AGENCY BLOG

Issue No.312, January 4, 2023

NATIONALAGENCY.FNF.COM



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NEWS ARTICLES
INDUSTRY

Survey: More Considering Tapping Into Home Equity in 2023


With home prices at all-time highs, a new survey of 1,000 Americans from MeridianLink—a provider of modern software platforms for financial institutions and consumer reporting agencies—has found that 21% of respondents said they were likely to take out a home equity loan in the next 12 months, compared to just 8% of respondents who reported taking out a home equity loan in 2022.



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Cott Systems was hit by a cyberattack


Cott Systems was hit by a cyberattack taking servers offline. This impacted up to 300 local register of deeds offices in 21 states. Read the daily updates from Cott Systems.



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“Never made any sense”: Op-ed blasts LA’s transfer tax


In a sign that momentum — or at least outrage — may be building against Measure ULA, the City of Los Angeles’ incoming transfer tax, the Southern California News Group has published an op-ed blasting the measure and voicing its support for the measure’s first legal challenge.


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NY's New Cybersecurity Mandatory CLE Requirement and a Roadway to Cyber Claims.


Effective July 1, 2023, New York will become the first state in the United States to require attorneys to complete at least one credit of cybersecurity, privacy and data protection training as part of their continuing legal education requirements.



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Tax Issues With Failed Like-Kind Exchanges [United States]


With the real estate market becoming volatile and mortgage rates increasing with inflation, it may not be a surprise it is becoming more difficult to complete an exchange with these limits.



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LEGAL

How NOT to Use a Charitable Remainder Trust


A charitable remainder trust can be a useful estate planning tool for a farmer or rancher, particularly one that is ready to retire from farming or ranching. Instead of selling the last crop and reporting the income along with the income from the previous year’s crop that has been deferred to the current year, the crop can be transferred to a charitable remainder trust. Doing so avoids having to report the sale of the crop and the associated self-employment tax that would be triggered.



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New York Court Reaffirms Basic 3(a) and 3(d) Exclusion Principles and that Issuance of Title Policy Does Not Create Fiduciary Duty 


In Murphy v. Commonwealth Land Title Ins. Co., No. 20-CV-2793, LEXIS 144866 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 12, 2022), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (“the Court”) granted Defendant Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co. (“Commonwealth” or “Defendant”) summary judgment, affirming as correct Defendant’s denial of a tender based upon policy exclusions and the lack of any manner of special fiduciary relationship.



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Deed Warranties And Why They Should Matter To You [North Carolina]


Special Warranty Deed - that sounds nice, doesn't it? But what does that term really mean?



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Estop, Subordinate and Listen: Understanding the Role of SNDAs and Tenant Estoppel Certificates in Commercial Real Estate Transactions


For those of us that practice in the world of commercial real estate financing transactions, the fact pattern is a tale as old as time: the Bank is making a term loan secured by real estate largely based on leases on the property generating sufficient rent for the owner/borrower to service the loan and adequately maintain and operate the real estate, which already is fully occupied and leased to commercial tenants.



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Understanding farm real estate agreements [Iowa]


Farmers encounter many different kinds of contracts and purchasing agreements and should learn what each means before signing.



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WORLD

Canada is banning some foreigners from buying properties after home prices surged


A new Canadian law took effect January 1 that essentially bans foreign buyers from buying residential properties as investments for two years. The law was passed because of a spike in Canadian home prices since the start of the pandemic – and some politicians’ beliefs that foreign buyers were responsible by snapping up supply of homes as investments.


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Why Your House-boy May Easily Take Your Land [Kenya]


The Randal and Rutherfoord principle, largely known as Adverse Possession, is a principle in land ownership that allows a squatter or a servant to take ownership of the process in the event he or she has stayed on the plot for more than twelve years. 


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TECHNOLOGY

Why The Real Estate Industry Lags Behind In Technology—And How To Get Ahead


Proptech, or property technology, is the broad term used to encompass the introduction of new technologies to the real estate industry. Proptech includes everything from the creation of new “smart homes” to online booking systems for property viewings.



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Artificial Intelligence created photos of famous people



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PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

Deed dispute over Waco property pits family against land investor


McLennan County Appraisal District records list McDonald’s company, Dead River Ranch LP, as the owner. But Dollins is arguing in court that Dead River’s attempted purchase of the land from his father shortly before his death in 2020 should be set aside as invalid. He claims the land belongs to Dollins family members, and he is fighting to keep it out of McDonald’s hands.



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Title Agents Take Business to the Next Level

We're here to make the process simple and profitable for agents interested in growing their business by expanding into multiple states. We offer you one point of contact to streamline your options and solutions.


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OTHER TRENDING NEWS

Give your Christmas tree new life by donating it to a local zoo or animal sanctuary.


The donated Christmas trees are put to several uses at the zoo, including as outdoor habitats, snacks for some animals, and toys for others.


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100 Years of Real Estate and Homeownership, Through the Pages of BHG


Take a decade-by-decade tour through the past 100 years of buying, selling, and owning homes.


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Teach your wife to be a widow


The article (and book) urged husbands to educate their wives about finances, so that in case the husband died the wife wouldn't end up going destitute. 

I think Jean Mayer's article, "How to murder your husband," pairs particularly well with it. Both appeared in the 1981 Reader's Digest collection, Love and Marriage.


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Lake Sørvágsvatn


The largest lake in the Faroe Islands seems to be held hundreds of feet above sea level thanks to an optical illusion.


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O'Reilly Spite House


A spite house is a building whose construction is designed to annoy or in some cases just completely screw the builder’s neighbor, city, or anyone else at whom the obnoxious structure is aimed. While building code standards have greatly discouraged the practice, there are a handful of spite houses that still stand as testaments to pettiness.



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Zavikon Island


The purported world's shortest international bridge connects a homeowner in Canada to his backyard in New York. 


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