Imputed Income from a Foreclosure--Take a Look at "Insolvency"When Dealing with the IRS - 10/31/10 10:10 PM
The advice I am discussing arose when a close friend called me with a real problem. In 2008, an investment property which he owned was foreclosed upon. As a result the foreclosure, the foreclosing bank received $200,000 on a property upon which my client had a $360,000 mortgage. When he did not hear from the bank in terms of a deficiency, he was understandably relieved.
Consider his chagrin when the IRS contacted him about a month ago, and informed him they were looking for a substantial sum of money (over $100,000) as a result of the fact that the foreclosure had … (3 comments)

Three Long Days of Divorce Mediation Training--There is definitely some "cross-over" to my real estate practice - 10/30/10 07:31 AM
Like so many other things which have happened in my life, Divorce Mediation training was not quite what I expected. After taking what was called a "cram" course to pass the Bar Exam in 1968, I had not been back to school. This was not quite the same as school, but there were 18 of us, and we started at 8:30 AM and finished at 5:30 PM each day. Fortunately, the experienced Divorce Mediators who worked with us, Diane Neuman and John Fiske, were extremely bright and the materials were well presented.
Massachusetts, unlike many other states, has no licensing for Divorce … (8 comments)

Divorce Mediation--Tomorrow starts a new chapter in my career!! - 10/26/10 06:28 AM
With the slowdown in real estate transactions in Massachusetts, and my continuing need to "try something different" as a part of my basic framework, I am beginning 40 hours of training as a Divorce Mediator starting tomorrow morning,and  ending next Saturday. At this point, I know only the rudiments of Divorce Mediation. Perhaps, in ten days I will be more expert.
The interesting thing about this career enhancement is that I even though I am a licensed attorney in Massachusetts, my practice has not included representing litigants in a contested divorce for probably 35 years. I do not have the patience for Court … (10 comments)

The weekly publication, BOSTON HOMES--A Well Connceived and Handy Resource for Buyer, Renter and Realtor - 10/23/10 07:56 AM
The weekly publication, BOSTON HOMES, has been in existence for a considerable length of time. I rerecently had the opportunity to review its approximately 50 pages of contents, when my wife, Joanne, who r4recently secured her Real Estate Salesperson's License purchase a copy to give her information about Open Houses in Boston last Sunday. She is attending as many Open Houses as she can to get a better grasp of what might be available to potential customers.
The publication is well-written and well-organized. It separates Boston's many neighborhoods into separate bailiwicks and then provides listings and local information for each neighborhood. … (0 comments)

Buy versus rent--There are a few calculations that need to be made before you can decide - 10/23/10 01:19 AM
In the constant quasi-battle between the two, "rent" seems to be winning out over "buy" in the current real estate climate. Some of the reasons are fairly obvious. Renting involves a finite commitment in time and resources, and some hidden defect in the property will, at worst, become a bother. Generally, a residential renter does not need to worry about real estate taxes and utilities would be the occupying party's obligation whether you rented or bought.
It would seem, therefore,  that the "rent" side has many advantages, and few disadvantages to the person or couple seeking a new place to live. … (3 comments)

Revising Condominium Documents in a Changing World--A few ideas that may help matters along - 10/22/10 06:55 AM
At least in my neck of the woods, condominiums came into vogue in the early 1970's, pretty much the same time as when Richard Nixon was our President (at least, for a while). They were a new and bold innovation, and the early thrust of Condominiums was to provide inexpensive home ownership for young couples and seniors.
Obviously, the concept has evolved into much more than this at present. Condominiums now represent a substantial portion of the urban and resort housing stock, yet some of the documents which are the cornerstone of Condominium operations are more than thirty years old. Some more modern … (3 comments)

The Solution to the Housing Crisis--Getting Back to Basics- - 10/21/10 11:11 PM
A little more than a year ago, a client of mine called me and told me he had heard of a situation in New Jersey where a charitable ccorporation was purchasing mortgage loans which were badly in default, contacting the Borrowers to see if they wished to work out an arrangement to stay in their homes, and, generally getting the loans back into a performing arena.
This client asked me if I would want to work with him on a similar approach in New England. Our collective goal would be to identify properties which had some retained value in generally favorable locations and … (7 comments)

Valuation Disputes---There are many ways for parties to resolve them - 10/18/10 06:15 AM
As I have written in the past, I try in almost all situations involving joint ownership by non-spouses to have the parties enter into a tenancy in common (TIC) or joint tenancy (JT) agreement. [This problem does not generally exist with married couples because there is a legal overlay with divirce and separation which will resolve the disposition of marital assets]
What I normally do in my TIC or JT agreements is develop a mechanism whereby one person can leave the TIC or JY with a minimum of disruption to the respective parties' lives. This is achieved through a variety of mechanisms which … (5 comments)

Record and Marketable Title--The News of its Death has been greatly exaggerated!! - 10/17/10 09:05 AM
Mike Jaquish's recent post about real concerns with the sanctity of title in real property in America is apt and thoughtful. How are we as an industry to function if we cannot reassure our buyers that there will no title issues or problems after they purchase? Certainly purchasing an owner's policy of title insurance will help. That will shift the burden to an entity which is well capitalized and experienced if a problem comes up after purchase.
Unfortunately, owner's title insurance will only get the buyer past the "insurable" portion of title. Many representatives of buyers will not be comfortable with … (5 comments)

Owning All the Units in a Condominum--It sounds simple, but there are important decisions which need to be considered - 10/16/10 10:47 AM
I represent a couple in Boston who live in a beautiful two leverl condominium in a three unit Condominium. They have recently purchased Unit 2 on the second floor, and we have under agreement the last Unit on the top floor. In the reasonably near future, my clients will own ALL of the Units in the Condominium and be in total control. As positive as that situation appears, it can cause some future decisions that were probably not anticipated when they began their pursuit of totality.
At some point, a decision will need to be made concerning whether my clients should … (2 comments)

To Err is Human; to forgive Divine--Apologies to one and all - 10/15/10 02:57 PM
I recently wrote a post that was not featured, but seemed to inspire comments from almost everyone, questioning either my sanity or my fitness to work with Realtors on real estate transactions. I can only conclude that the concept of helping out a transaction by "chipping in" is so alien to many of you that it is a subject that will never, ever be discussed by me on ActiveRain. Frankly, I am amazed at some of the comments, and from some of the luminaries on our blog-site. So, I am setting forth here my Mea Culpa's, and an explanation of what … (9 comments)

Fighting Back!!!!--Some tricks of the Trade which may help your Mortgage Loan proceed through the system at less than a snail's pace - 10/14/10 06:55 AM
I am not sure I understand why every purchase mortgage loan takes forever to get to the finish line. We see scenarios where the Appraiser is the bad guy. He, she or they are "backed up: three and four weeks, and without an appraisal, the world stops. I haven't figured out how to deal with this "stall tactic". I do have the following suggestions to deal with other "unfortunate delays" and I would like to share some of the wisdom I have accumulated in dealing the the many Albert Einsteins who underwrite mortgage loans:
     1. Never, ever put repair items … (16 comments)

The Sanctity of Contract--We're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy!!! - 10/13/10 04:54 PM
This post is written with no intended offense to people who live in the Sunflower State. It certainly is not meant to offend the Dorothy's of the world, especially since Dorothy is my only sister's middle name. What I am extremely upset about, and cannot seem to find a solution for, is the total insouciance people demonstrate when they have made a written commitment to do one thing, and then just ignore the commitment when what they agreed to does not fit into their plans.
A great example these days is Lenders and Commitment Dates and Closing Dates. I have been … (5 comments)

Blogging for Business--Open up some of your heretofore "secret" approaches or business practices and people will want to utilize you as a resource more and more - 10/06/10 10:32 PM
Transparency is a term which is generally reserved for large banks and financial institutions. There has been a grwoing awareness, since the fall of Lehman, that we need to know better what financial giants are doing before we get stuck in another cataclysmic situation like the last months of 2008. The price for bailing out these "too large to fail" institutions was at least getting behind their corporate shells and having some idea of the way they managed their business.
Most of us on ActiveRain are small business people. We have worked hard to develop our niche, and, until the advent … (4 comments)

Massacusetts Tenancy-In-Common Agreements--The Rest of the Story and What I Have attempted so far to Preserve a Family Thanksgiving - 10/01/10 04:58 PM
Many of you were extremely interested in my recent post concerning sisters who had reached an impasse regarding a property in Massachusetts which they had purchased together. They were not getting along, and had very different visions about the use of the vacation home they purchased 4 and 1/2 years ago.
It was bad enough the property had lost 25% of its value. Now, they were at odds about how the property should be utilized. My client, a hard-working executive, regarded the property as a family retreat, a place ot spend time with her husband and young child. The other owners wanted to … (1 comments)

 
Picture_005 Rainmaker_large

Elliott S. Topkins Massachusetts Real Estate and Title Atty

Boston, MA

More about me…

Topkins & Bevans-etopkins@topbev.com

Address: 10 Newbury Street, 4th Floor, Boston, MA , 02116

Office Phone: (617) 236-0104

Cell Phone: (617) 596-3184

Email Me

Realtor's Resource Blog is dedicated to furnishing current strategy and information to the Massachusetts real estate community of professionals and to out of state realtors and REO and relocation companies who need excellent representation in Massachusetts. My law firm, Topkins & Bevans, can cover the entire state of Massachusetts. I hope to use my 40 years of hands-on real estate experience to assist you and your Massachusetts Buyers and Sellers.


Listings

Links

Archives

RSS 2.0 Feed for this blog

Find MA real estate agents and Boston real estate on ActiveRain.