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Real Estate & Property Law

Closing Real Estate in Chicago

On getting real estate deals closed the right way.
By Peter Olson, Esq.

Post Frequency: 2.3/day

Last Entry: March 13, 2009 at 11:57:00

Goodbye/Hello

Posted on March 13, 2009
This wasn't quite the celebratory transition I had in mind but life events have simply made it necessary so here goes...2-3 months ago now I finally got around to moving this blog's content to its own Website using Wordpress. That's what all the blog consultants out there say to get your own site so people like Google can't just shut you down (i...

Divorce the House Before the Spouse

Posted on February 10, 2009
Not necessarily my view but some interesting thoughts put forth here. Some bits from the article:?If you?re still linked through the house, than you?re not really divorced,? says Kelly Lise Murray, a Harvard-trained lawyer and Nashville real estate agent...

No Earnest Money: You Can?t Be Serious

Posted on February 10, 2009
Oh, but I am. Here?s Wikipedia?s definition: An earnest payment (sometimes called earnest money or simply earnest, or alternatively a good-faith deposit) is a deposit towards the purchase of real estate or publicly tendered government contract made by a buyer or registered contractor to demonstrate that he/she is serious (earnest) about wanting to complete the purchase...

An Interesting Retort From a Commenter

Posted on December 20, 2008
Thought I'd post a nice comment in full from a href="http://chicagorealestatelocal.blogspot.com/"local blogger/a and a href="http://www.rubloff.com/our_agents/info/eric_rojas"Realtor Eric Rojas/a. Like I tell my wife, disagreement is good, it provides more ideas rather than just agreeing with one idea...

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Ethanol Subsidies and No-Money-Down Mortgages?

Posted on December 20, 2008
Who would have known? a href="http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB122937640286608173-lMyQjAxMDI4MjE5NjMxNzY2Wj.html"I saw this piece in the WSJ/a describing a mortgage program buried within the Department of Agriculture.br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"To be eligible for a USDA-backed loan, a borrower can't have income that exceeds 115% of the median county income, and the loans are restricted to areas with lower population density -- generally towns of no more than 25,000 residents...

New Tax Breaks for Homeowners

Posted on December 20, 2008
a href="http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/taxtips/archive/2008/tax1214.html"A nice little reminder/overview from Kiplinger's/a regarding end of year tax planning for homeowners.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Notably, the new up to $7,500 tax credit for new homes brought from April 9, 2008, through June 30, 2009 and the Private Mortgage Insurance deduction for homes bought since 1/1/07...

A Second Wave of Mortgage Disaster

Posted on December 20, 2008
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It May Be Time to Think About Buying a House

Posted on December 10, 2008
I saw the piece over the weekend in the NYTimes but hadn't gotten around to reading it until today. It's been their most read article for nearly a week now so I thought I'd give it a skim. An important and true opening 'graph:Five or 10 years from now, when the financial crisis has ended and housing prices are up smartly once more, we will look in the rearview mirror and realize that we missed a golden age for first-time home buyers...

Mortgage Fraud Incidents up 45% Year-to-Year: We're #3!

Posted on December 04, 2008
Saw this reported here. Some snippets from the piece:Reported incidents of mortgage fraud grew by 45 percent in the second quarter compared to the year-ago period, as borrowers misstated their financial information to maneuver around tighter lending standards, industry data released Tuesday showed...

That?s the Problem, there was NO CANCER CLAUSE!

Posted on December 04, 2008
Saw this in a recent What?s Your Problem? column in the Trib. regarding a builder?s failure to return an elderly couple's earnest money deposit. A sad tale, the husband got cancer and subsequently died and thus the couple didn?t want to purchase the home...

Choosing a Real Estate Attorney

Posted on December 03, 2008
Nice video over on YouTube from a local practitioner I know well. Who'd have thunk it. I've had like 3 deals with this guy, good lawyer for your smallish condo development projects. Never knew he was high-tech. I don't think his firm even has a Website.

Guide for Single Woman Buyers

Posted on November 28, 2008
Saw a review of the above in the Sun-Times.

Developers Using Auctions to Sell Inventory

Posted on November 28, 2008
Thought this was an interesting overview reporting from a Florida real estate auction done to sell a developer's condos. I used to think of this as limited to the foreclosure scene but not anymore. We have a client who's going to do one of these shortly so I'm very interested and will be reporting more in the near future...

Questions to ask Prospective Agent?

Posted on November 28, 2008
Here's the story and the list from the Tribune's piece: ?How long have you worked in real estate, and how long have you been licensed? ?Are you a Realtor? What professional designations do you have, and what special skills do they certify? ?Do you work alone, or do you have an assistant or support staff??How often will we be in touch during the searching and buying process?? Can I look at homes without you? ?What makes you stand out among your peers, and do you have references from clients? ?Will you act as a buyer-broker, or do you represent the seller? ?How will you get paid, and may I have that in writing? ?How many other buyers are you representing?A fair list I suppose...

Citibank follows JPMorgan Chase's Lead

Posted on November 19, 2008
Here's the recent piece about Citibank's plan to impose a moratorium on most foreclosures as part of a series of initiatives aimed at helping at-risk borrowers remain in their homes. You'll recall we previously reported Chase's similar plan. I'm not sure how much longer Citibank's going to be in business themselves.

Buffet Buying Bargins?

Posted on November 11, 2008
Here's Mary Umberger's full column recently about HomeServices of America's (HSA) plan to expand its real estate business during the economic downturn. HSA is part of Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Corp. Some excerpts:HSA apparently thinks the current sag in housing makes this the ideal time to spend some money, and has set aside a minimum of $200 million to expand its existing brokerages and to buy distressed realty companies at bargain prices, according to its chief executive, who told me the Minneapolis-based company is eyeing Chicago...

The Difference Between Real and Personal Property

Posted on November 07, 2008
That's the topic of Lew Sichelman's piece this week. But the real question is what's the difference between personal property and a fixture, Lew. And I think a thorough lawyer in a residential real estate transaction spends a good amount of time during his initial contract review with a client discussing fixture/personal property issues...

Face Tough Times, Don't Ignore your Mortgage Problems

Posted on November 07, 2008
Here's a nice recent overview from the Trib. of many of the "help" programs out there for homeowners...Hope for HomeownersDesigned for borrowers who are under water with their mortgage but can afford a new one insured by the Federal Housing Administration, the new program will insure up to $300 billion of refinanced, troubled mortgages into 30-year, fixed-rate loans...

Buy & Bail

Posted on November 05, 2008
Note HUD's recent announcement about the so-called buy and bail situation where you supposedly rent out your current home to get that income in order to buy a new home.

Massive Effort to Save Mortgages

Posted on November 05, 2008
Here's a broad overview regarding what all the big lenders are doing in terms of mortgage modifications from the WSJ.

JPMorgan Extends an Olive Branch

Posted on November 05, 2008
A couple key announcements from JP Morgan Chase here and here.The first piece outlines Chase's plan to halt new foreclosure filings for the next 90 days or so. The second examines their plan to expand their mortgage-modification program. Some program specifics:In addition to Chase loans, the program will also be offered to customers with loans held by Washington Mutual Inc...

My Experience in the Cook County Treasurer's Office

Posted on October 31, 2008
Just a brief follow-up from yesterday's post...So I took a little field trip today down to the Treasurer's Office in the County Administration building at 118 N. Clark Street to get my client's duplicate tax bill copy (client is out-of-state). And I would honestly give the office high marks for customer service! They have several people ready to assist you even before you enter the office so that you're not having to waste time up at the counters filling out paperwork...

Learn from a First Time Homeowner

Posted on October 30, 2008
7 tips from a first time homeowner (full article)...1. Owning a home is more than a mortgage.2. Always have cushion of cash for home repairs.3. You can save a lot of money as a do-it-yourselfer.4. But some jobs are worth hiring out -- if you can afford it...

The Opposite of Making a Bill Easy to Pay

Posted on October 30, 2008
I'm no Warren Buffet but I thought I heard somewhere that in business it's a good idea to try and make it as easy as possible for your customers or clients to pay your bills. I know we're always thinking about this issue with our monthly client statements whether it means accepting credit cards, sending statements via e-mail, allowing Internet bill pay, or just including a self-addressed stamped envelope so all a client has to do is write a check and drop it in the mail...

Mary and Me

Posted on October 27, 2008
I don't like Zillow nearly as much as Mary but I too do enjoy finding creative Buyer's incentives like this one from Mary's Sunday column:The latest: The Brixton Group has partnered with designer Matt Lorenz, winner of Bravo TV's "Top Design" competition in 2007, to offer his services to buyers at its C/A 23 condo development at 23 N...

Real Estate Publication

Posted on October 27, 2008
If you're an Illinois real estate practitioner you must subscribe to the ISBA Real Estate Law Section Council newsletter. And I'm just a humble ISBA member myself but for $20 a year you get a good newsletter that is published nearly monthly. As a former editor of an ISBA publication, I'll be the first to say some of them suck and aren't worth $20 but the real estate newsletter is excellent!Speaking of the above, October's edition had a couple good refresher articles on both condominium resale representation and navigating short sales...

Cook County Foreclosures

Posted on October 27, 2008
Thanks to the Tribune for a nice chunk of articles regarding foreclosures in Cook County. Here's the central article with some links within including some helpful hints and a timeline.

Another Case Study Regarding Why NOT to Buy New Construction Condominiums

Posted on October 27, 2008
I'm going to go to my grave repeating the mantra, "new construction condominiums are the worst type of property to purchase (repeat)." Because it's TRUE! Here's another story from the Suntimes...and this is a frequent happening and the facts in the story are pretty typical of the trouble with new construction condominiums...

MacArthur Foundation's Chicago Foreclosure Grants

Posted on October 17, 2008
Take a look at some of the places MacArthur's been making grants locally...maybe there's some help for your situation!

Cook Evictions to Resume

Posted on October 17, 2008
Here's the piece from the Tribune. It's hard to tell from the article what has changed although a new standing Order by Judge Kinnaird, presiding Judge with the Cook Chancery Division is referenced but I don't see it on the Circuit Court's Website. Anyone have a copy? I'll have to look around the chancery division the next time I'm down at Daley...

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