Facts, insights, and musings from the spring 2010 semester. Average grades: Real Estate Law 87.9/3.35; Internet Law 88.9/3.41; Intro to Law 86.9/3.30 Number of A/A- grades: Real Estate Law 14/10 (27%/19%); Internet Law 19/7 (37%/13%); Intro to Law 16/7 (31%/13%) Number of students who elected grading option B: Real Estate Law 5/9.6%; Internet Law 5/9.4%; [...]
From As Values Slide, More Walking Away from Mortgages, The New York Times 2 Feb 10: New research suggests that when a home’s value falls below 75 percent of the amount owed on the mortgage, the owner starts to think hard about walking away, even if he or she has the money to keep paying [...]
Should the law require the seller of a house to disclose that a murder or suicide occurred there? The Consumerist blog posed this question a few weeks ago, noting the Massachusetts law (G.L. ch. 93 §114) does not require such disclosure: The fact or suspicion that real property may be or is psychologically impacted shall not [...]
Vancouver property owners and an arbor service have been charged with illegal removal of trees from the owner’s property. A Vancouver bylaw requires property owners receive a permit to remove trees greater than 20 cm in diameter, and the owners have been charged with the unpermitted removal of over 20 trees. The penalty for each [...]
Say you purchase a brand-new $3 million house adjacent to a golf course in a luxury country-club development. The developer requires all house purchasers to buy country club memberships for $175,000. You comply, relying on a clause of the club membership agreement that obligates the club to reimburse the membership acquisition fee in full, in [...]
Real estate mortgage foreclosure is pretty simple. The borrower gives a promissory note to the lender to evidence the loan, the borrower fails to pay debt service when due, the lender accelerates the outstanding principal balance of the mortgage loan, obtains a court order to sell the real estate securing the loan, and auctions the [...]
Weston, Florida. An Arvida development. Broad pedestrian-hostile boulevards, gated communities, steroidal houses, trees, hedges, and artificial lakes screening homes from passing eyes. Weston Town Center, the aesthetic pure Disneyworld, almost deserted at 1:00 PM. Our airport cabbie, being helpful, told us that the Sawgrass Mills mall, “the third-largest mall in North America, the second largest [...]