Residential

  • March 14, 2025

    Fannie, Freddie Can't Avoid $612M Investor Win, Judge Rules

    A D.C. federal judge on Friday upheld a $612.4 million jury verdict against the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ruling that the jury was provided with "ample evidence" that reasonably led to its conclusion that FHFA improperly amended stock purchase agreements related to the companies.

  • March 14, 2025

    4th Circ. Dubious Of Private Island's Win In Fair Housing Fight

    The Fourth Circuit on Friday seemed poised to upend a lower court ruling siding with a gated community in a discriminatory housing suit brought by the developer of a proposed assisted living facility, with one judge lamenting a lack of analysis on whether the facility's accommodation request was necessary and reasonable.

  • March 14, 2025

    Calif. Insurance Chief OKs State Farm Rates Pending Hearing

    The California Department of Insurance on Friday provisionally approved State Farm's request for an emergency rate hike following the Los Angeles fires, including a nearly 22% increase for homeowners, saying final approval will be contingent on the insurer justifying its request at a hearing.

  • March 14, 2025

    Property Plays: Buffalo, Swerdlow Group, Tampa Bay Rays

    Property Plays is a weekly roundup of the latest loans, leases, sales and projects around the country. Send your tips — all confidential — to realestate@law360.com.

  • March 14, 2025

    Demand Tightens Florida Land Market In '24, Broker Finds

    Large-acreage land transactions and institutional investors drove much of the activity in Florida's land market in 2024, with agricultural land transforming into residential, solar or other development as the state's population grows.

  • March 14, 2025

    3 Firms Rep Franklin BSP Realty Trust's $425M NewPoint Buy

    Hogan Lovells, Reed Smith and Paul Weiss guided Franklin BSP Realty Trust's $425 million acquisition of commercial real estate finance company NewPoint Holdings JV LLC, boosting the REIT's multifamily loan offerings.

  • March 14, 2025

    PulteGroup GC Rakes In $3M After '23 Dip

    Atlanta-based U.S. homebuilder PulteGroup paid its general counsel more than $3 million in total compensation in 2024, marking a 13% increase from his 2023 total compensation as the company raked in a record $17 billion in home sale revenues last year, according to a recent securities filing.

  • March 14, 2025

    Mont. Ranch Claims Ranger Retaliation In Easement Dispute

    A Montana landowner told a federal judge that a U.S. Forest Service official launched a retaliatory criminal investigation after the managers of a ranch complained about public parking on an access road near the Custer Gallatin National Forest.

  • March 14, 2025

    Ark. Bill Aims To Ban Certain Separate Property Assessments

    Arkansas would not allow accessory dwelling units to be assessed separately from a principal residence through a constitutional amendment proposed by a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.

  • March 14, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Davis Polk, Paul Weiss

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Mallinckrodt PLC and Endo Inc. combine, Rocket Cos. buys Redfin, and Endo divests its international pharmaceuticals business to Knight Therapeutics Inc.

  • March 14, 2025

    Brooklyn Man Gets 45 Months For 'Seinfeld'-Themed Fraud

    A Brooklyn federal judge sentenced a podcaster and purported cryptocurrency guru to 45 months in prison after he pled guilty to scamming investors out of more than $2 million using fictitious businesses, including one apparently named after "Seinfeld" character George Costanza's fake prospective employer Vandelay Industries.

  • March 14, 2025

    Washington Dept. OKs Property Conversion Tax Break Regs

    Washington state's Department of Revenue adopted regulations to clarify eligibility requirements for a retail sales and use tax break for the conversion of commercial property to affordable housing authorized by a 2024 law, according to a rulemaking order.

  • March 13, 2025

    Fla. Condo Says Insurers Unfairly Handled Hurricane Claim

    A Pensacola Beach condominium complex told a Florida federal court that it is entitled to recover attorney fees and other costs associated with what it alleged was its insurers' failures to fairly handle its claim for Hurricane Sally damage.

  • March 13, 2025

    Sister Sues To Enforce $28M Spanish Family Arb. Award

    A sister has sued two brothers in Miami-Dade County state civil court to enforce an approximately $28 million arbitral award over assets and property in Florida, Spain and the Dominican Republic, saying they tried to cut her out of a family agreement signed by their mother.

  • March 13, 2025

    Housing Advocacy Groups Sue Over HUD Grant Cuts

    A coalition of advocacy organizations filed a proposed class action in Massachusetts federal court Thursday against the Trump administration over the termination of dozens of grants to programs targeting housing discrimination.

  • March 13, 2025

    NYC Developers Already Putting City Of Yes Tweaks To Use

    New York City's City of Yes for Housing Opportunity is already reshaping development following its December passage, allowing one developer to nearly double the height of a multifamily project in the Bronx, panelists at New York Build said Thursday.

  • March 13, 2025

    State Farm Hit With Hail Damage Coverage Suit

    A married couple accused State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. in Ohio federal court of wrongfully denying coverage after their home was damaged by wind and a hailstorm.

  • March 13, 2025

    Walker & Dunlop Arranges $176M Single-Family Rental Refi

    Commercial real estate adviser Walker & Dunlop Inc. said Thursday that it arranged a $176 million credit facility to refinance a group of seven single-family rental communities in the Atlanta area.

  • March 13, 2025

    Smith Currie Hires Veteran Construction Atty To Fla. Office

    Smith Currie Oles LLP has hired a former Siegfried Rivera construction litigation attorney as partner in the firm's Fort Lauderdale, Florida, office, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • March 13, 2025

    Mich. Justices Struggle With Line-Drawing For Rental Use

    Michigan Supreme Court justices on Thursday said they were struggling with where to draw the line for when homes can be rented short-term as property owners along a Lake Michigan neighborhood urged the state's top court to reverse a lower court's decision that said a restrictive covenant barred all vacation rentals.

  • March 13, 2025

    Insurers Must Cover Real Estate Cos. In False Claims Dispute

    A pair of directors and officers insurers must provide coverage to real estate holding companies in an underlying False Claims Act whistleblower action, a Delaware Superior Court judge ruled, finding that a breach of contract exclusion does not bar coverage.

  • March 13, 2025

    Thompson Thrift Raises $255M For Multifamily Developments

    Thompson Thrift announced Thursday it pulled in $255 million from its limited partners to build a portfolio of high-quality apartment communities across the U.S., beating the company's original fundraising goal of $230 million.

  • March 13, 2025

    RealPage Pushes Bid To Duck Antitrust Case In NC

    RealPage and a group of landlords backed up a motion to shut down claims that the company's software helps fix rental prices brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and a group of states in North Carolina federal court.

  • March 13, 2025

    NY Bill Seeks Tax Break For Residential Green Infrastructure

    New York state would provide a partial property tax abatement for owners of residential properties in New York City who undertake green infrastructure projects as part of a bill introduced in the state Senate.

  • March 12, 2025

    NYC Beefs Up Inspections After Bronx Building Collapse

    A New York City Department of Buildings enforcement official said Wednesday that the agency is proactively targeting known bad actors and companies associated with them following a November 2023 major structural collapse at a multifamily property in the Bronx.

Expert Analysis

  • Why All Eyes Are On Florida's Affordable Housing Reform

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    Florida's Live Local Act, which took effect last month, promotes much-needed affordable housing developments with a mix of zoning preemption provisions and tax benefits that may attract interest from developers across the nation, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • What Came Of Texas Legislature's Long-Promised Tax Relief

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    Following promises of historic tax relief made possible by a record budget surplus, the Texas legislative session as a whole was one in which taxpayers that are large businesses could have done somewhat better, but the new legislation is clearly still a positive, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Looking Behind The Curtain Of Residential Transition Loans

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    As residential transition loans and securitizations of such loans grow increasingly popular, real estate stakeholders should take care to understand both the unique features and potential challenges offered by this novel asset class, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Hedging Variable Interest Rates In A Volatile Market

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    Variable rate loans, which were an advantageous borrowing method prior to the recent Federal Reserve rate hikes and subsequent volatility, are now the difference between borrowers remaining current on their obligations and defaulting due to the sharply increasing debt service requirements of their loans, say attorneys at Cassin & Cassin.

  • CRA Plays Role In DOJ Fight Against Redlining

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent consent order with ESSA Bank & Trust is a reminder that although the Community Reinvestment Act lacks a civil enforcement provision, financial institutions' CRA compliance efforts may have ramifications under various anti-discrimination statutes, say Collin Grier and Levi Swank at Goodwin.

  • Colo. Eviction Case Could Transform Tenant Rights

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    The Colorado Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in a case that could open the door for tenants to assert allegations of discrimination and retaliation during eviction proceedings, and dramatically prolong the state's process, says Jacob Hollars at Spencer Fane.

  • Harsh 11th Circ. Rebuke Should Inspire Changes At CFPB

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Brown decision, which found the CFPB's conduct had been egregious in a debt collection enforcement action, should encourage some reflection at the bureau regarding its level of attention to the reasonable due process concerns of regulated institutions, says Eric Mogilnicki at Covington.

  • 3 Alternatives To CRE Collateralized Loan Obligations

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    With current commercial real estate market conditions pushing issuers away from collateralized loan obligations, several Freddie Mac offerings should be considered as alternative exit strategies for mortgage loans secured by multifamily properties, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Fla. Banking Brief: All The Notable Compliance Updates In Q2

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    Florida financial institutions must now navigate minimum interest rates for attorney trust accounts, restrictions on property sales to prohibited foreigners, and a ban on weighing environmental, social and governance factors to determine a customer's creditworthiness — changes that will add to banks' compliance pressures, says Patricia Hernandez at Avila Rodriguez.

  • NY Court Sends Mixed Signals On Contested Foreclosure Law

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    Although New York's Appellate Division, Second Department, has avoided addressing the constitutionality and retroactive application of the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act, its conflicting pattern of applying FAPA to existing cases is creating confusion regarding the future of the law, say Christopher Gorman and John Muldoon at Abrams Fensterman and litigation support analyst Robert Marx.

  • Expect CFPB Scrutiny On AI In Lending

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    As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau prioritizes regulatory oversight of the financial services industry's use of automated systems and artificial technology, it will need to balance regulation and innovation, and companies should prepare to mitigate any potential for bias or unfair, deceptive or abusive acts and practices, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Texas Construction Statute Of Repose Leaves Open Questions

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    Texas' new significantly shorter statute of repose barring certain suits against construction contractors contains some ambiguous wording that will likely raise questions to be decided by courts, says Mason Hester at Munsch Hardt.

  • In The CFPB Playbook: Abuse Policy, PACE, Payment Apps

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    From defining "abusive" conduct to implementing green energy financing to policing payment apps, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was busy last quarter. Akerman's Nora Rigby discusses all this and more in the first installment of bureau activity recaps by former CFPB personnel.