LAW - 671 Land Transfer and Development

(3 hrs.)

Examines the real estate transaction and conveyancing process; real estate brokers and listing agreements, tort and contract liabilities, fiduciary duties, and entitlement to commissions; the Statute of Frauds; contracts of sale; down payments and deposits, contingency clauses, risk of loss provisions, time for performance, attorney review clauses, marketable title provisions, and contract remedies; deeds: short- and long-form deeds, legal descriptions, canons of construction, and title covenants and warranties; escrows: agreements and instructions, procedures, and agency duties; title assurance: title searches, recordings acts, abstractors’ certificates, title insurance policies, state statutes promoting the marketability of titles, curative statutes, and Torrens Acts. Also examines mortgages, deeds of trust, and land finance: the loan underwriting and appraisal process, loan commitments, the secondary market for mortgages, alternative mortgage instruments, and mortgage substitutes; mortgage notes: prepayment covenants, transfer of the note and mortgage; defaults and acceleration of debt; the right to reinstate and redeem the debt, receivers and other pre-foreclosure, real estate bankruptcies, loan workouts, and the environmental law aspects of real estate transfer and finance. Burke, Mark Fall