The California legislature last year passed senate bill 931, which became Code of Civil Procedure section 580e, effective January 2011. It provides that when a residential lender in the first position (i.e., the deed of trust recorded first in time) approves in writing a short sale, the lender cannot later…
A spite fence is any fence or barrier intended to annoy the neighbor, and serves no purpose to the builder. In California they are governed by Civil Code Section 841.4. The most famous spite fence on California real estate was Charles Crocker’s 40 footer on Nob Hill in 1879. The…
A recent California bankruptcy court decision ( In re: Eleazar Salazar) found a foreclosure invalid because of failure to record an assignment of the Deed of Trust. In the original Deed of trust (DOT) Accredited was the lender, Chicago Title was the trustee, and MERS was the nominal beneficiary. The…
A Preliminary Title Report (“Prelim”), issued by a title company before issuing title insurance, has long been held by the courts as only an offer to provide insurance. The Prelim is not a contract itself, nor is it something which can be relied on. The Buyers were purchasing property in…
In a recent California case, a homeowner sued their community Homeowner’s Association (“HOA”) for failing to enforce the Conditions, Covenants, and Restrictions (CC&Rs). They also sued other homeowners, who supposedly violated the restrictions. Apparently the parties had tentatively reached a settlement outside court just before the day of trial, so…
Fannie & Freddy were given a blank check by the US Treasury at the end of the financial crisis. As reported here, they are using that money to buy mortgages from Wall Street. These are bad loans sheets, probably at inflated prices. This is what “Tarp” was supposed to do,…
A California woman got behind on her mortgage, and the Lender recorded a Notice of Default, so the borrower filed a ch 7 bankruptcy. She intended to convert to a Ch. 13 to pay the arrears and save her house. U.S. Bank, trustee for the lender, told her that, once…
A condominium developer in Southern California got sued by the Association for construction defects. The developer filed a motion to compel arbitration under the provisions of the CC&Rs. The court said no! Recorded CC&Rs are made binding in disputes between owners, or owners and the association, because of their shared…
An a foreclosure sale investor had an oral arrangement with an agent at a California title company. He would ask the agent if the loan being foreclosed was the senior loan; he only wanted a yes or no answer. He asked about an Encino property, was told ‘yes’, and so…
Lenders on California properties are averaging 367 days from the first late payment and a foreclosure referral, as reported by The Big Picture. This is the time before the notice of default is recorded. The standard used to be three months of late payments before the lender referred the loan…