Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert Directory

Wall Street Is Buying Starter Homes to Quietly Become America’s Landlord

February 27, 2023 — Patrick Clark - Bloomberg
Javier Vidana started out as a real estate agent in 2013, when Arizona’s Salt River Valley seemed wide open. It was the aftermath of a housing market crash that had seen the typical home value in the Phoenix metro area fall more than 50%, and a single parent with good credit could tap loan programs geared toward first-time homeowners and find a pretty decent place to live. For Vidana, the challenge was convincing potential clients that a house was something they wanted to own. “We were on the phone begging people to buy,” he says. “There was no buyer confidence whatsoever.” The economy crawled forward, and the housing market with it. Vidana made a specialty of tutoring young buyers on real estate basics. Soon he was supplementing his commission income by selling how-to PDFs on his website and collecting ad revenue on his YouTube channel. Then the pandemic sparked a boom that gave him something new to explain. Americans responded to the work-from-home era by house shopping, and no big city was hotter than Phoenix. The median home was worth about $285,000 at the beginning of the pandemic; it was valued at $435,000 two years later. It wasn’t unheard of for a seller to receive 50 offers or more, or for a prospective buyer to make offers on a dozen different homes before finally closing a deal. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Patrick Clark, Bloomberg

Sustainability Is an Ever-Increasing Issue in Development

November 21, 2022 — Scott L. Baker - Los Angeles Litigation Blog
Businesses must be open to change. It is essential to survive in the business world, regardless of the industry. This goes hand-in-hand with the necessity to change along with consumer needs and values as well. With the increasing emphasis on sustainability across industries, many businesses have had to make their processes and products more environmentally friendly. However, in terms of real estate construction, there are some challenges. SUSTAINABILITY IN NEW CONSTRUCTION IS NOW A MATTER OF LAW – NOT JUST A PREFERENCE The push to become greener comes from many fronts. Property owners, potential buyers and even lawmakers all expect the real estate industry to go greener. For example, homeowners and businesses often want their properties to meet their personal values of sustainability. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Scott L. Baker, Baker & Associates
Mr. Baker may be contacted at slb@bakerslaw.com

Policy Renewals: Has Your Insurer Been Naughty or Nice?

December 26, 2022 — Latosha M. Ellis & Jae Lynn Huckaba - Hunton insurance Recovery Blog
A review of insurance policies at renewal should be on every business’s annual task list—and it should be checked twice! Just as your business grows and evolves every year, so should your insurance program. Together with staying proactive and preparing for renewal months before the policy expiration, there are a number of best practices to put your business in the best position to maximize insurance recovery, including shopping around, evaluating changes to your business, engaging the appropriate stakeholders, and performing a policy audit with a coverage attorney. Shop Around An early start to the renewal process allows for thorough decision-making and more time to engage in negotiations with the insurer. Even if the preference is to stay with the existing insurer, shopping around creates some buying power within the negotiation process. Evaluate Operational or Business Practice Changes Risk control and mitigation have a direct impact on your premiums and availability of coverage. Assess any changes in the business’s exposure to risk and make any necessary insurance coverage adjustments. Reprinted courtesy of Latosha M. Ellis, Hunton Andrews Kurth and Jae Lynn Huckaba, Hunton Andrews Kurth Ms. Ellis may be contacted at lellis@HuntonAK.com Ms. Huckaba may be contacted at jhuckaba@HuntonAK.com Read the court decision
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John Boyden, Alison Kertis Named “Top Rank Attorneys” by Nevada Business Magazine

July 25, 2022 — John Boyden & Alison Kertis - Lewis Brisbois
Reno, Nev. (June 16, 2022) – Reno Partner John Boyden and Associate Alison Kertis were recently named to Nevada Business Magazine's 2022 list of "Top Rank Attorneys." Formerly known as "Legal Elite," this annual list represents the top talent in the legal industry across the State of Nevada. According to Nevada Business Magazine, thousands of attorneys are nominated for the list and then scored based on the number and type of votes they receive, with votes from outside an attorney's firm receiving more weight. Finally, before being added to the list, the attorneys, and the votes they receive, go through several levels of verification and scrutiny, with each ballot individually reviewed for eligibility and every voting attorney verified with the State Bar of Nevada. The magazine has published this list for the past 15 years. Reprinted courtesy of John Boyden, Lewis Brisbois and Alison Kertis, Lewis Brisbois Mr. Boyden may be contacted at John.Boyden@lewisbrisbois.com Ms. Kertis may be contacted at Alison.Kertis@lewisbrisbois.com Read the court decision
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China Construction Bank Sued in US Over Reinsurance Fraud Losses

June 21, 2024 — Robert Burnson - Bloomberg
China Construction Bank Corp., the nation’s third-largest commercial lender, was accused in a US lawsuit of enabling a massive fraud in the reinsurance industry that left companies with “monumental losses” and sinking stock prices. The bank allowed employees to conspire with Israeli insurance startup Vesttoo Ltd. to sell reinsurance policies that weren’t real, according to a complaint filed late Thursday by the Porch Group in Manhattan federal court. Vesttoo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August after it was accused of using some $2 billion of fraudulent letters of credit. The Porch Group said that its unit Homeowners of America Insurance Co. lost tens of millions of dollars when its purported $300 million letter of credit proved worthless. “Not only did HOA incur colossal losses, but news of its exposure to the fraud perpetrated by Vesttoo and CCB shocked the market and imposed severe losses on Porch Group’s shareholders as its stock price plummeted,” according to the suit. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Robert Burnson, Bloomberg

But Wait There’s More: Preserving Claims on Commonwealth Projects

February 07, 2018 — Wally Zimolong - Supplemental Conditions Blog
On construction projects owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a contractor may make a claim with the Board of Claims. But first, you must be aware of two limitations periods that could cause you to waive your claim if they are not met. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Wally Zimolong, Zimolong LLC
Mr. Zimolong may be contacted at wally@zimolonglaw.com

New York State Legislature Reintroduces Bills to Extend Mortgage Recording Tax to Mezzanine Debt and Preferred Equity

March 15, 2021 — Steven E. Coury & Marissa Levy - White and Williams
Companion bills in the New York State Legislature, Assembly Bill No. A3139 and Senate Bill No. S3074, if enacted, would subject mezzanine loans and preferred equity investments to the same recording and taxation requirements placed on mortgages. The bills were reintroduced last month after similar bills (S7231/A9041) were introduced in the 2019-2020 legislative session. The prior bills died in committee when last year’s legislative session adjourned. As discussed in our prior alert, the proposed bills would require: (1) a financing statement evidencing any mezzanine debt and/or preferred equity investments related to real property to be filed in the county in which the real property is located and (2) a recording tax, at the same rate as the applicable mortgage recording tax rate (2.80% for commercial mortgages over $500,000 in New York City), to be imposed on the amount of the debt and/or investment at the time the financing statement is filed. The bills contain a limited carve-out for owner-occupied residential cooperatives. Reprinted courtesy of Steven E. Coury, White and Williams and Marissa Levy, White and Williams Mr. Coury may be contacted at courys@whiteandwilliams.com Ms. Levy may be contacted at levmp@whiteandwilliams.com Read the court decision
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Homebuilding on the Rise in Nation’s Capitol

November 07, 2012 — CDJ STAFF
Is the homebuilding crunch over in DC? The Washington Post has reported that while new home construction is up throughout the country, in the DC area, construction has reached levels last seen in 2006. From January to August 2012, there were more than 19,000 building permits issued in the area, nearly doubling the number issued by that point in 2011. While building is on a quicker pace, what’s being built has changed. As compared to 2006, there are more townhomes, condos, and smaller homes being built. The article notes that 11 percent of new construction is condos, while in 2006, it was only 5 percent. Read the court decision
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CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES