Residential
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March 04, 2025
DC Opposes RealPage Bid For Sanctions In Antitrust Case
The District of Columbia and its attorneys at Cohen Milstein are opposing a bid for sanctions from RealPage in the district's rental pricing case, contending they have support for allegations about the company not wanting to work with landlords that reject its price recommendations.
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March 04, 2025
Attorneys Shift Gaze To Contracts As Trade Tensions Escalate
Construction experts are racing to keep up with rapid changes from the White House on tariffs amid what's now becoming a full-fledged trade war, and are working out how best to allocate cost-increase risk in their contracts. Lawyers shared several contract excerpts with Law360 Real Estate Authority.
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March 04, 2025
Insurer Can't Escape Fla. Condo's Hurricane Damage Dispute
An insurer can't escape a Florida condominium association's suit seeking coverage for property damage caused by a September 2020 hurricane, a New York federal court ruled, saying the association's update of a preexisting elevator replacement bid in light of storm damage was not clearly fraudulent conduct or misrepresentation.
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March 04, 2025
4th Circ. Finds No Harm In Facebook Ads For Young Renters
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a Maryland federal court's dismissal of a would-be renter's proposed class action alleging age discrimination by the D.C. area's largest real estate firms Tuesday, finding that the plaintiff failed to show that she was harmed by the company's targeting of younger renters in Facebook ads.
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March 04, 2025
NY Creates Framework For County Tax On Short-Term Rentals
New York established a framework for counties to impose tax on short-term rentals as part of a bill signed by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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March 04, 2025
DeSantis Backs Canning Fla. Rent Tax, Cutting Property Taxes
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called on state legislators Tuesday to eliminate the state's business rent tax on commercial leases and reaffirmed his pledge to support an effort by lawmakers to draft a constitutional amendment that would cut property taxes.
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March 04, 2025
PE Firm Bascom Buys LA County Apartments For $127M
The Bascom Group, a private equity firm based in Irvine, California, has announced it acquired a 257-unit apartment complex in the Los Angeles area for $127 million.
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March 03, 2025
Real Estate Bills To Watch In Florida's Legislative Session
Florida's annual two-month legislative session officially kicks off Tuesday, but lawmakers have already been at work drafting and filing bills. With a total of 1,821 bills filed between the two chambers before last Friday's deadline, a considerable number have the potential to impact real estate, with several likely to feature prominently in upcoming debates.
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March 03, 2025
9th Circ. Rejects Redo Of Antitrust Case Against Zillow, NAR
The Ninth Circuit on Monday said it would not revive a defunct brokerage platform's case accusing Zillow and the National Association of Realtors of deception related to the online real estate company's website, saying there was no conspiracy in the way changes were made to how listings were displayed.
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March 03, 2025
Purlin Harnesses AI To Connect The Dots In Homebuying
Law360's Proptech Profile series looks at California-based software company Purlin Co., whose founder has striven to combine business and technology principles to deliver AI-powered homebuying tools that he says align with consumers' wants while delivering superior efficiency and results for real estate providers.
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March 03, 2025
Mich. Homeowners Denied Cert. In RICO Foreclosure Suit
A Michigan federal judge followed a recent string of decisions denying class certification to homeowners who allege local governments profited from the sales of their tax-foreclosed property, rejecting Wayne County residents' attempt to certify a class of people who say a racketeering scheme stripped them of their foreclosed homes' surplus equity.
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March 03, 2025
National Association Of Realtors Names New GC
The National Association of Realtors has tapped its vice president of political advocacy as its new general counsel in the trade group's Washington, D.C., office.
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March 03, 2025
4th Circ. Backs Away From Contractor's Arbitration Fight
The Fourth Circuit said Monday it doesn't have jurisdiction over a contractor's challenge to a couple's arbitration award for an incomplete home renovation project, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's holding that federal courts have jurisdiction only over motions to compel, but not vacate or confirm, arbitration awards.
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March 03, 2025
Treasury Halts Enforcement Of Corporate Transparency Act
The U.S. Treasury Department won't enforce the Corporate Transparency Act on U.S. businesses and will change regulations so it only applies to foreign companies registered stateside, according to an announcement that activists said invites criminals into the U.S. and lawyers said could provoke judicial scrutiny.
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March 03, 2025
Lennar GC Saw Comp Rise To $3.4M In 2024
For the second consecutive year, the general counsel of homebuilder Lennar Corp. saw an increase in overall compensation while the company's co-CEOs continued to see their earnings decrease, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
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March 03, 2025
Firms Raise $470M For Opportunity Zone Projects In 4 States
Financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald and real estate company Silverstein Properties on Monday said they have capped a fund at $470 million to invest in a group of four multifamily and mixed-use developments in four states, with nearly 2,000 housing units and 1.5 million square feet of space between the projects.
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March 03, 2025
2 Firms Guide $3.2B Canadian Senior Living Portfolio Buy
Real estate investment trust Welltower Inc. purchased a 38-property portfolio of Canadian ultra-luxury senior living communities and nine development parcels from the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in a $3.2 billion deal guided by Stikeman Elliott LLP and Torys LLP, according to two announcements Sunday.
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March 03, 2025
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Weil Gotshal, Vinson & Elkins and Kanfer & Holtzer are among the law firms that picked up work on the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week.
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March 03, 2025
Real Estate Cos. Strike $75K Deal In Time Shaving Suit
A real estate investment company and its subsidiary will pay $75,000 to end a lawsuit alleging it underpaid cleaners by requiring them to clock out before they finished their work, according to a filing in New York federal court.
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February 28, 2025
Bills Look To Bolster Florida's Affordable Housing Efforts
Housing affordability has commanded significant attention from the Florida Legislature in recent years, and it promises to be a major topic of discussion once again in the 2025 session starting Tuesday, as two recently filed bills are proposing broad actions to take on persistent challenges.
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February 28, 2025
9th Circ. Backs Developer's Conviction For Bribing LA Pol
The Ninth Circuit upheld a developer's conviction for bribing former Los Angeles City Councilor Jose Huizar to foil a challenge to a downtown project, ruling Thursday the district court didn't have to instruct jurors that the government had to prove the developer bribed Huizar to take a specific, official act.
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February 28, 2025
Quarterly Calls: DeepSeek, Wildfires, Park Ave
See what some of the largest real estate companies and investment firms told investors and analysts about the market and the prospects for data centers, multifamily housing and offices.
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February 28, 2025
Opendoor Tops Revenue Expectations But Faces Tough Market
The new year has gotten off to a slow start in the home sales market, but leaders at Opendoor Technologies Inc. said in an earnings call that they think recent cost-saving efforts have made the home-selling platform a leaner, more efficient business.
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February 28, 2025
200 Organizations Fight To Protect COVID-Era Renter Rights
More than 200 national and local organizations urged Congress on Friday not to pass bicameral legislation introduced in February that would strike down a pandemic-era protection for renters at federally backed properties, arguing the provision dramatically reduced eviction rates.
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February 28, 2025
Dallas-Area Officials OK Features For $2.5B Mixed-Use Project
Planning officials in Frisco, Texas, have signed off on a parking garage, an amphitheater and a group of 10 retail and restaurant buildings for a developer's $2.5 billion project north of Dallas called Firefly Park.
Expert Analysis
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CRA Plays Role In DOJ Fight Against Redlining
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.
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Colo. Eviction Case Could Transform Tenant Rights
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.
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Harsh 11th Circ. Rebuke Should Inspire Changes At CFPB
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.
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3 Alternatives To CRE Collateralized Loan Obligations
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.
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Fla. Banking Brief: All The Notable Compliance Updates In Q2
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.
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NY Court Sends Mixed Signals On Contested Foreclosure Law
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.
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Expect CFPB Scrutiny On AI In Lending
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.
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Texas Construction Statute Of Repose Leaves Open Questions
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.
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In The CFPB Playbook: Abuse Policy, PACE, Payment Apps
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.
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How To Avoid Flopping When Flipping Fla. Real Estate
As land prices rise, Florida real estate developers are increasingly contracting to flip property to other purchasers for a profit, and they should carefully consider the unique risks and issues associated with the different forms that the process can take, says Gary Kaleita at Lowndes.
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States Must Fight Predatory Real Estate Listing Agreements
As momentum against long-term real estate listing agreements continues to grow, states should take action to render existing agreements unenforceable and discourage future unfair and deceptive trade practices in real estate, says Elizabeth Blosser at the American Land Title Association.
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Steps To Success For Senior Associates
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Adriana Paris at Rissman Barrett discusses the increased responsibilities and opportunities that becoming a senior associate brings and what attorneys in this role should prioritize to flourish in this stressful but rewarding next level in their careers.
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Ohio Tax Talk: Building On Federal Affordable Housing Credit
Ohio's soon-to-be-implemented low-income housing tax credit could significantly affect the state's affordable housing landscape and influence tax-credit deal financing for these projects, though Senate changes may have dampened the new credit's immense potential, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.