The Florida Bar recently proposed several changes to Rule 5-1.2, one of which was to require all trust account checks to be signed by an attorney. This proposed rule amendment would not have allowed signatures on blank checks, signatures by stamp, or signatures by other law firm personnel such as CFOs or paralegals. [...]
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There has been discussion about a national driver’s license, a national license to practice law, a national database for IRS liens, a national database for all real property liens, and a national registry for all real property records. The Federal Reserve, in its proposal for a national lien registry, says its idea would make locally recorded information [...] As real estate professionals, opinions coming out of our mouths may be heard as facts going into our customers’ ears. When people lose money or their expectations are not met, they may blame the people who “told” them they would succeed. There is a great recent case that demonstrates this issue (okay, [...] I’m sure most of you know about the changes to Florida’s power of attorney laws that went into effect on October 1, 2011. Please read CS/SB 670 for all of the changes and exceptions (e.g. powers granted by corporations). While you are reading that bill, I want to point out a few changes [...] ATTENTION! ATTENTION! There is a proposed New(er) HUD-1! Actually, there are two proposed HUD-1s and YOU get to choose! Or at least you get to vote on which version you like and why. You may have heard that federal agencies were working to combine the Truth In Lending and Good Faith [...] Once a year I try to review new state laws that may impact real estate transactions. Before I could get to this task, the Florida Land Title Association sent out several bulletins describing important law changes, doing my job for me! I will summarize a few of these laws, here, but you really need to see [...] A lot of complaints from closers have been coming in about the time it is taking to obtain payoff information, especially from condominium associations. When I contacted some condominium association friends for information, I received a howler! Apparently, it is not the estoppel information that is taking so much time, it is the buyer’s [...] Does it matter if you buy property from a lender that insists it will only deliver “insurable” title, not “marketable” title? Not if the buyer obtains a certain form of owner’s title insurance. In the 1980s, an owner’s title insurance policy was approved in Florida that covers defects that affect the marketability of title (Form B policy). [...] Everyone knows that the fraud industry never seems to crash, it just morphs into different appearances. The traditional mortgage fraud, with loan applications containing false employment, income, and other information, and the artificially inflated appraisals fraud, were going strong for several years. Now that lenders are more cautious, and many potential buyers have poor credit, the latest fraud is on the individual. Not only [...] PLEASE stop! Stop talking about people being underwater, upside down, or whatever cute word is used when homes are worth less than their mortgage debts. So what?? Live in your home and pay your mortgage. Who cares how much your house is worth? In fact, I prefer my home to be worth zero dollars while I live here, [...] While researching real property bills filed by the Florida legislature this year, one of the bills the computer found was titled Pain Management! HAH! Was this the legislature being sympathetic to real estate folks? Or was it meant for everyone who is dealing with the new HUD-1 form? Too bad it didn’t pass. You [...] Check out the Florida Title Insurance Study Advisory Council’s Final Report at http://www.flgov.com/pdfs/tisac_final_report.pdf |
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