Following the death of a loved one, you may become the recipient of an unexpected parcel of real estate. Yet, with every windfall comes great obligations, so be prepared for the surprises you may encounter when inheriting property.

Andrew Lieb's latest article featured in The Huffington Post includes the following topics:

1. Mortgage Transfer
2. Reverse Mortgage
3. Rental
4. Homeowners Insurance
5. Testamentary Substitutes
6. Estate Tax
7. Capital Gains Tax
8. Probate
9. Heirs at Law
10. Right of Election

On October 30, 2014, Supplemental Directive 14-04 was issued by Treasury.

2 major changes for those considering a short sale or deed-in-lieu are offered by this Directive.

FIRST - Relocation assistance available to the property owner, who occupies the property as a principal residence and is required to vacate as a condition of the short sale or deed-in-lieu, will be eligible for $10,000 as opposed to $3,000 for transactions that close on or after February 1, 2015.

SECOND - Perhaps most importantly, for transactions closing on or after February 1, 2015, the gross sales proceeds that may be paid to a subordinate mortgage lien holder (e.g. 2nd mortgage) used to be capped at $8,500, but now there is no cap requirement. Instead, servicers can create their own cap provided its not less than $12,000.

To explain the second change above, a first mortgagee may approve a short sale, but the second mortgagee may deny it because there is no fair market value to support a payment to the mortgagee (i.e. the house is underwater as to the second mortgage). This change permits the first mortgagee to pay the second mortgagee (out of their monies from the short sale) to approve the short sale and extends what was a cap of $8,500 in payment to a minimum new cap of $12,000 and potentially no cap at all.

Many deals die because of the second lienholder - this Supplemental Directive should save a lot of deals.

On October 21, 2014 the New York State Department of Financial Services sent correspondence to Ocwen's General Counsel raising issue "with Ocwen's systems and processes".

What's the single piece of advice you'd give any prospective buyer right now?

Andrew Lieb along with a select group of industry insiders on the East End share advice to prospective buyers on Dan's Papers. Click here to learn more. 

This revised tool is used by "servicers participating in HAMP as a tool for deciding whether to modify a troubled mortgage that is eligible for subsidies under the program".

A main thrust of this new version of the NPV tool is for non-owner-occupied properties.

Additionally, investor incentives for successful modifications are enhanced by way of this new Model v5.0.

If you want to actually know how modification decisions are made, knowing this document is a must.

Business Insider has a terrific article, The 25 Biggest Landowners In The US, where we meet who controls the soil in our country.

The data behind the article was provided by The Land Report.

Most fascinating are the blurbs under each landowner that explains what you do with all of that land - there are ranchers, aerospace testers, foresters, lumber-manufacturers, equestrians, conservationists, farmers, and much more.

In perspective, Manhattan Island in New York City is 22.7 square miles or better stated - John Malone owns more land than 151 Manhattans.

The Appellate Division recently addressed a situation where a guaranty accompanying the original lease was enforced post-modification of that underlying lease in 4 USS LLC v. DSW MS LLC where the court ruled that the Guarantee could "recover under the terms of the lease, prior to its modification".

This means that where you make a deal to modify the terms of your lease, you may still be personally liable under the old guaranty for past breaches of that previous lease.

The takeaway from this case is to address the guaranty documents in the modification documents and expressly state the intentions of the parties as to past breaches and their enforceability post-modification.

Real estate agents often only think about getting the functional results that their clients expressly state accomplished - this case is a reminder of the necessity to clean up the past before emerging into the goals stated by your clients for the future.

Otherwise, the past can come back to bite you.

If you or your clients are in the process of purchasing property and want a resource guide that explains Homeowners' Insurance, check out Andrew Matthew Lieb's latest article featured in The Huffington Post.

Surprises About Homeowners' Insurance You Probably Didn't Know


Topics Include:

• Categories of Insurance
• Deductibles
• Property Damage Coverage
• Off-Premises Coverage
• Household Workers' Coverage
• Rental Issues
• Notice Requirements
• Mitigation Requirements
• Duty to Defend
• Declaratory Judgment Option: