The Life Cycle of Bankruptcy – Chapters 7, 11, and 13

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:37:17 -0600

Even though bankruptcy filings are becoming more and more commonplace, the process itself is still not easily understood by most people. In general, the bankruptcy process is intended to ultimately give debtors a fresh start. But the path to that fresh start depends on many factors. In the lifecycle of bankruptcy flow chart below, you’ll...

The trouble with a non arm’s-length short sale…

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:36:53 -0600

The Backstory An investor opened several short sale transactions, acting as the buyer in each. One–by–one the short sale transactions began to cancel for one reason or another, leaving the escrow branch disgusted with the amount of work they put into each one without remuneration. The next deal in line came extremely close to closing...

A Case of Brotherly Identity Theft…

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:33:19 -0600

The case… This is a real estate fraud/identity theft case brought by plaintiffs Darryl Dumas (“Darryl”) and Darryl Dumas as Trustee of the Dumas Revocable Living Trust Agreement Dated February 7, 2001 against Darryl’s brother Derrick Dumas (“Derrick”), among others, concerning real property located at 1875 Paradise Drive, Los Angeles, Calif. 90025 (“Subject Property”). On...

The Probate Path – Married Community Property

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:59:26 -0600

Our previous probate path blog post discussed the sad tale of Sam Smith, who died with no kids, and the happy tale of Rolf, his nephew and sole heir who discovered that he had the proverbial “rich uncle.” Three Basic Probate Situations As noted in the December 6th blog, there are three basic probate situations:...

5 Title Insurance Questions to Consider when Purchasing a Home

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:12:16 -0600

For most people, purchasing or refinancing a home happens only a few times in a lifetime.  And thus the topic of title insurance is only top of mind for a fleeting moment once every few years.  So if you’re in the process of selling or buying real estate, here are a few refresher questions you...

Betrayed with an Uninsured Deed…

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:05:36 -0600

An escrow officer in one of our sister operations opened a purchase transaction for $347,000. She ordered the title report and the order was assigned to Casandra, a commercial title officer. Casandra issued the report reflecting two owners of record: Maysa Alhelow, a single woman and Thomas Paul Helo, a married man as his sole...