Jay Hollander's Weblog

Welcome to the Real Estate Law weblog. Here you'll find items pertaining to real estate from a lawyer's perspective.

Tue Jun 13, 2006

New Flipping Rules from HUD

Today's Inman News reports on new anti-mortgage fraud FHA regulations of significance to flippers.

If you're looking to sell an investment property to someone seeking FHA insured financing, new rules issued by the agency need to be examined.

Under the rules, effective in early July and intended to inhibit predatory lending on overpriced properties, FHA financing will not be available for sales of homes purchased by the Seller within the previous 90 days. Further, to be eligible for FHA financing, the Seller must be the actual owner of record.

There are some exceptions, of course, but none that undermine the purpose of the rule.

For more, see http://www.inman.com/hstory.aspx?ID=53130

Posted by: Jay Hollander
[0] Trackbacks

Wed Nov 16, 2005

What's More Important - Rates or Credit?

In many "bubble - no bubble" conversations I've had with people, the question usually comes up of whether any bubble pop will wind up being caused more by higher restrictions in the availability of credit than to marginally higher interest rates.

An article in today's Wall Street Journal shows how more agressive low doc and no doc loans may wind up raising the risk of defaults in the event of a significant slow down.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113210807674198518.html?mod=home_whats_news_us

Posted by: Jay Hollander
[0] Trackbacks

Sun Nov 13, 2005

Coops Must Take Care In Negotiating Vendor Contracts

This week's Sunday Times has an article emphasizing what real estate lawyers have known for years, that coops are often less careful than they should be in negotiating vendor contracts.

The article, found at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/13/realestate/13home.html, discusses a recent case where a laundry room contract clause, giving the vendor a right to match a competing bid, even when there wasn't one, and to continue providing services until there was, constituted an unreasonable restraint, and was invalidated.

While the case was interesting, by itself, its real value is as a wake up call to coops who are required to negotiate vendor contracts of different kinds as well.

Since coop boards are routinely in the need of outside vendors and habitually take a great deal of time in selecting them, it behooves them to allow their counsel the latitude to make sure they are not locked into a deal which may look like the best option at first, but may prove not to work out as hoped.

As the Times article points out, the devil is not only in the vendor selection process, but in the contract details as well.

Posted by: Jay Hollander
[0] Trackbacks

Thu Nov 10, 2005

Manhattan Average Condo Prices Continue Decline

Today's NY Post, citing a report from one of Manhattan's well known brokerage houses, reports that :

"Median and average apartment prices fell 4.2 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively, from the end of September, and a whopping 15.9 percent and 18.3 percent since June."

The report, credited to Halstead Properties, "attributes the continuing downswing primarily to "a lack of closed sales at the high end of the market [that] kept the average sale price down in October, which at $1,088,941 was only 1 percent higher than a year ago."

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/31098.htm

Posted by: Jay Hollander
[0] Trackbacks

Fannie Mae Concedes New Accounting Errors

Mortgage behemoth, Fannie Mae, again late in its accounting filings, has shuffled top management, even as it has admitted further accounting irregularities and the failure to account for derivative based losses and other expenses.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FANNIE_MAE?SITE=1010WINS&SECTION=BUSINESS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Posted by: Jay Hollander
[0] Trackbacks

Sun Oct 30, 2005

Has it Arrived?

Recently released U.S. data shows what seems to many like what they have been predicting for some time, the beginning of the end of the most recent cycle of the housing boom.

According to quoted sources in a Reuters article by Julie Haviv,

"What we are seeing is a confluence of events...and what we will see is a general slowing or leveling off of housing demand over the next three to four months and into the early part of 2006,"

More to the point, according to the Commerce Department, the pace of new home sales slowed, while the prices dropped and while inventories of homes for sale rose.

With mortgage rates at their highest since the Summer of 2004, more commentators are calling for a topping off and gradual slow down, not yet convinced of others' claims that there is a bursting bubble. http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/5-10-29/33842.html

Posted by: Jay Hollander
[0] Trackbacks

Wed Oct 26, 2005

Appellate Court Nixes Condo Unit Owner Liability for Common Area Claims

In a decision to be published next week in the case of Pekelnaya v. Allyn, the Appellate Division of NY's First Department will hold that individual condominium unit owners cannot be held liable for claims based upon traditional condominium board responsibilities simply because condo unit ownership includes record ownership of a small percentage interest in the building's common elements.

Rejecting a personal injury plaintiff's claim that unit owners exercise control over common elements, simply due to their ownership interest, the Court held that

"The failure of the Legislature to provide for liability in the absence of control by condominium unit owners over the maintenance and repair of the common elements precludes the courts from imposing responsibility by implication,"

The decision will be published on Monday and this post will be supplemented then.

http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?hubtype=TopStories&id=1130243604707

Posted by: Jay Hollander
[0] Trackbacks

Mon Oct 24, 2005

Anticipated Higher Heating Bills Affect Investors Differently

A report issued today shows what most investors already know, that heating costs are expected to go up dramatically this Winter. http://tinyurl.com/cja6z

Still, the data highlights an important consideration for real estate investors between residential and commerical investments.

In multi unit residential units, while some buildings may have tenants pay their individual heating bills, depending upon how the building is metered, the common area charges are usually borne by the building owner.

By comparison, in many commercial properties, tenants pick up a share of common area expenses as well as their own sub-metered utlility costs, a potential dramatic savings in out of pocket costs to a commercial owner.

Posted by: Jay Hollander
[0] Trackbacks

Sun Oct 16, 2005

Think real estate is priced too high? - The Universe's the Limit

Today's San Francisco Chronicle carries an article discussing the fascinating issue of private property rights on the Moon, asteroids and throughout the Universe. http://tinyurl.com/ar37f

Illustrative of the issues is the case of Nemitz v. U.S., in which the Plaintiff, who had pushed the envelope by filing for parking fees when NASA landed a probe on the asteroid EROS, as to which Nemitz had previously filed a land claim on an experimental Seton Hall University online registry back in the 1990's.

The lower court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals both rejected the claim but, in an age where governments are rekindling interest in manned exploration, property rights in space is a topic of increasing interest to individiuals and corporations alike.

In fact, there's an entire web site devoted to space law, including, the growing body of property rights issues arising out of it. http://www.spacelawstation.com/cases.html#1

But is celestial real estate investment as good as that of the old terra firma variety? After all, since scientists tell us that the Universe is expanding, they are making more of it, aren't they?

Posted by: Jay Hollander
[0] Trackbacks

Make PMI Disappear Like MGIC

In a recent Q and A at Bankrate.com, the subject of the "Single File" PMI mortgage insurance alternative came up.

This product, unknown to many borrowers, is offered by a private mortgage insurance provider known as MGIC. The product can transform a non-deductible PMI payment for those borrowing more than 80%, into a tax deduction, if you qualify and if done correctly.

See here for more details. http://tinyurl.com/ae6ck

Posted by: Jay Hollander
[0] Trackbacks

Disclaimer. The material provided on this site is for information purposes only and its availability to you does not establish an attorney-client relationship nor constitute legal advice. If you are interested in becoming a client of Hollander and Company LLC, please contact Jay Hollander, Esq. at jh@hollanderco.com.