Jackson & Campbell P.C. Update
	December 1, 2003
	Dear Real Estate Professional: D.C. Tax Sale Foreclosures: The statutory waiting period for ordering title searches has ended. The time is RIPE for ordering title and preparing to file tax sale foreclosure actions. While we will not be filing the lawsuits cannot be filed until the end of January, title should be ordered and reviewed now to be poised and prepared. Maryland Ground Rents: Pursuant to new law, title underwriters have been rewriting the guidelines for insuring title when the ground rent owner cannot be located. If the seller cannot provide proof of regular payments of ground rents, some underwriters are requiring an escrow of 3-years worth of back rent, plus an additional $500 as a cushion. Under the new law, before a ground rent owner can claim any of the $500, he has to notify the owner and the "title agent or attorney listed on the deed to the property or on the intake sheet recorded with the deed". If, after 45-days, the ground rent owner gets no response, he can file for ejectment. Prudent practice would dictate that title agents keep a log of open ground-rent escrows so that the correspondence from the ground owner is not ignored. Active Service Members: New statutes provide: Military and Foreign Service personnel are allowed to utilize the $250,000 tax-free exemption if they have lived the home for 2 of the 15 years preceding sale (instead of 5 years) provided that, for 10 of those years, they were posted in a different duty station at least 50 miles from their home. This is retroactive, so some servicemen may wish to amend prior returns. Additionally, pay earned by enlisted personnel while serving in a combat zone is not generally taxed. Survey Shows Most Real Estate Agents Willing to Try New Title Companies): The Title Report, an industry newspaper, recently conducted a 15-market survey about title companies. Notwithstanding real estate agent loyalty to agents, but close to 18% expressed a willingness to try a different agent (so much for loyalty). Most preferred small, local title companies. Only 20% indicated that online transaction ability was a desired offering by a title company. Personal relationship with the title company was extremely important. The most important factor to the real estate agent: error-free work. What would prompt an agent to change title companies: in decreasing order: "just call me to start a relationship", lower prices, better service, friendly service. Defalcations by Title Agents Continue: Miami Beach once again shows the cost of living in the capital of fun and sun. An agent was arrested for stealing $5.5 million to subsidize his yachts, cars and an expensive home. In the meantime, 8 families lost their homes. The signals of defalcation were all there, but undetected much too late. Attorney's Title Insurance Fund, Inc. ("ATIF") was hit in this scheme. In an unrelated announcement, ATIF announced it will be activating several new technologies to manage the identities of its users and to control access to the 100 million records it offers online. Defalcation in the amount of $80 million reported in Chicago arose because of a bad investment in the junk bond market, which was replenished with escrow funds. Individual corporate officers "intend to plead not guilty" according to Associated Press. Seller's Failure to Provide Marketable Title: Sellers refused to settle because they were unable to convey marketable title, claiming that a condition precedent had not been satisfied. Appellate court rules that Purchaser could elect to accept conveyance of whatever interest Seller had, with a proportional abatement in the purchase price. The Sellers conducted amounted to breach of a covenant and not a condition precedent. White River v. Souhegan (Court of Appeals of Michigan, No. 234972). To update your list of very handy websites: www.NTIWeb.com: an excellent site made available by Chicago Title to its agents and clients with state-specific customs (i.e. who traditionally pays for premiums, recording taxes, recording requirements, etc.) and other information. www.FreeTimeSheet.com: provides a free integrated timesheet, expense reporting and project tracking for up to 5 users (you will have to put up with their advertising). www.FindLaw.com: good, free portal with links to resource materials in various practice groups. http://Thomas.loc.Gov: Full text of federal legislation, roll-call votes, complete Congressional Record. www.USCourts.gov: An ever-improving site giving access to federal courts, opinions, rules, guidelines. http://www.washington.dc.us.landata.com: Obtain copies of documents recorded at the D.C. Recorder of Deeds. Search by party name, lot/square, or instrument number. Free version will not let you view documents. Registered users may view documents for free (but modest per-document charge to print). www.EntreWorld.org: A wonderful site geared towards entrepreneurs produced by the Kauffman Foundation (no relation to Roy Kaufmann) www.TheUltimates.com: one of the best search tools for addresses and names. It includes a "reverse search" where you put in the phone number and the listing is provided, but does not include a "criss-cross" whereby you can put in an address and confirm the listed phone and/or occupants. U.S. Patriot Act affects title companies! You have to make sure the parties to your transaction are not "Specially Designated Nationals" the names of which are found on a list of approximately 250 names of people suspected in terrorism matters. The Act freezes assets of those people and restricts everyone from having "transactions" with these individuals. Fortunately, the ALTA has a site that enables you to do this very quickly. You may want to add this step to your settlement procedures. Hint: search field is at the bottom of the page. After you have conducted your search, you can use the "Edit" button at the top of your screen, then "Find on this page" for the specific name you searched for.  Click to see ALTA Search for Specially Designated Nationals under the USA Patriot Act Please feel free to circulate this newsletter to others in the industry, both within and outside your office. Sincerely, Roy L. Kaufmann of the Real Property and Asset Management Group Jackson & Campbell P.C. email: rkaufmann@jackscamp.com voice: (202) 457-1600 web: http://www.JacksCamp.com
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