Federal bank regulators issued guidelines allowing banks to keep loans on their books as “performing” even if the value of the underlying properties have fallen below the loan amount. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Regulators said that the rules were designed to encourage banks to restructure problem commercial…
Jim Wasserman’s comments in the Sacramento Bee this week about the sobering outlook for the Sacramento office market are a local example of a nationwide problem. Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan noted last Monday that the Nation’s banks may be in for a “very rough ride” due to their…
A recent California decision pitted homeowners against the contractor who was supposed to build their retirement home. The job didn’t get done, and the contractor was in for a big surprise. The homeowners contracted with the defendant corporation to construct the home for them. California law requires a corporation holding…
On Sunday Gov. Schwarzenegger signed into law SB 94, effective immediately, which bans loan modification firms from being paid up-front, or even asking to be paid up-front. It also restricts attorneys from representing homeowners in trouble. For some time the Department of Real Estate was already requiring licensed agents who…
On further review, I want to clarify my last post. (http://jfalconelaw.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/california-senate-bill-306-short-sales-easy-as-it-looks/trackback/) It appears that the “short sale request” is actually the request for payment demand that the escrow officer sends to the lender. The “short pay agreement” is the initial agreement with the lender,in which the lender approves a short…
Senate Bill 306, signed into law this September, changes some of the rules for California real estate short sales . Much of the excitement around this legislation is a revision to Civil Code section 2943 that provides, when an owner/borrower submits to the lender a “short sale request,” the lender…
A recent California decision looked at a case where a seller of real property did not disclose recorded deed restrictions, but the buyer received a Preliminary Report from a title company which referred to the recorded restrictions, but did not describe them. The buyers claimed that they never read the…
Typically, not much attention is given to the language of arbitration provisions in contracts, especially California real estate purchase and sale contracts or leases, and never by consumers. A recent group of California decisions point out that rather than just initially the paragraph, contracting parties should consider what the provision…
Despite the best intentions, sometimes deeds get altered by someone other than the person granting the property, before they are recorded. What is the effect of the deed, once it is recorded? A recent California appellate decision addressed the issue in a case with unusual facts, this time dealing with…
Long ago in law school a bankruptcy professor pointed out to us that, if you exaggerate your income on a credit card application, you might have a problem eliminating that card debt in bankruptcy. The bankruptcy code has a provision prohibiting discharge of debts to the extent they were obtained…