Tag Archives: real estate investment

Real Estate Law and Affordable Housing Issues: Lawsuit Alleges Landlords Discriminating Against Families.

Here’s a profound truth those in the real estate industry will readily acknowledge: Owning and Managing Real Estate is challenging. I hear it from my Property Owner/Manager clients. I experience it when I am in court litigating or negotiating landlord/tenant disputes. Here’s another profound truth: In many parts of the country, including Grand Rapids, Michigan, we have anContinue reading “Real Estate Law and Affordable Housing Issues: Lawsuit Alleges Landlords Discriminating Against Families.”

Real Estate Law Update: A Discussion on Laches

  A few years back I wrote a post about the legal doctrine of Laches and how laches relates to real estate disputes.   Since then, I consistently get a lot of hits on that post – and a lot of searches for “laches in real estate.” Why? I don’t know. Maybe because its an unfamiliar term, unless youContinue reading “Real Estate Law Update: A Discussion on Laches”

Real Estate Investors Bidding at Foreclosure Sale: If You Pay Less than owed on the Mortgage, there is no Surplus.

Real estate investors and lenders are under pressure to “get it right” when bidding at sheriff sales, especially in a market where good deals are getting harder to come by. Some lenders/investors have tried some creative methods of recovery and made some interesting legal arguments in order to  maximize their profit at  or after foreclosureContinue reading “Real Estate Investors Bidding at Foreclosure Sale: If You Pay Less than owed on the Mortgage, there is no Surplus.”

Recent Court Case Provides Good Lessons For Real Estate Investors.

Its Wednesday and I wanted to share a court of appeals case that came out on September 15th. Case: Key Bank v Lake Villa Oxford Assoc, et. al. Lesson: be careful when drafting “personal guarantees” I’ve written in the past about personal guarantees. This particular case involved a real estate development gone bad. Defendant, developer,Continue reading “Recent Court Case Provides Good Lessons For Real Estate Investors.”

News for Residential Real Estate Investors: Michigan Landlord Settles with DOJ for Allegations of Fair Housing Violations.

Here’s a profound truth those in the real estate industry will readily acknowledge: Owning and Managing Real Estate is challenging.   I hear it from my Property Owner/Manager clients. I experience it when I am involved in negotiating in landlord/tenant disputes.   Some of the pitfalls property owners have to watch out for are illustrated in a recentFederalContinue reading “News for Residential Real Estate Investors: Michigan Landlord Settles with DOJ for Allegations of Fair Housing Violations.”

Community Development: The Tension Between Real Estate Entrepreneurship and Keeping Families In Affordable Housing.

This morning I read a MIBiz article by Nick Manes titled: “Hungry investors seek Grand Rapids housing deals, rankling longtime residents” The article does a good job of addressing the “tension” that I wrote about in a previous post. New investment in downtown Grand Rapids is exciting. But, as Nick Manes puts it, the flip-side ofContinue reading “Community Development: The Tension Between Real Estate Entrepreneurship and Keeping Families In Affordable Housing.”

Proposed Bill Affects Landlords in Recovering Property Against “Squatters”

Several years ago I wrote a post about a proposed bill affecting Landlords. The Bill affected the time frame which a property owner could bring an action to recover property; most importantly, it affected the statute of limitations for a claim of “adverse possession” or “squatters rights” by a holdover tenant.   Here’s the scenario:Continue reading “Proposed Bill Affects Landlords in Recovering Property Against “Squatters””

A Lawyer’s Perspective: the Tension Between Encouraging Real Estate Entrepreneurship and Keeping Families in Affordable Housing.

If you are reading this, you may know that I am a lawyer.  I love working with entrepreneurs – a large number of my clients invest in/manage real estate. As the current Chairman of the Board of Mel Trotter Ministries, I also care very deeply about the homeless, hurting, and hungry.   I was inContinue reading “A Lawyer’s Perspective: the Tension Between Encouraging Real Estate Entrepreneurship and Keeping Families in Affordable Housing.”

Real Estate Law Update: Michigan Supreme Court Holds Full Credit Bid did not Bar Contract Claim against Third-Party.

Happy Friday, all! Real Estate Investors and anyone involved in the foreclosure process is aware that a “full credit bid” at the foreclosure sale by the bank/mortgage holder “extinguishes the underlying debt.” You can check out my prior posts on this subject. A case that has been on appeal for years is Bank of AmericaContinue reading “Real Estate Law Update: Michigan Supreme Court Holds Full Credit Bid did not Bar Contract Claim against Third-Party.”

Landlords & Property Managers: Time to Review your Tenant Applications – Beware Blanket Bans on Renting to those with Criminal Convictions

“Private landlords who have blanket bans on renting to people with criminal records are in violation of the Fair Housing Act and can be sued and face penalties for discrimination.” The New York Times Also check out theABAJournal According to the Times article ” In particular, blanket bans violate fair housing law because they have aContinue reading “Landlords & Property Managers: Time to Review your Tenant Applications – Beware Blanket Bans on Renting to those with Criminal Convictions”