Recently proposed regulatory changes and legislation indicate that the United States is seeking to upgrade its anti-money laundering (AML) regime, and that the real estate sector in particular almost certainly needs to prepare for new requirements and reporting obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

Increasingly, real estate insiders and government policymakers are recognizing that if no one can afford housing, we are all in a lot of trouble. “Affordability” has become a crisis sparked by restrictive zoning, under building, stagnating wages and spiraling home prices, with more and more government officials and housing advocates clamoring for solutions that will allow low- and middle-income families to get into homeownership.

As mortgage rates rise and home price appreciation continues, employees in the housing industry are hard at work preparing for shifting market conditions. Rising mortgage rates have affected the entire industry, including in the title insurance sphere, with refinance volumes dropping nearly 60% for some companies during the first quarter of 2022 — and things are only expected to get worse when we get the Q2 numbers, as interest rates are now at the highest level in years.

Commercial owners are faced with new financial realities in 2022. Tenants’ desire for less space and the shortage of housing provide new opportunities for landlords by converting their office space and other hard assets to residential.

Markets work best when rules are simple, easy to understand, and easy to enforce. The CFPB is seeking to move away from highly complicated rules that have long been a staple of consumer financial regulation and towards simpler and clearer rules. In addition, the CFPB is dramatically increasing the amount of guidance it is providing to the marketplace, in accordance with the same principles.

By 1910, just two generations after emancipation, Black farmers in the US South owned 15 million acres of land, or more than 23,000 square miles. That’s more than 70 percent of all the land in my home state of South Carolina. This was an extraordinary accomplishment.

Disputes between homeowners and their condo or homeowners association (HOA) aren’t uncommon, but a Maryland woman said her Board took it too far.

The disagreement involved a fence and its boundaries. And while the fence cost around $8,000 to construct, the litigation that followed amounted to nearly $40,000.

A utility company that provides service to an owner’s property usually requests the owner to sign a standard form of easement. The form of easement allows the utility company to enter onto the owner’s property to install and service its utility lines. While these forms vary from one utility company to the next, most contain a number of customary terms that many developers and builders do not bother to negotiate, even though some can be problematic.

Chellise Sexton of Eastham and her son, Kevin Sexton of Wellfleet, claim that they own the property off Old King’s Highway, now called Fred Bell Way, where the town built 12 units of affordable housing about 18 years ago.

A tree’s ownership is determined by the location of its trunk.

The question presented in Aaron v. Fisher et al: Did mineral deeds bestow separate property upon the grantees by gift, or did they convey a community property interest to the grantees and their spouses by sale for consideration?

Why was the question important? A gift is the grantee’s separate property; a sale is community property if the grantee is married.

This might not be the brightest idea for most of you. First of all, cash comes with a price: You’re no longer the absolute owner of your house, so you better be aware that by selling parts of your home, you will now be paying rent to the other owners (and yourself) in addition to the mortgage, tax or whatever you have to pay to own the house.

Utah-based virtual reality company Future House Studios minted its office deed as an NFT (non-fungible token), marking the first time an office building has been put on blockchain. Future House Studios used a new legal model through TruMint that allows real property to remain and transact indefinitely on blockchains with reduced transaction costs.

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Residents in a townhouse complex on No. 2 Road didn’t know they were legally obligated to share their driveway with their new neighbors. But a right-of-way, registered at the Land Title Office, gives a new development next door – a land assembly of six lots which will have 25 townhouses on it – the right to use their driveway to get into the new complex.

Deep in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, Indigenous leader Marcelo Lucitante deftly climbs a tree and attaches a camera trap, camouflaged among thick jungle foliage, to record footage of trespassing illegal gold miners.

It is commonly known that the BC Builders Lien Act allows contractors, subcontractors, workers, and material suppliers 45 days from a triggering event to file a claim of lien.1 Failure to file a claim of lien within the 45-day timeline is fatal to a claimant’s lien rights. But what happens when the 45-day deadline falls on a Saturday or Sunday?

In blazing heat, volunteers carried mattresses and coolers through the forest Friday. It was moving day for 20 people who have been camping for years amid the trees by the Amtrak station parking lot.

When we last looked in on William C. Bernard and Thomas R. Bard, Bard had two big reasons for feuding with Bernard.

For agents interested in growing their business 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.

For 15 years Wireless Estimator has covered tower compound thefts and the most common items taken are copper and cell site batteries; on occasion, a generator or air conditioner makes the list. However, in the annals of bizarre telecom thievery, it’s likely that a theft in McIntosh, Ala. last week will be difficult to top.

Read More [Contributed by Bill Collins, Frontier Abstract]

Viewers of the Hulu series know it as the Arconia, but the Upper West Side building has a name — and a dramatic story — of its own.

Quickly finding a pair of skis in this tropical optical illusion is quite telling about the slopes of your mind. A busy, beachy scene of red lounge chairs, palm trees, umbrellas, dolphins and an airplane features the winter athletic gear hiding in plain sight like that of a “Where’s Waldo” illustration.

On this day, nearly 160 years ago, a circus hippopotamus escaped his cage and jumped into the Detroit River, according to Michigan Day by Day, a website run by a retired Michigan State University librarian.

After 59 years, the iconic Route 66 enters the realm of history on June 27, 1985, when the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials decertifies the road and votes to remove all its highway signs.