an undisclosed agreement.

WASHINGTON — A proposal for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's capital levels to grow by more than five times once the companies return to the private sector has drawn the ire of both the mortgage industry and consumer groups over concerns the plan could drive up housing costs.

UPDATE: By Executive Order 202.60 dated September 4, 2020, Governor Cuomo has further extended his prior orders permitting the use of audio-visual technology for notarization and witnessing, as provided below, through October 4, 2020.

The New Jersey Appellate Division recently held that a property owner’s $600 settlement with her title company did not bar her later action against her neighbor for the neighbor’s encroachments onto her properties, and further held that the neighbor did not adversely possess the disputed property.

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts issued a written decision in Murchison v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Sherborn, et al. (SJC-12867) on July 16, 2020, overturning the Appeals Court and reinstating a Land Court decision that rejected a challenge to the construction of a home in Sherborn by abutting property owners. 

Just ahead of the Great Recession, in 2005, Carolyn Chism Hardy got the news that the Coors brewery where she worked would close for good the next year. Following a merger with Molson, her higher ups told her, the Memphis operation was no longer cost-effective.

In 2008, Engle stopped making mortgage payments and U.S. Bank initiated legal proceedings to foreclose its mortgage and reform the legal description of the mortgage.

In commercial real estate finance transactions involving a portfolio of properties located in multiple states, lenders must consider certain title insurance issues unique to such transactions. 

On August 17, 2020, in Martis Camp Community Association v. County of Placer, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2020) (Case Nos. C087759 and C087778), the Third District Court of Appeal addressed several novel legal claims arising from the County of Placer’s partial abandonment of public easement rights in a road connecting two adjacent residential subdivisions near Lake Tahoe.

DFS filed charges against First American Title Insurance Co., for poor management of more than 800 million documents in the 2010s. That ultimately led to a data breach disclosed to the world in 2019, and DFS hit First American with charges on July 21 under NYCRR Part 500, the cybersecurity regulations adopted by New York in 2017.

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...

He was in about 30 feet of water, his ill-fitting life jacket coming up over his head and he was holding onto the kayak with one hand and his new $1,400 smartphone with the other.

When the Carolina Hurricanes bounced the New York Rangers from the Stanley Cup bubble with a 4-1 win on August 4th, it seemed like a mere footnote in a sports season turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic.