Real Estate & Property Law

Lights Out

Posted on February 23, 2009
Thanks for reading and stopping by. With the launch of my new Compliance Building blog, I have stopped blogging here.Image by Hashc0de under Creative Commons.

Compliance Building

Posted on February 14, 2009
With my move from Goodwin Procter to be Chief Compliance Officer at a real estate company, I have been using a blog to keep my notes. I have just open up this blog to the public. You can see what I have been up to at Compliance Building. Disclaimers

Clash of the Utopias - The Story of Stuyvesant Town

Posted on February 06, 2009
New York magazine has a lengthy story on the largest real estate deal deal in US history: The $5.4 Billion sale of MetLife's interest in the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village residential complex. The complex is enormous: 80 acres of land on Manhattan's East Side, 25,000 residents, 110 buildings, over 11,000 units, 2,260 enclosed parking spaces, and 110,000 square feet of retail space...

REITs May Pay Dividends in Stock to Save Cash

Posted on January 29, 2009
In a Bloomberg story By Hui-yong Yu, REITs in U.S. Consider Paying Dividends in Stock to Save Cash, many publicly traded REITs may take advantage of a IRS ruling allowing them to pay dividends instead of cash. On December 10, 2008 the Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Procedure 2008-68 announcing that the IRS will treat a cash option stock dividend as satisfying a public REIT?s distribution requirements for 2008 and 2009 so long as shareholders can elect to take at least 10% of the dividend in cash...

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Tenant-in-Common Interests are Securities

Posted on January 28, 2009
On January 14, the SEC issued a no-action letter to OMNI Brokerage, Inc., Argus Realty Investors, L.P., and PASSCO Companies, LLC regarding their tenant in common interest program. The SEC said no to the "no action.""Based on the facts presented, the Division disagrees with your view that the proposed offer and sale of undivided tenant in common interests pursuant to the Master Lease Transactions and Property Management Transactions (each as defined in your letter) do not involve securities within the meaning of Section 2(a)(1) of the Securities Act of 1933...

Health Care REIT, Inc. Added to S&P 500

Posted on January 26, 2009
Standard & Poor's announced that Health Care REIT Inc. (NYSE:HCN) will replace Sovereign Bancorp Inc.(NYSE:SOV) in the S&P 500. Standard & Poor?s Announces Changes to U.S. Indices [.pdf] Sovereign is being acquired by Banco Santander SA, leaving a vacancy in the index...

Government Seizes 650 Park Avenue

Posted on December 18, 2008
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Government Seizes 650 Park Avenue

Posted on December 18, 2008
According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has filed a forfeiture proceeding against 650 Fifth Avenue in New York. In its press release: United States files civil forfeiture action against ASSA corporation's interest in Manhattan office tower (...

Stealing the Empire State Building

Posted on December 03, 2008
The New York Daily News tried to show that it is easy to "steal" property by filing fake deeds. The story is rather foolish, but if you want to read it: It took 90 minutes for Daily News to 'steal' the Empire State Building. The reporters think that by filing a forged deed, they somehow could control the building and get a mortgage...

Tenant Allowance and Build-Out Obligations When a Tenant Files for Bankruptcy

Posted on December 02, 2008
Sutherland published a timely legal alert on what a landlord can do with a tenant allowance and tenant build-out obligations when a tenant goes bankrupt: Obtaining Relief From Tenant Allowance and Build-Out Obligations When a Tenant Files for Bankruptcy...

Not Not Creating a Title Insurance Behemoth

Posted on November 26, 2008
The off and on combination of Land America Financial Group with Fidelity National Title Title is back again. LandAmerica press release: LandAmerica Signs Stock Purchase Agreement for Underwriters.The two signed a merger, then Fidelity terminated, now they restructured the transaction again...

Not Creating a Title Insurance Behemoth

Posted on November 24, 2008
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF - News) canceled its plans to acquire LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: LFG - News) . The combination would have created a behemoth that controlled almost half of the title insurance market.Under the agreement, Fidelity National had discretion to terminate the merger on or before Nov...

A Look at Commercial Real Estate Debt

Posted on November 14, 2008
The Real Estate and Real Estate Capital Markets Group at Goodwin Procter put together A Look at Commercial Real Estate Debt: Where We Are Now and Where We May Be Going. Disclaimers

Creating a Title Insurance Behomoth

Posted on November 07, 2008
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF - News) and LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: LFG - News) today announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement under which FNF will acquire LFG. [Press Release] That means Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company and Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation will combine with Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Ticor Title, Security Union Title and Alamo Title...

FinCEN Withdraws Proposed Rulemaking for Unregistered Investment Companies

Posted on October 31, 2008
On September 26, 2002, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a notice of proposed rulemaking, proposing to require unregistered investment companies to establish and implement anti-money laundering programs. (Anti-Money Laundering Programs for Unregistered Investment Companies, 67 FR 60617 (Sep...

Emerging Trends in Real Estate

Posted on October 27, 2008
The Urban land Institute's  Emerging Trends in Real Estate for 2009 came out with a picture of doom and gloom, predicting that in 2009, commercial real estate will suffer its worst year since the industry's crash of 1991-92, with a noticeable rebound unlikely until 2011 at the earliest...

A New Chapter for Me

Posted on October 09, 2008
Yesterday was my last day at The Firm. It was hard to walk out the door after 13 great years. Andy Sucoff extended me an offer to join the real estate group during the summer of 1995.  It has been great working with one of the best group of real estate lawyers in the country...

Largest Real Estate Investment Managers

Posted on September 30, 2008
Pensions and Investments Online put together a list of the Largest Real Estate Investment Managers. The list is ranked by total worldwide real estate assets, in millions, as of June 30, 2008. Disclaimers

Economic Emergency Stabilization Act of 2008

Posted on September 29, 2008
The White House and Congressional Leaders finalized the Bailout Bill: Current draft of the Economic Emergency Stabilization Act of 2008. (from the Wall Street Journal) It will be interesting to see how it progresses through the House and Senate. I expect to see a lot of salesmanship as politicians try to weave into their current political campaigns...

When Life Hands You Lehman, Make Lehman-Aid

Posted on September 15, 2008
Over the weekend, Lehman Brothers lost its interested buyers and got ready to file for bankruptcy. According to the New York Times, interested buyers wanted the federal backstop that was put into place for JP Morgan Chase purchase of Bear Stearns: 2 Wall St...

Opportunity Funds Overfloweth

Posted on September 12, 2008
National Real Estate Investor published a story by Joe Gose on the flow of capital into distressed property funds: Opportunity Funds OVERFLOWETH. "Opportunity funds concentrating on distress intend to take advantage of the seized-up debt markets in a few different ways...

Blockshopper

Posted on September 08, 2008
Blockshopper.com is trying to make news out of residential transactions. The site has launched in Chicago, St. Louis, South Florida and Las Vegas, trolling the listing services and registries of deed to find what notable people are doing with their real estate...

Floor Area Ratio and Residential Property

Posted on August 11, 2008
Floor Area Ratio has longed been used as a way regulate building density under zoning laws.  The owner of the property can choose to build a short building on most of the property or a taller building on less of the property. Although Floor Area Ratio has been used to regulate commercial properties, there was some uncertainty as to whether you could use it for single family residential property in Massachusetts...

Massachusetts City and Town ByLaws

Posted on August 08, 2008
Here is collection of bylaws and ordinances available online for Massachusetts: Abington Acton Adams Agawam Amesbury (Zoning) Amherst Andover Arlington Ashburnham Ashby Ashby (Zoning) Ashland Attleboro (Zoning) Auburn Barnstable Barnstable (Zoning) Barre Becket Becket (Zoning) Bedford Bedford (Zoning) Belchertown Bellingham Bellingham (Zoning) Belmont Belmont (Zoning) Billerica Billerica (Zoning) Blackstone (Zoning) Bolton Boston Boston (Zoning) Bourne Bourne (Zoning) Boxborough Boxborough (Zoning) Boxford Boxford (Zoning) Brewster Brewster (Zoning) Bridgewater (Zoning) Brookline Burlington Burlington (Zoning) Cambridge Canton Canton (Zoning) Carlisle Carver Carver (Zoning) Charlton Charlton (Zoning) Chatham Chelmsford Chelsea Chelsea (Zoning) Chester (Zoning) Chicopee Chilmark Clinton Cohasset Concord Concord (Zoning) Cummington Cummington (Zoning) Danvers Dartmouth Dartmouth (Wetland) Dartmouth (Zoning) Dedham Deerfield Dennis Dighton Douglas Dover Dudley Dunstable Dunstable (Zoning) Duxbury Eastham (Zoning) Easton (Zoning) Essex Everett Fairhaven (Zoning) Fall River Falmouth Fitchburg Foxborough (Zoning) Framingham Framingham (Zoning) Franklin Gardner (Zoning) Gill Gill (Zoning) Georgetown Gloucester Gloucester (Zoning) Goshen (Zoning) Grafton (Zoning) Great Barrington Great Barrington (Zoning) Greenfield (Zoning) Groton Hamilton (Zoning) Hampden Hampden (Zoning) Hanover Hanover (Zoning) Hanson Hanson (Zoning) Harvard Hatfield Haverhill Hingham Holden Holland Holliston Holyoke Hopedale Hopkinton Hudson Hull (Zoning) Ipswich (Zoning) Kingston Kingston (Zoning) Lancaster (Zoning) Lanesborough (Zoning) Lee (Zoning) Lenox Leominster Lexington Lincoln Littleton Longmeadow Lowell (Zoning) Ludlow Ludlow (Zoning) Lynnfield (Zoning) Malden Manchester-by-the Sea Manchester-by-the-Sea (Zoning) Marblehead Marion Marlborough (Zoning) Marshfield Mashpee Mashpee (Zoning) Mattapoisett Maynard Maynard (Zoning) Medfield Medford Medway Medway (Zoning) Melrose Mendon Middleton Milford (Zoning) Millbury Millbury (Zoning) Millis Millis (Zoning) Millville Milton (Zoning) Monson (Zoning) Montague (Zoning) Nahant Nantucket Natick Natick (Zoning) Needham New Bedford New Bedford (Zoning) New Marlborough Newbury Newbury (Zoning) Newburyport Newton Norfolk North Andover North Andover (Zoning) North Attleborough North Reading (Zoning) Northampton Northborough Northborough (Zoning) Northbridge Northbridge (Zoning) Northfield Norwell (Zoning) Norwood Norwood (Zoning) Oak Bluffs (Zoning) Orange Orleans Otis Palmer Palmer (Zoning) Paxton Peabody Peabody (Zoning) Pelham Pepperell (Zoning) Petersham Phillipston Phillipston (Zoning) Pittsfield Plymouth Plympton Plympton (Zoning) Princeton Princeton (Zoning) Provincetown Quincy Randolph Raynham (Zoning) Reading Rehoboth Revere Richmond Rochester (Zoning) Rockland Rockport Rockport (Zoning) Rowley Rowley (Zoning) Royalston Salem Salisbury Salisbury (Zoning) Sandwich Saugus Scituate Seekonk Sharon Sharon (Zoning) Sheffield Sheffield (Zoning) Shelburne Shelburne (Zoning) Sherborn (Zoning) Shirley (Zoning) Shrewsbury Shutesbury (Zoning) Somerville Southampton Southborough Southborough (Zoning) Southbridge Southwick Spencer Spencer (Zoning) Springfield Sterling Sterling (Zoning) Stockbridge Stockbridge (Zoning) Stoneham Stow Stow (Zoning) Sturbridge Sudbury Sunderland (Zoning) Sutton Sutton (Zoning) Swampscott Taunton (Zoning) Templeton Tewksbury (Zoning) Tisbury Tisbury (Zoning) Tolland Topsfield Topsfield (Zoning) Townsend Truro Truro (Zoning) Tyringham Upton (Zoning) Uxbridge Walpole (Zoning) Waltham Wareham Watertown (Zoning) Wayland Wellesley Wellesley (Zoning) Wellfleet Wendell (Zoning) West Boylston West Newbury West Springfield West Springfield (Zoning) West Tisbury (Zoning) Westborough (Zoning) Westfield Westfield (Zoning) Westford Westminster Weston Westwood Westwood (Zoning) Weymouth Wilbraham Wilbraham (Zoning) Williamsburg Williamsburg (Zoning) Williamstown Wilmington Wilmington (Zoning) Winchendon Winchester Winthrop Woburn Worcester Worthington Wrentham (Zoning) Yarmouth Yarmouth (Zoning) From Massachusetts Law Updates, produced by the Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries: Massachusetts Town and City Bylaws...

New Law Liberalizes REIT Provisions

Posted on August 04, 2008
Last week, President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 [html] [pdf] into law. You have heard about all of the programs designed to stimulate the housing market and to deal with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Summary of the ?Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008" [...

Office Building Classifications

Posted on July 31, 2008
I was poking around for a definition of Class A buildings and had a hard time finding a solid definition. In BOMA's Building Class Definitions, buildings are grouped into Class A, Class B and Class C. But BOMA does not recommend the publishing of a classification rating for individual properties...

Retail in Russia

Posted on July 30, 2008
In last week's Wall Street Journal, there was an article on Developers Diversified Realty Corp.'s plan to expand into Russia: Mall Developer Targets Russia. I found the statistic on retail space to be really interesting. In Russia, the volume of shopping space per 1,000 inhabitants makes up about 420 square feet, according to Maxim Karbasnikoff, European Director, Russia, at brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle...

Update for Recording Fees for Multiple Transactions in a Single Document

Posted on July 24, 2008
The Massachusetts Real Estate Bar Association sent me a notice that: On July 13, 2008, Governor Patrick signed the FY 2009 budget which included outside sections amending Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 262, § 38 and Chapter 44B, § 8 to require additional recording fees for multifunctional documents...

Twitter and Real Estate

Posted on July 11, 2008
Dick Howe at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds in Lowell has jumped into Twitter. You can see his page and follow him at http://twitter.com/lowelldeeds. You can also follow me at http://twitter.com/dougcornelius.Twitter is great way to stay connected people all around the world...

Real Estate Opportunity Fund Performance

Posted on July 07, 2008
Stephane Fitch of Forbes.com put together a sensationalist piece on real estate opportunity funds: The Other Real Estate Disaster. Fitch puts together some interesting numbers on the extent of holdings by private real estate funds: They account for one-sixth of $2 trillion in total net assets in private equity, says the London firm Private Equity Intelligence, which tracks the industry...

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