SBR-Authors Podcast: Finding True Happiness Through Acts of Kindness: A Conversation with Karen Olson
Creative Housing Solutions Pop Up Across Oregon
Affordable Housing on the Front Range: Inclusionary Housing Ordinances and the New Middle Income Housing Authority
Office-to-Apartment Conversions – A Good Idea, but Tricky to Pull Off (Audio)
Episode 15 | Hot! Hot! Hot! Don't get Burned by the Perils of Buying and Selling Residential Real Estate
California CRE to Expand in 2022
For years, California has often been held up as the poster child for enervating environmental regulation. A primary target of this criticism has been the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the landmark legislation...more
On June 27, 2024, the California First District Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of a writ petition challenging the City of Lafayette’s determination that a 12-unit residential condominium building qualified for the Class...more
The Los Angeles Superior Court issued a highly anticipated ruling on March 4, 2024, addressing a Builder’s Remedy project denial by the City of La Cañada Flintridge. The decision confirms (i) that a local jurisdiction cannot...more
On Oct. 30, President Joe Biden issued an executive order on safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence. The executive order provides a sprawling list of directives aimed at establishing standards for AI safety...more
Investment in build to rent (BTR) residential developments is being driven by community and government demand, tax and other government incentives, longer term returns and lower maintenance costs and incentives compared to...more
One of the key problems contributing to California's housing crisis is that it is relatively easy for housing opponents to file litigation challenging housing approvals, and even a completely meritless lawsuit can cause years...more
United States Senate negotiators reached an agreement on July 27th on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”). The 725-page bill would use fiscal year 2021 reconciliation instructions to raise revenue in order to fund...more
Late last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took another step toward adopting rules governing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms in appraising home values. Specifically, the CFPB...more
California’s housing shortage is decades old and getting worse. Housing supply is limited and increasingly less affordable in the Golden State due to pressures such as population growth, high land costs, NIMBYism and...more
Lawmakers weigh moratorium extension as eviction cliff looms - Palo Alto Online – December 8 - With California's eviction moratorium set to expire in less than 60 days and 2 million people at risk of losing their rental...more
In a prior alert, we reported that in view of the ability of mortgage loan borrowers to obtain payment forbearances under the CARES Act, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) limited the advance obligation of Fannie Mae...more
As hand gels and toilet paper fly off the shelves and children across the world cross their fingers for school closures, the COVID-19 strain of coronavirus has taken over the news. ...more
HP has officially rejected Xerox’s enhanced takeover bid, again calling the offer “too low” and decrying its “disproportionate[] benefit” for Xerox shareholders....more
The New York Department of Financial Services has sent a letter to the institutions that it regulates requiring each such institution, by February 7, 2020, to provide to DFS a description of its “plan to address its LIBOR...more
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton issued a public statement October 30, 2019, seeking market input on the asset-level disclosure requirements for SEC-registered residential mortgage-backed securities...more
Walmart’s retail efforts to keep pace with Amazon are well documented. Now it appears that the company’s refusing to concede the entertainment space, either, as evidenced by its new partnerships with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and...more
The American Bankers Association jointly with state bankers associations, the American Financial Services Association, and the Mortgage Bankers Association are urging the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)...more
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”) has proposed new single-family and multifamily housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (collectively, the “GSEs”) for 2018-2020....more
On December 13, 2016, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a final rule implementing the Duty to Serve provisions mandated by the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992, as amended...more
California Coastal Act Blocks Housing Project in Venice Despite Earlier Approvals - Judge James C. Chalfant of the California Court of Appeal on Sept. 29, 2016, affirmed a lower court ruling denying a developer’s petition...more
Miami, once the poster child for the recent housing bubble and subsequent crash, now has the strongest housing market in the U.S. and is one of the exclusive high-end real estate “export” economies in the world. This...more
Homebuilding strengthened in 2013, but remains below historical averages, concludes The State of the Nation’s Housing report recently released by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. According to this...more