Since the start of the HAMP program, servicers have been providing trial plans while leaving the door open to claim that there has not been a modification. As described by Diane Thompson in “Foreclosure Modifications” (86 Wash. L.Rev. 755) servicers recover all their costs after a foreclosure) and receive fees…
California Title Insurance policies are, in fact, insurance. The title insurance company offers the property owner insurance that the real estate title is as the insurer represents it to be, subject to some listed exceptions. If the property owner is sued on grounds related to title, the title insurance company…
The Subdivision Map Act generally prohibits the sale of any parcel of real property for which a map is required, unless a map compliant with its provisions has been filed. Government Code section 66499.30. However, the Subdivision Map Act does not prohibit parties to offer or enter into contracts for…
California real estate law applies the first in time, first in right rule to recorded mortgages and deeds of trust. The lien recorded first, (senior) has priority to any recorded later. The result is that if the senior lender forecloses, the security of the second (junior) is wiped out. That…
The California Association of Realtors has published a set of transaction forms (“CAR” forms) for nearly every potential real estate contract. These fill-in-the-blank forms are intended to allow agents to prepare standard contract documents without the risk of being accused of practicing law. They are routinely revised and often the…
A quiet title action is often filed to establish adverse possession in real property once a claimant has established the five elements, including payment of property taxes. In a recent decision, a pair of professional adverse possessors- they did this for a living- recorded a wild deed so that the…
How to determine damages in a California real estate purchase and sale fraud dispute is often as significant and as hard fought as the question of liability. The reason is that there are two possible ways of measuring damages for fraud claims (other than contract damages), based on two different…
California residential borrowers, in trouble on their mortgage, know the lengthy frustrating process for seeking a loan modification. Some have told me that they believe it is a con game, where they get the borrower to make more payments under a trial program, with no intent to modify the loan…
In the typical California home loan foreclosure, The first loan forecloses, and the second loan against the property loses its security. The question then becomes whether or not the borrower will be personally liable for the debt on the second loan. If it was a purchase money loan, the borrower…
I’ve written before about California adverse possession and prescriptive easements. These are two legal concepts in which a party who does not own a property to establish an interest in it, and possibly own clear title. The concept is that the true owner must monitor their property; in California they…