By Adam Leitman Bailey July 10th, 2008 Q. Some apartment sales in New York City require a certain percentage as a down payment — often 10 percent. Isn’t this a decision made by the bank providing the mortgage? Does the seller have a say in this? A. In New York City, “the down payment, also Full Article…
Q & A: Adding ‘Partners’ to Co-op Shares, The New York Times, Speakers: Jay Romano
By Adam Leitman Bailey May 12th, 2010 Q. What rights does being registered as “domestic partners” in New York City convey in regard to real estate? I moved into my partner’s co-op five years ago, but the board refuses to add my name to the shares and proprietary lease. A. Adam Leitman Bailey, a Manhattan Full Article…
Navigating Buyers and Developers Through New Construction Deals, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio May 3rd, 2010 In late 2008, the real estate sky had started to fall and fall quickly. As a result of the loss of financing and wages, many purchasers in contract to buy a unit in a newly constructed building were either no longer able or willing Full Article…
The Inquiring Mind: Buying Building with Separate Heating Plant, New York Housing Journal
Q. I’m thinking of buying a building that doesn’t have a separate heating plant. Instead, each apartment has individual electric baseboards. The tenants pay for the electricity for these baseboard units. Will I be able to continue to use that system? A. The law requires that multiple dwellings (that is, buildings with three or more Full Article…
Reducing Refinancing Expenses
By LISA PREVOST New York homeowners looking to refinance an existing mortgage don’t have to pay the state’s mortgage recording tax all over again. Yet they may end up doing so if their lenders don’t cooperate. The state charges a recording tax on new mortgage debt. The rate varies by county, with the minimum being Full Article…
Despite ‘Jones,’ Ambiguities In Title Chain Can Be Cured
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman When the Supreme Court decided Jones v. Flowers,1 it exacerbated a nagging problem for the title insurance industry – the necessity to do constitutional analysis when examining chains of title. With the current state of the economy, tax foreclosures are increasing. Thus, more properties have these ambiguities in Full Article…
Power-of-Attorney Changes Scramble Property Transfers, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman As of Sept. 1, New York has abolished its old easy single-sheet statutory power of attorney form (POA) and replaced it with a tremendously complicated new law1 describing a highly complex new document with a misleadingly named optional rider.2 The 1948 original form and its successors were designed Full Article…
Title Insurance Complexities in Tax Foreclosure Purchases, Mortgage Banking Magazine
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman For the past four years, nearly every title company providing title insurance in the United States of America has been scrambling to interpret federal and state court decisions setting the rules for determining when a tax foreclosure sale will be safe from judicial knockouts. When the U.S. Supreme Full Article…