Residential

  • January 09, 2025

    Fla. Condos Tied To Sanctioned Russians Transferred To Feds

    The U.S. government has taken ownership of two Florida luxury condominiums allegedly tied to Russians sanctioned for their roles in the annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014 and for their involvement in the properties being used to launder rental proceeds.

  • January 09, 2025

    Calif. Reinsurance Plan Spurs Mixed Feelings As Fires Spread

    One week before the Los Angeles wildfires began, California's insurance regulator said insurers would soon be required to increase coverage in areas deemed high-risk for wildfires, leaving experts split over whether the regulation is an overdue update or an opportunity to pass costs onto policyholders.

  • January 09, 2025

    Top Climate Stories For Insurance Attys To Watch In 2025

    Climate change is fueling a national insurance crisis that is threatening housing markets, municipal tax revenues and the ability to adapt to extreme weather events. Here, Law360 examines the top climate stories attorneys should watch in 2025.

  • January 09, 2025

    DOJ Wants Time At 9th Circ. In Zillow, NAR Antitrust Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice has asked the Ninth Circuit for permission to appear at oral arguments in an appeal looking to revive antitrust claims from a defunct brokerage platform against Zillow and the National Association of Realtors.

  • January 09, 2025

    Ind. Senate Bill Would End Annual Assessment Adjustments

    Indiana would eliminate annual adjustments to the assessed value of some real property to reflect changing values under legislation introduced in the state Senate.

  • January 09, 2025

    Indiana House Bill Would Abolish Property Taxes

    Indiana would disallow the assessment of tangible property beginning in 2026 and end the imposition of property taxes beginning in 2027 under a bill introduced Thursday in the state House of Representatives. 

  • January 09, 2025

    Calif. Insurance Chief Blocks Policy Cancellation In Fire Zones

    Insurance companies can't cancel or refuse to renew homeowners coverage for policyholders in the immediate vicinity of the Los Angeles wildfires for one year, the California Department of Insurance announced as fires continue to ravage Southern California.

  • January 09, 2025

    McGuireWoods Adds Commercial Litigator Amid Hiring Spree

    A commercial litigator specializing in complex construction disputes has moved his practice to McGuireWoods LLP's Washington, D.C., office after more than 19 years at Jones Day, amid a flurry of new partner hires at the firm, it announced Thursday.

  • January 09, 2025

    Hochul Floats Curbing Tax Breaks For PE Home Investments

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday that she is seeking to curtail certain tax breaks for private equity firms that invest in certain residential properties, saying the policy would make more of the state's housing stock available to individual homebuyers.

  • January 08, 2025

    Whistleblower Attys Get $8.7M In Academy Mortgage FCA Suit

    Counsel representing a whistleblower will receive $8.7 million in fees and expenses — less than requested — for their role in reaching a $38.5 million deal with Academy Mortgage in a suit accusing the company of submitting false claims, according to a newly public order.

  • January 08, 2025

    Mortgage Firm Reaches $1.8M Redlining Settlement With Feds

    A Florida-based mortgage company has agreed to pay $1.75 million to resolve U.S. Department of Justice lending discrimination allegations, making it the third nondepository institution to strike such a deal, the government has announced.

  • January 08, 2025

    Convicted Ex-Nomura Trader To Settle SEC's RMBS Action

    Ex-Nomura Securities International Inc. trader Michael Gramins, who was convicted in 2017 of scheming to trick mortgage bond buyers, has reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle follow-on civil claims, according to an agency filing on Wednesday.

  • January 08, 2025

    Bronx Multifamily Project Cashes In $218M Freddie Mac Loan

    Affiliates of The Domain Cos. have secured a $218 million loan for a mixed-use, mixed-income multifamily project in the Bronx borough of New York City, with financing provided by Freddie Mac via JLL Real Estate Capital.

  • January 08, 2025

    HUD Announces $12B In Disaster Assistance Grants

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said it will provide $12 billion in grants to help communities in two dozen states and territories recover from hurricanes Helene and Milton last year and wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui in 2023.

  • January 08, 2025

    3 Firms Lead Brookfield's $321M Harlem Apartment Complex Sale

    Brookfield Properties sold a West Harlem, New York, apartment complex for $321 million in a deal guided by Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, Sidley Austin LLP and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP.

  • January 08, 2025

    Madigan Denies Extorting Developers For Law Firm Business

    Ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan testified Wednesday that he never wanted a Chicago alderman to leverage his chairmanship of a powerful city council committee to steer business to Madigan's law firm, saying he merely asked for introductions to developers and felt "surprise and concern" when the alderman referenced a quid pro quo deal.

  • January 08, 2025

    AmeriFirst Heads Back To Ch. 11 Mediation With Creditors

    Bankrupt mortgage service provider AmeriFirst Financial Inc. is heading back into mediation with unsecured creditors after a Delaware judge said Wednesday that a resolution is needed in the stagnant Chapter 11 proceedings.

  • January 08, 2025

    Landlords Liable For Brokers' Bias, NY Court Confirms

    A New York appellate court confirmed that landlords are on the hook if their broker violates source of income discrimination law, finding that any other interpretation would allow property owners to skirt the city's Human Rights Law.

  • January 08, 2025

    Calif. Woman Can't Reduce Tax From Property Sale, OTA Says

    A Californian failed to prove she was eligible for a reduction in the tax liability assessed on capital gains that resulted from a property sale, the state Office of Tax Appeals ruled. 

  • January 08, 2025

    REITs Should Expect More Shareholder Activism In '25

    Public real estate companies should expect more shareholder activist campaigns in 2025, with investors targeting real estate investment trusts with poor corporate governance practices and placing a greater focus on mergers and acquisitions, according to an Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP attorney.

  • January 08, 2025

    Mortgage Cos. Fined $20M Over Cybersecurity Breach

    Bayview Asset Management LLC and three affiliates on Wednesday agreed to pay a $20 million fine and improve their cybersecurity programs to settle allegations from 53 state financial regulators that the mortgage companies had deficient cybersecurity practices and didn't fully cooperate with regulators after a 2021 data breach.

  • January 08, 2025

    Divisive Mass. Housing Law Can Stand With Administrative Fix

    Massachusetts' top appellate court on Wednesday upheld a controversial law requiring towns in Greater Boston to add housing density near mass transit facilities, but found that the state must take additional procedural steps before the law can go into effect.

  • January 08, 2025

    Florida Real Estate Projects To Watch In 2025

    Florida real estate has weathered the economic headwinds of the past few years and has no shortage of notable projects in the pipeline across multiple markets.

  • January 08, 2025

    NYC Development Projects To Watch In 2025

    New York City real estate development is still squeezed by interest rates and office vacancies, but attorneys for developers are hopeful that public policy and pricing discovery will continue to spur deals.

  • January 08, 2025

    The Enviro Policies Real Estate Attys Are Eyeing In 2025

    On the precipice of four years of expected deregulation, agency challenge, and a weakening of incentives and credits, real estate attorneys and their clients are in a wait-and-see phase to determine how environmental policy shifts will — or should — alter their work.

Expert Analysis

  • 'Reverse Redlining' Suit Reveals Language Risks For Lenders

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    The Justice Department's case against consumer finance provider Colony Ridge highlights the government's focus on lending to consumers with limited English proficiency and the risks of generating marketing materials in other languages while conducting actual transactions in English, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Hurricane Coverage Ruling Clarifies Appraisal Scope In Fla.

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    In a case involving property insurance for hurricane damage, a Florida federal court recently enforced policy limits despite an appraisal award exceeding those limits, underscoring the boundaries between valuation and coverage — a distinction that provides valuable guidance for insurers handling post-catastrophe claims, says Tiffany Bustamante at Cozen O’Connor.

  • Feds May Have Overstepped In Suit Against Mortgage Lender

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against Rocket Mortgage goes too far in attempting to combat racial bias and appears to fail on the fatal flaw that mortgage lenders should be at arm's length from appraisers, says Drew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.

  • Foreclosing Lenders Still Floating In Murky Legal Waters In NY

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    The New York foreclosure landscape remains in disarray after the state's highest court last month declined to weigh in on whether legal changes from 2022 that severely curtailed lenders' ability to bring successive foreclosure cases were retroactive, says Brian Rich at Barclay Damon.

  • Philly's Algorithmic Rent Ban Furthers Antitrust Policy Trends

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    A Philadelphia bill banning the use of algorithmic software to set rent prices and manage occupancy rates is indicative of growing scrutiny of this technology, and reflects broader policy trends of adapting traditional antitrust principles to respond to new technology, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic

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    Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Why Secured Lenders Must Mind The Gap In UCC Searches

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    If not adequately addressed, the Uniform Commercial Code filing indexing gap can interfere with a lender's expected lien priority, but taking appropriate preclosing actions and properly timing searches can eliminate this risk, says Robert Wonneberger at Barclay Damon.

  • Election Outcome Could Reshape Financial Industry

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    The policies of the next presidential administration and Congress will shape the landscape of financial services in the U.S. — including banking, mortgage, investment and credit services — for years to come, affecting Wall Street investors and aspiring homeowners alike, say Alexander Hecht and Frank Guinta at Mintz.

  • There's No Crying In Property Valuation Baseball Arbitration

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    The World Series is the perfect time to consider how the form of arbitration used for settling MLB salary disputes — in which each side offers competing valuations to an arbitrator, who must select one — is often ideal for resolving property valuation disputes, say Sean O’Donnell at Herrick Feinstein and Mark Dunec at FTI Consulting.

  • Navigating Fla.'s Shorter Construction Defect Claim Window

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    In light of recent legislation reducing the amount of time Florida homeowners have to bring construction defect claims, homeowners should be sure to understand their rights and responsibilities regarding maintenance, repairs and inspections set forth in developer-drafted documents, say Brian Tannenbaum and Nicholas Vargo at Ball Janik.

  • Rental Price-Fixing Suit Against RealPage Doesn't Add Up

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    Recent government antitrust litigation against RealPage, alleging that the software company's algorithm for setting rental prices amounts to price-fixing, has failed to allege an actual conspiracy, and is an example of regulatory overreach that should be reined in, says Andrew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.

  • Navigating FEMA Grant Program For Slope Fixes After Storms

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    In the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, it is critical for governments, businesses and individuals to understand the legal requirements of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's grant programs to obtain funding for crucial repairs — including restoration of damaged infrastructure caused by landslides and slope failures, says Charles Schexnaildre at Baker Donelson.

  • Colorful Lessons From NYC's Emotional Support Parrot Suit

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    A recently settled lawsuit in New York federal court concerning housing discrimination claims from a resident who had emotional support parrots highlights the importance of housing providers treating accomodation questions seriously even if they may appear unusual or questionable, say attorneys at Seyfarth.