Title Insurance and Your Transaction
For the past few years, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Finance Agency have investigated suspect fraudulent deals. After the great financial crisis, several regulations were implemented to increase the number...more
In order for a lending institution to successfully take real estate through foreclosure litigation and have the real estate sold at a sheriff sale, the property needs to have a clear title. What many do not understand is that...more
When a commercial mortgage lender sets out to enforce a mortgage loan following a borrower default, a key goal is to identify the most expeditious manner in which the lender can obtain control and possession of the underlying...more
Continuing a focus on knowing your clients and fraud, Fannie Mae released last week Title and Closing Requirements for Multifamily Mortgage Loans Form 4650, a comprehensive update that will impact how you set up future...more
Lenders get into a groove with originating loans with existing and new borrowers. So often, the closing comes and goes, and the monthly payments commence without any trouble. But then a borrower comes along who seeks to...more
When it comes to risk mitigation for property investors, title insurance may be the best kept secret in the industry. While the concept of title insurance is well known and most investors understand the basic coverage offered...more
In Fidelity National v. Osborn III Partners LLC, the Arizona Supreme Court recently decided the question of whether mechanics’ liens filed by a general contractor are a construction lender’s “own darn fault” if the liens...more
Title insurance is a popular form of protection for residential and commercial real estate buyers and their lenders against title-related issues that may arise after closing. It provides peace of mind for all parties...more
In This Issue. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), in response to an increased number of inquiries and access requests from companies with fintech and other narrow purpose charters, invited...more
In JTREO, Inc. v. Hightower & Assocs., the buyer of a note and mortgage sued the attorney for the lender who facilitated the transaction by loaning money to the buyer for breach of fiduciary duty arising from the fact that...more
In the coming months, lenders that have extended loans to businesses that are struggling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic may consider modifying existing loan arrangements rather than seeking legal remedies against...more
Real Property Update - Fraudulent Transfer: Real property that was worth less than mortgage encumbering it was not an asset per the plain language of section 726.102(2) and, therefore, could not support fraudulent transfer...more
Financial Services Update - Title Insurance Coverage: where an accurate survey would have shown that seller had abandoned access and parking easement, which had been built upon by a neighbor, title insurer had no duty to...more
The Arizona Supreme Court recently addressed what impact, if any, a lender’s credit bid at an Arizona trustee’s sale has on an insurer’s liability under Sections 2, 7 and 9 of the standard’s lender’s title policy (“Policy”),...more
Pennsylvania has continued to refine its mechanic’s lien law in recent years, and next year will bring the most sweeping changes ever for owners and contractors that work on larger projects....more
As I type this blog post, I am sitting at my desk with a four-inch-thick binder filled with title insurance forms—form policies, form endorsements, premium rate tables, survey requirements, etc.—and it occurs to me that many...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Default Judgment/Voidable: because default judgment was merely voidable, rather than void, where complaint upon which judgment was based failed to state a cause of action, Rule 1.540(b) was not...more
Hall Eady and Spencer Mobley from the Firm’s Title Insurance Litigation Team discussed emerging issues in the world of title insurance including recent interpretations of key terms and conditions in standard form lender’s...more
Foreclosure: non-borrower owner of real property as tenants-in-common with borrower not required to sign mortgage for borrower to encumber only his interest in the property and non-borrower’s signature on mortgage reflected...more
In a recent decision written by Judge Sykes, affirming a decision from the Western District of Wisconsin, in an issue governed by Wisconsin law, the Seventh Circuit ruled that a title insurer has no duty to indemnify a...more
A title insurance company can deny a construction lender’s coverage against mechanics liens that were asserted after the lender stopped funding the construction escrow, even though the lender was entitled to do so under the...more
The 7th Circuit has ruled that a lender is not insured by a title company for liens that arise after a construction loan became significantly out of balance and the lender stopped funding. In BB Syndication Services, Inc v....more
On March 12, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit entered an opinion interpreting “the most litigated provision in the standard-form title-insurance policy purchased by real-estate lenders to...more