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Anticipating Legal Needs In An Economic Depression

admin — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:51:53 +0000

By: R. Sebastian Gibson, Attorney At Law

It is January 21, 2008, and not only is the word ARecession@ being used more and more frequently by analysts, we are now starting to also hear the word ADepression@ as a possible outcome of this economic crisis facing the United States and possibly the rest of the world.

As this article is being written, the stock markets around the world have started to fall more precipitously with most of the markets in Europe, Asia, China, Latin America and Canada falling from 5% to 8% overnight. U.S. markets are expected to fall over 500 points when the U.S. markets open again for business on the Tuesday following the Martin Luther King holiday.

Clearly as others have already stated, we are already in a housing depression. If indeed the recession in the U.S. causes other countries to similarly suffer a recession and if the U.S. then falls into a depression not seen since the 1920s in this country, what type of legal ramifications can lawyers expect to see in the U.S.?

In a depression when money is scarce and job security is non-existent, lawyers can expect new legal business to all but dry up. That is almost a given. Hiring a lawyer to pursue a legal remedy except on contingency, will be far down on any person’s list of priorities. Money for food, rent, and other necessities will take a much greater priority in people’s lives.

Not being immune to a depression, lawyers themselves will also be less willing to expend their own limited resources in such times to pursuing all but the most sure of cases. But what will be a sure case in a depression? And what will the attitudes be of insurance companies being asked to settle such cases in a depression?

It is very possible that in a depression, one if not more than one insurance company may declare bankruptcy. Insurance companies routinely invest their assets in stocks, both in the U.S. and in emerging markets. If all such markets fall as they are currently all falling, one or more insurance companies may find that they have lost millions of dollars if not billions of dollars. Once that occurs, they can lose their top credit ratings, and after that, the road is a slippery slope downwards for them.

If one or more such companies fail, the others will likely become extremely cautious in their dealings. They will probably initially become both far more willing to settle all their cases as quickly as possible in order to take their loss reserves off of their books and avoid incurring any more defense legal fees.

If the depression lasts, however, for any length of time, and more insurance companies find themselves at risk of bankruptcy, at some point lawyers may find insurance companies stalling and refusing to settle cases at all in order to preserve what few assets they have left.

As financial matters strain more and more marriages, divorce lawyers may find the number of people seeking divorce rising while fewer and fewer people have the money to pay for legal fees.

Businesses suffering steep losses will similarly be unable or unwilling to hire attorneys to stand up for their legal rights.

Criminal activity is likely to increase throughout the stages of a depression, again with few of those caught having the money to pay for criminal defense attorneys.

With a depression already here in the real estate field, real estate attorneys are already fielding hundreds of calls from panicky real estate investors trying to get out from under mortgages that are dragging them into bankruptcy. They are looking for anyone to sue to get out of their mortgages, from the real estate agents to the mortgage lenders to the sellers of the real estate who they now feel misled them into buying the depressed property. Unfortunately, these investors and homeowners have little extra cash to pay for an attorney to assist them in these real estate situations, even if they had a leg to stand on.

Perhaps the one area in which there may be more demand than ever in such a depression, may be in the field of bankruptcy. With the new bankruptcy laws making it harder than ever to file bankruptcy much less understand how to go about it, people will still likely find a way to scrape together the cost of hiring a bankruptcy attorney to get them out of the financial mess that people are finding themselves in.

No one can tell at this time if the likely recession turns into something far worse, a full-blown depression, but with real estate moguls now starting to use the word themselves, and with words such as Afinancial freefall,@ Aglobal train wreck,@ and Aglobal credit crisis@ just a few of the words to be found only this evening on one of the most respected internet financial web sites, it is a real possibility.

Lawyers may soon find themselves in the same predicament as real estate agents, just waiting and waiting for the phone to ring, and finding that it doesn’t ring at all anymore. Just as companies begin to cut back on expenses, lawyers may also begin to face some hard decisions when it comes time to renew advertising contracts for yellow page advertising or even worse decisions, such as whether or not to file bankruptcy themselves.

Sebastian Gibson is the senior lawyer with the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson. He is also a Realtor and the owner of Sebastian Advertising, an advertising agency. More information can be found at his web sites, www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com , www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com , www.SebastianGibsonProperties.com , and www.SebastianAdvertising.com .

WHY USE A REALTOR?: California Properties

admin — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:24:58 +0000

By Sebastian Gibson

There is a common misconception that if you don’t use a Realtor or a real estate agent to buy or sell property California, you can save money. This could not be further from the truth.

As a buyer of property in California, the commission that your real estate agent receives is paid by the seller of the property. Therefore, for all of the work he or she performs in ensuring that the proper forms are all used and completed correctly (and in California there are a huge number of forms used in real estate transactions) and for all of his or her advice and assistance, you pay nothing. There is thus no reason to attempt to purchase property without an agent. And if you think you know what forms need to be used, think again. The forms used by most agents are constantly changing and only agents who keep up with these changes know what forms have been added in recent months.

There is also no reason to allow the seller’s agent act as your agent as well. For an agent to act as the agent to both the buyer and the seller often puts him in an unwinnable situation. If there is something wrong with the property, he must disclose it. But how hard will he look for things that can spoil the sale if he is losing both sides of a commission and if he has loyalties to both the buyer and the seller of the property? A good agent will disclose everything. But why would you want to put one agent in that situation when you can obtain your own independent agent to advise you, and still not have to pay him a dime since he receives his commission out of escrow from the seller’s proceeds? The answer is, get your own agent.

As the seller of property in California you will likely pay on average, a 6% commission, split in half between your agent and the buyer’s agent on a home, and a 10% commission, on average, split between your agent and the buyer’s agent on land. Here is where the real temptation to a seller lies.

In the effort to save up to half of the commission (since you will still likely have to pay the buyer’s agent half of the normal commission), the frugal seller will try to avoid every cost he or she can. They will not use an escrow agent. They won’t get a title report. They will even try to avoid buying title insurance. And if they manage to talk the buyer into buying the property without an agent as well in return for a discount in the price, you have the situation of the blind leading the blind.

As a real estate lawyer (as well as a realtor), it is no wonder that this is the type of client who calls or comes in for a consultation to our law firm complaining that they sold their property but were never paid, or that they bought property and took out a huge loan and never received clear title, or that their loan isn’t the type of loan that they thought they were getting.

The situations even get worse. Not only do such buyers or sellers not get what they thought they would get out of the transaction, they normally get a bonus. They get sued as well by the other party. And if any of the normal purchase and sale forms are used for the transaction, the form likely provides that the person who prevails in the lawsuit is entitled to his or her attorney’s fees and costs. In a complicated real estate transaction where none of the normal formalities were followed, those attorney’s fees and costs can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

The choice is simple. If you want to save money in a real estate transaction, and sleep well at night, use a Realtor. If you want to run the risk of losing your property and paying an attorney to defend you in a lawsuit, go it alone.

IS THE HOUSING MARKET BUBBLE IN CALIFORNIA HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY?

admin — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:21:26 +0000

It has been a matter of great discussion now for the last year not
whether there was a bubble in the California real estate
housing market (there was), but whether it has really burst yet,
whether it only partially burst, whether that little pffft you heard
was the bubble actually popping, or whether it is yet to pop, or is now
set to re-inflate yet again.
Okay, so the housing market was getting ahead of itself Hard as
it is to remember now, there was a time only a couple of years ago when
people were paying bonuses to sell your property California.
When there were lotteries at new housing developments
because there were way more buyers interested than there were new
homes. When properties listed were sold the same day or by the
first weekend they were put on the MLS. When that happens, and it
was happening even in areas in the mid-west, there is a bubble.
Today, the real estate markets across the U.S. are flooded with homes
for sale. Sales are way down across the board. Which means,
except for those who have to buy something (for instance, because they
have moved) or in the case of first-time buyers, no one is buying
because it is almost impossible to sell their existing home in the
first place.
But a strange thing is happening. Prices aren’t going down.
At least, not like one would expect in a real market bubble. In
fact, in a surprising number of areas, prices are rising What
this means is a couple of things. Except for individual sellers
facing their own special circumstances, there is no general
panic. People have already discounted their prices to a large
extent. And, it appears that, at least in the short term, people
are prepared to wait it out or at least wait a certain number of months
before discounting their prices any more.
Some psychologists (or economists posing as psychologists) have
attempted to diagnose this situation in terms of the ostrich sticking
its head into the sand, albeit an ostrich with a sub-prime loan that is
ticking down to zero. Other economists unafraid to openly
practice psychology talk openly using the term, “denial.”
What it may come down to is how optimistic a person is. A person
who sees the glass as half full will say that the bubble is half gone
and is now just right. A person who sees the sky falling down and
the glass as half empty, will say that the bubble is only half deflated
and has another half to go before the bubble disappears.
I see it more in terms of a bottle of beer. At half full, I’ve
had half of a good beer, and I still have another half to go and then I
will simply order another beer and talk some more with that cute
cocktail waitress. Cheers.

THE STATE OF THE HOUSING, LAND AND COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET IN CALIFORNIA

admin — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:19:18 +0000

By Sebastian Gibson

It is now the end of June 2007, summer is in full swing, and the
California Desert Area real estate market is like a sailboat stuck on
a calm ocean with absolutely no wind. The sail boat is going nowhere
and the longer it sits there, the worse it might become as the passengers
run out of food and water. On the other hand, if the wind picks
up, you might be tempted to say that everything will be fine once again.
The truth is, that with so many people sitting on no interest loans or
adjustable loans or loans that have balloon payments coming up in a
short number of months or years, unless that wind is a gale force that
causes home values to increase sharply in the next couple of years,
that slow leak on the sailboat is a serious threat to sink the housing
market in California. And there are very few economists on the
horizon predicting such a gale force wind to once again propel the
housing market.
So what is one to do? Open another beer. Seriously.
If matters are out of your control, worrying about them is only going
to cause you more stress and a heart condition. If you have to
sell, lower your asking price until you sell your property
California and take your medicine. There aren’t many sellers
doing that as of yet, so you will probably be able to beat others to
the punch. If you are already under water (the lowered asking
price is less than you owe) talk to your lender. They may be
willing to work with you and either allow you to do a short sale where
they accept the lower selling price in full payment of your loan or
accept a payment plan for the difference of what you will still
owe. Perhaps you or they can even get more creative than
that. Offer to work for them for a year.
If you don’t have to sell, join the rest of the crowd that is simply
staying put in their homes, cutting back on other expenses, and have
accepted the fact that they won’t be moving to San Diego like they
hoped to anytime soon. That annual trip to Vegas? Forget
it. Have a buffet at a local restaurant instead. Vegas will
get by without you and when you think about it, you’re still pretty
comfortable in your home, aren’t you? Football season is coming
up in a few months. And if you do have to sell, I’m sure that
your Mom and Dad will be happy to see you moving in with them again,
even if you are in your forties or fifties. At that age, if your
parents are still alive and can’t sell their home and move to Florida
either, they’re stuck too and at their age they can use all the help
they can get.

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THE COACHELLA VALLEY HOUSING MARKET

admin — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:17:00 +0000

By Sebastian Gibson

The figures relating to declining home sales in the Coachella Valley as
summer begins and temperatures rise do not look good. But as with
all things, even poor figures in a strong housing market make for
headlines, but have little affect on reality.
Here are the latest figures. First, the Statewide figures are
these. Home sales decreased 27.8 percent in April 2007 compared
to a year ago. However, the median price of a home rose 6.2
percent. What’s it mean? Confusion to the economists.
Bad news to Realtors. And for the general public, your home may
still be going up in price, even if you can’t sell it. Overall,
that’s not so bad. In areas suffering a decline in prices, or
where there is a glut on the market, the prices may have declined 5
percent. Still, that’s not bad. Weren’t bubble bursts
supposed to be more dramatic?
Then you have the strong market based on population increase
projections which are all extremely rosy for Southern California, the
Inland Empire and the Coachella Valley real estate in particular.
That rosy prediction, however, did not help the latest figures for the
Coachella Valley MLS.

As with the rest of the State, sales of all types of homes (including
new, resale and condo) declined 28 percent in April. For new
homes alone the drop in the Coachella Valley was 57 percent. And
while the median price of a home rose Statewide, in the Coachella
Valley, the median price for all types of homes combined suffered a
decline of 2.6 percent from a year ago with new home prices suffering
the worst (a 6.7 percent decline from a year ago) and resale homes
doing best and actually increasing in price 2.4 percent for the median
price of a home.
So what’s happening? Builders are building fewer homes.
That’s good. They have also taken dramatic steps to sell off
their inventory. That’s good too, and even with their incentives
and price declines, the median price of homes in Southern California
has not declined substantially. That’s good also.
The inventory of homes for sale on the market in the Coachella Valley
rose to 9,153 homes in April, and slid back just slightly to 9,108 in
mid-May. As summer temperatures heat us and sales dry up further
this summer, the inventory may to 10,000 which will make for some bad
headlines. But again, all may be explained away by the seasonal
drop in sales that normally occur during the hottest months (except
when the market was roaring in 2004 when inventory was 1500). And
in reality, all it may confirm is that people are stuck where they are,
except for first-time home buyers.
The trend is not good and will not likely be improving this
summer. The new home sales decline in the Coachella Valley of 57
percent in April compared with a year ago follows three straight months
of declines of 53 percent in March, 43 percent in February and 23
percent in January. And the story is the same in the Inland
Empire and in Southern California in general where home sales fell to a
12 year low in April.
Some economists have pointed to the recent fall-off in sales of more
affordable homes as an indication of the ills caused by the people who
brought you no-interest loans and other creative financing that is now
biting people in their posteriors. Others claim it is a
reflection of those who got in last in the market upswing or who have
the least to work with are now being hurt most as the pendulum swings
back. But no matter what price community you look at on the MLS,
there is a glut of homes for sale and sales are hard to come by.
To paraphrase a Stephen Stills song, you simply need to love the place
your in, because moving may be out for the foreseeable future.
And if you are a first-time home buyer, just like when you pick stocks,
you need to be selective. Have your realtor look for the select
homes where the price decline has been dramatic while the rest of the
neighborhood has held steady or increased in value. If you think
you can time the market just right, lease short-term. But if you
have no luck picking stocks remember you want to be a contrarian
sometimes. When people are rushing to sell, that’s the time to be
buying. We may not be there yet, and if we do get there, you may
not even recognize it. And when you are ready to buy or at least
ready to be prepared to buy, we can help.

http://users.search-o-rama.com/Article234829.htm

http://www.directarticles.com/article.detail.php?artid=8393&subcatid=107&subcatname=Real%20Estate&maincatname=Finance&maincatid=6&arttitle=THE%20COACHELLA%20VALLEY%20HOUSING%20MARKET

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Coachella-Valley-Housing-Market&id=652082

http://www.writeyourarticles.com/article.detail.php/4921/24/AnyThing-Real-Estate/Finance/3/THE%20COACHELLA%20VALLEY%20HOUSING%20MARKET

The MLS Is The Place To Start

admin — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:09:19 +0000

By Sebastian Gibson
There is no better place to start than the MLS Desert Area for the
person looking to buy home or land. And on web sites such as
www.SebastianGibsonProperties.com, the Palm Springs MLS is
available for free to be used by prospective buyers or sellers.
With the MLS a buyer or seller of property in the area covered by a
multiple listing service can search for homes, land, commercial
property, property to lease or even investment property such as
apartment houses and duplexes. Searches can be performed
specifically for the type of property by the number of bedrooms or
baths, the square footage, the price range, and by other factors.
Properties can also be searched for in specific cities, areas of cities
or even by housing developments. Once properties are found, they
can be seen by pictures and sometimes by more extensive 360 degree
videos taken inside or outside of the house or condo. The number
of days the property has been on the market can be seen as can the
history of the property which will show the price reductions, if any,
made by the seller.
A good agent or Realtor can also research the developments a buyer is
interested in to see which developments have the most properties for
sale, which developments or buyers are most desperate to sell (based
upon the descriptions of the seller’s motivation and price history) and
can also determine what reductions in the listing prices are, on
average, being accepted by sellers in a certain area.
Agents and buyers who have more experience with using the MLS systems
also know how to search for other factors by using the public marketing
comments sections to search for those aspects of a property that are of
special interest. When one is looking for land, it may be vitally
important for the buyer to know if there are water wells on the
property. The purchaser of commercial land or property may wish
to know it there are any properties available with railroad sidings or
spurs.
There are different MLS systems for different areas of the State.
In addition, there are other similar type of systems available for
agents and buyers to use to look for land, homes and other property
throughout California. Unfortunately, not everyone lists their
property on the MLS systems or on the statewide web sites and a
thorough agent will need to check multiple MLS systems when looking for
that hard to find property.
In addition, some real estate brokerages prefer to keep their listings
to themselves and won’t list their properties on any MLS system
whatsoever. In the opinion of this Realtor, this does no favors
to their clients and a savvy seller of property should ensure that the
agent or Realtor he or she uses will list their property on at least
one multiple listing service.

http://users.search-o-rama.com/Article235471.htm

http://www.directarticles.com/article.detail.php?artid=8474&subcatid=107&subcatname=Real%20Estate&maincatname=Finance&maincatid=6&arttitle=THE%20MLS%20IS%20THE%20PLACE%20TO%20START

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