CLTA-sponsored legislation in the form of SB 1139 (Morrell), which would indefinitely extend home equity line of credit (HELOC) reforms that standardize the written notification process for the easy closing of HELOCs during escrow, passed unanimously out of the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee yesterday...

Several bills related to SB 2 (Atkins), also known as the Building Homes and Jobs Act, have been derailed in the legislature in recent weeks. ...

Assembly Bill 2746 (Garcia) seeks to prevent the automatic bankruptcy stay from stopping a tax sale once the right of redemption expires. Often taxpayers file bankruptcy to remain in the property for as long as possible. The new wrinkle ...

Without any votes to spare, the Assembly passed AB 2803 (Limon) by a vote of 41-27. The bill provides that residential lead-based paint that affects the health of a considerable number of persons interferes with a public right. The substance of the ...

Assembly Bill 2069 (Bonta) proposed requiring employers to offer reasonable accommodation to a qualified patient or person with an identification card who was using marijuana to treat a known physical or mental disability or known medical ...

A CLTA News Express (June 6, 2018).  The dust has started to settle after California’s top-two or "jungle" primary. The winning candidates can now begin to size up the general election opponents they’ll face in the fall. ...

In a recent hearing before the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, SB 993 (Hertzberg), which would tax services purchased or used by businesses in California, was held without a vote. CLTA is opposed to ...

Fannie Mae’s Mortgage Fraud Program (MFP) alerts the industry to potential and active mortgage fraud scenarios. This alert relates to a scheme involving misrepresentation of borrower employment. ...

Housing Wire (by Ben Lane), June 11, 2018.  The federal government recently announced that it conducted a massive sweep and arrested nearly 75 people who allegedly participated in schemes designed to intercept and hijack wire transfers from businesses and individuals, including those involving real estate transactions. ...

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that took effect in May. When FinCen extended the Geographical Targeting Orders the agency ...

Staff of the Board of Equalization has initiated a project to issue a Letter to Assessors to summarize the various written opinions by the Board of Equalization's Legal Department addressing (1) a property owner's ability to rescind a ...

The California Supreme Court recently gave a boost to those arguing in favor of being treated as employees rather than independent contractors. In the Court’s 82-page opinion in the case of Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court ...

The total title insurance premiums for 2017 show that four major title insurance company groups made up over 85 percent of title insurance premiums in 2017. Results were released by the ALTA and break down premiums by direct written ... 

Even before the Fed rate increase announced last week and the possibility of more rate increases this year, mortgage demand was falling. Fannie Mae reported that mortgage lenders reported a net negative profit margin outlook for ...

California slipped a bit in realtor.com®’s hottest housing markets list for April, the first time in years. Each month, realtor.com® ranks the top metro areas where homes sell the fastest and where home buyers are searching the most for ...

According to CoreLogic’s Loan Performance Insights Report, the delinquency rate in March was 4.3% nationwide, an 11 year low. The rate is now slightly above the 4.2% in March of 2007. The San Francisco metropolitan area had the ...

JetClosing, A Seattle-based digital settlement company, has closed a $20 million round of funding. JetClosing said the new funds will be used to expand into residential real estate markets across the United States. In 2017 ...

Summers v. Superior Court.  In this partition action the court held that California's partition statutes do not allow a court to order the manner of a property's partition, such as the sale ordered by the trial court in this case, before it determines ...

Placer Foreclosure, Inc. v. Aflalo.  Placer Foreclosure, acting as trustee, conducted a trustee's sale of property owned by Aflalo. The sale resulted in surplus proceeds. When Aflalo filed an action against Placer and the third-party buyer for ...

Hacker v. Homeward Residential, Inc.  The court held that plaintiff stated a cause of action for wrongful foreclosure where the lender foreclosed on a note and deed of trust that it obtained by assignment, where the loan had previously been assigned ...