Miami Lawyer Blog

Rising Prices Could Lift 3.5M Homeowners Out of Negative Equity

While almost one-quarter of homeowners remain underwater, rising home prices over the past year have some economists hopeful negative equity could begin to diminish in coming months.

"The negative equity problem is still crippling many homeowners and the wider economy," Capital Economics stated in a report.

In addition to the almost one-fourth of homeowners who owe more on their mortgage loans than their homes are worth, almost half of homeowners do not meet the 80 percent loan-to-value ratio required for a standard refinancing.

While "[a]dmittedly, the recovery is still in its infancy," Capital Economics sees the potential for 3.5 million homeowners to move out of negative equity positions over the next 12 months.

CoreLogic reports prices have risen 5 percent over the past 12 months, and Capital Economics reports the greatest movement is occurring in the same locations that experienced the greatest price declines and highest instances of foreclosures and negative equity during the housing crisis.

For example, about 40 percent of homeowners in Arizona and Florida are underwater. However, home prices have risen 18.7 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively, in these two states over the past year.

While Capital Economics is sticking to its prediction that house prices will rise about 5 percent next year, the economists admit "the upside risks to that forecast are clearly rising."

So far this year, rising home prices have helped 1.3 million households rise out of negative equity, according to CoreLogic.

If home prices were to rise by 10 percent next year, about 3.5 million borrowers would be lifted out of negative equity and 6 million would become eligible for standard refinancing after seeing their loan-to-value ratios fall back to or below 80 percent.

"The faster prices rebound, the quicker the negative equity problem will be resolved," Capital Economics stated.

With home prices still about 27 percent below their 2006 peak, 10 percent under-valued compared to current rental rates, and 20 percent under-valued compared to per capita incomes, Capital Economics sees no need for concern over another bubble as prices continue to rise.

Attorney Aaron Resnick will be the main speaker at "Defending a Foreclosure:
Helping Families Save Their Homes". The engagement will be January 22, 2013 • Miami, FL. For more information or to purchase tickets, please go to http://lawreviewcle.com/seminars/2013-01-22-Miami_FL-defending-a-foreclosure.html.

Defending a Foreclosure: Help Families Save Their Homes LawReviewCle's Foreclosure Defense in America is an in-depth examination of the tools you will need to build a successful foreclosure defense practice, along with a detailed treatment of the emerging pleading, discovery, trial and appellate strategies you need to achieve results for your clients.

This course offers practical, real world advice on how to find clients, how to successfully manage a profitable caseload and how to employ the new PST negotiation and trial strategies that will help you develop a loyal base of satisfied clients. Whether you are currently representing clients in foreclosure and want to know the strategies and tools that are producing real results in this dynamic and ever-changing area of the law or whether you're looking to expand your practice to include this most rewarding practice area, this course will provide invaluable resources for you.

See Agenda

Key Topics

The Present State of the Foreclosure Crisis
Mortgage Securitization Issues
Understanding Basic Substantive Law
Client Relations
Judicial vs. Non-Judicial Foreclosures (Hunter or Hunted?)
Loan Modification / Short Sales / Deed in Lieu / Tax Issues
Bankruptcy Issues
Ethical Considerations

Speaker

Aaron R. Resnick
Attorney Aaron R. Resnick
Law Offices of Aaron Resnick, P.A. - Miami, FL

Aaron Resnick, a graduate of Leadership Miami, is a leader in the Miami's legal and cultural arts scene. Mr. Resnick was awarded the "Shining Star" Award by the Arts & Business Council of Miami, Inc. This award each year honors the top Miami business professional supporting the arts and cultural community. Mr. Resnick was the founding chairperson of the Friends of the New World Symphony, and now serves permanently on its Executive Committee. He also sat on the Board of Directors for the Miami Design Preservation League for over 10 years. He has served on the executive committee for numerous young patron groups in South Florida including, but not limited to: Best Buddies of South Florida, Big Brothers Big Sister's Impact Circle, Art Crowd of the Bass Museum, the Green Room Society for the Center for Performing Arts, the Tropees of the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, the Jewish Legal Society of Miami, and the MOCA Shakers amongst others. He is a member of the South Beach Athletic Club and an active in local, state and national politics. He is a Regional Board Member of the Maccabi World Union and a member of the Ben Gurion Society of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

Currently, he is a member of the Silver Director's Circle for the Bass Museum, the Leadership's Circle for the Museum of Contemporary Art (Miami), the Maestro's Circle for the Friends of the New World Symphony, and a Supporting Member of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts (and a member of the Green Room Society). Mr. Resnick recently founded, with several friends, the Little Lighthouse Foundation, www.littlelighthouse.org, which is a Miami based charity that seeks, identifies and provides support to children and their families with health, educational, and financial challenges.

Professionally, Mr. Resnick is an attorney, who honed his craft at one of Florida's oldest and most prestigious firms, Gunster Yoakley, before starting his own boutique law firm in 2005 with offices now in Miami, Boca Raton, Gainesville/Ocala, Jacksonville and New York City. Mr. Resnick is admitted to all of the state and federal courts in Florida and the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Resnick's law practice concentrates on business and commercial matters, and sports and entertainment law. He has successfully represented a number of clients in commercial foreclosure matters and has a company that specializes in working with lenders on distressed assets.

His current practice also includes the personal representation of a number of current and former professional athletes in the National Football League, the National Basketball League and Major League Baseball, as well as members of the arts, fashion and entertainment world. Mr. Resnick himself is an avid collector of art, and is in a partership with a famous celebrity photographer promoting and marketing his photographs, www.artofthenight.com. Mr. Resnick has lectured on art fraud and is in the process of writing a book related to some of the major art fraud cases of the 20th century.

In addition to being an attorney, Mr. Resnick is one of the owners of Faction Capital, LLC, a distressed asset consulting firm, and AJAX Entertainment, LLC, a marketing company targeting young professionals and patrons of the cultural arts.

Awards & Recognition

Florida Trend's Florida Legal Elite, 2009, 2010
Super Lawyers Magazine Florida Rising Stars, 2010, 2011
Film, Recording and Entertainment Council Entertainment Law Award
South Florida Business Journal 40 Under 40
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation 40 Under 40 Attorneys
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation 40 Under 40 Business Professionals
"Shining Star" Award by the Arts & Business Council of Miami, Inc.
American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division "Star of the Quarter"

Profession & Bar Association Membership

State of Florida, 1998
United States Supreme Court , 2004
United States District Court for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, 1999
United States Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit, 1999
Florida Bar - Member Business Law Committee and Sports & Entertainment Law Committee
American Bar Association - Member Business Law Committee
Dade County Bar Association
Miami Beach Bar Association
Pillar Member of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce
Member of the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce The Inter-American Chapter
Member of the India-US Chamber of Commerce South Florida
Member of the America-Israel Chamber of Commerce Florida Chapter
Member of the Florida China Chamber of Commerce
Member of the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce Southeast
Member of the Panamanian American Chamber of Commerce
Member of the Columbian American Chamber of Commerce
Member of Canadian American Chamber of Commerce of South Florida
Member of the banking committee for the Asian American Hotel Owner's Association

Education

J.D., University of Florida Levin College of Law, Gainesville, Florida, 1995-1997
with Honors.

Universite de Montpellier, Montpellier, France, 1997
with High Honors.

B.A., Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, 1990-1994

Defending a Foreclosure:
Helping Families Save Their Homes
January 22, 2013 • Jacksonville, FL

Purchase access here (or for more information)

http://lawreviewcle.com/seminars/2013-01-22-Jacksonville_FL-defending-a-foreclosure.html

Defending a Foreclosure: Help Families Save Their Homes - Presented by Attorney Justin McMurray of the Law Offices of Aaron Resnick, P.A.

LawReviewCle's Foreclosure Defense in America is an in-depth examination of the tools you will need to build a successful foreclosure defense practice, along with a detailed treatment of the emerging pleading, discovery, trial and appellate strategies you need to achieve results for your clients.

This course offers practical, real world advice on how to find clients, how to successfully manage a profitable caseload and how to employ the new PST negotiation and trial strategies that will help you develop a loyal base of satisfied clients. Whether you are currently representing clients in foreclosure and want to know the strategies and tools that are producing real results in this dynamic and ever-changing area of the law or whether you're looking to expand your practice to include this most rewarding practice area, this course will provide invaluable resources for you.

See Agenda

Key Topics

The Present State of the Foreclosure Crisis
Mortgage Securitization Issues
Understanding Basic Substantive Law
Client Relations
Judicial vs. Non-Judicial Foreclosures (Hunter or Hunted?)
Loan Modification / Short Sales / Deed in Lieu / Tax Issues
Bankruptcy Issues
Ethical Considerations

Speaker

Justin McMurray
Attorney Justin McMurray
Law Offices of Aaron Resnick, P.A. - Miami, FL

Justin McMurray is an attorney experienced in various aspects of Florida and federal law. Since becoming an attorney in 2006, he has had the pleasure of sharing his services and expertise with hundreds of clients in Florida and abroad. Born and raised in Gainesville, Florida, he studied first at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, before returning to the University of Florida to earn his Bachelor of Arts and a subsequent Juris Doctor from the University of Florida's Frederick G. Levin College of Law.

Education

J.D., University of Florida Levin College of Law, 2005
B.A., University of Florida, 2000

Professional & Bar Association Memberships

Florida -- Member Since: 2006
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida -- Member Since: 2010
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida -- Member Since: 2010
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida -- Member Since: 2010
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Florida -- Member Since: 2010

Real estate brokers have certain obligations to perform in selling real estate. If you hire a broker by signing a real estate brokerage contract or listing agreement, the agreement should set out the actions that the broker agrees to take in selling your property. Your broker also has fiduciary duties as your agent. If the broker fails to perform promised actions or fails to carry out his or her duties, you have some remedies available to you.
Getting Out of a Listing Agreement

If you want to get out of a listing agreement, for whatever reason, you should:

Look at the agreement itself to see if there is language which covers your situation
Look at the language of the agreement to see if there are duties the broker hasn't performed
Consider the time remaining on the agreement before it expires. It may be best to simply let it run out on its own, holding the listing broker to the specific conditions of sale listed in the listing agreement.

Contractual Obligations

Most states require brokerage and listing agreements to be in writing in order to be enforceable. The agreement determines when a commission is earned. A broker employed ''to sell'' or ''effect a sale'' of the property is not entitled to compensation until the broker effects a sale or procures from the buyer a binding contract of purchase. So, if your broker fails to bring about a sale or obtain a binding contract of purchase, as required by your contract, you don't have to pay your broker.

The brokerage or listing agreement typically sets out the actions that your broker agrees to take in selling your property. Such actions include:

Showing your property
Marketing your property
Negotiating with the buyers
Preparing the contract of sale
Representing you at closing

The listing agreement also typically contains a provision on how disputes should be resolved. This may include:

Arbitration
Mediation
Filing a lawsuit in small claims court or civil court

If your broker fails to do anything that he or she agreed to do in the listing agreement, you must use the dispute resolution process that you agreed to use. If a direct solution with your broker won't work, you should file a complaint with the appropriate board or court. In order for you to obtain relief, you must be able to show that you suffered some losses due to your broker's failure to perform contractual obligations.

You may want to file a complaint with your local or state real estate board, indicating that your broker did not perform as agreed.
Fiduciary Duties

Because you have a legal agency relationship with your broker, he or she has fiduciary duties to you. These duties flow from the law of agency. They include such things as:

Acting in your best interest in selling your property
Being loyal to you in carrying out the sale process
Disclosing pertinent information to you
Disclosing all offers to you

If your broker violates his or her fiduciary duties and you suffer damage as a result, you may file a complaint before the hearing body as agreed upon in the brokerage or listing agreement.

You should also file a complaint with your local or state real estate board, indicating that your broker violated his duties toward you.
Relief

Real estate brokerage contracts and listing agreements are contracts. Therefore, if you suffer losses because of your broker's failure to perform under the contract, you can sue your broker for breach of contract and obtain contractual remedies. These include:

Compensatory damages, which is a monetary award to reimburse you for your losses
Punitive damages, which is an award of money to punish or deter similar conduct in the future, depending on the law of your state, if your broker's conduct was wanton or reckless
Attorney's fees if there is a provision about attorney's fees in the listing agreement

If you suffer losses because your broker violated his or her fiduciary duties, you can sue your broker for breach of fiduciary duties, negligence, fraud or conversion. You can obtain:

Compensatory damages, which reimburse you for your losses
Punitive damages, which compensate you for wanton or reckless conduct of the broker
Attorney's fees, if allowed by law

Recovering Your Losses

If you're successful in your lawsuit against your broker and your broker has insufficient personal funds to pay for your losses, you might be able to obtain payment from your state's real estate fund. Some states have set up funds derived from real estate license fees for the payment of claims on unpaid judgments against real estate licensees for fraud and conversion of trust funds. Check with your state's real estate licensing board to see if your state has such a fund, and if so, how you can make a claim.

If you want some legal advice about your options for remedies or you want to file a complaint, contact a real estate attorney in your area.
Questions for Your Attorney

I think I have grounds to terminate my listing agreement, but my real estate broker does not agree? How complicated will it be to end the listing of my home? Could this interfere with the sale of my home if I want to list my house with another broker or if I find a buyer?
Where do I file a complaint if my broker fails to perform actions that she agreed to take in the listing agreement?
What kind of compensation can I get if my broker fails to act in my best interest?

About the Law Offices of Aaron Resnick, P.A.

The Law Offices of Aaron Resnick, P.A. is a full service boutique law firm with offices in Miami, Boca Raton, Gainesville/Ocala, Jacksonville and New York City. For additional information, please go to www.thefirmmiami.com, or call 305.672.7495.

A lawsuit claiming that the gallery owner Larry Gagosian defrauded a prominent collector is pulling back the curtain, if ever so slightly, on the way high-end deals are sometimes made in the contemporary art world. The collector, Jan Cowles, 93, sued in January, accusing Mr. Gagosian of selling a 1964 Roy Lichtenstein painting, "Girl in Mirror," from her collection without her consent.

The following is taken from a recent article in the New York Times. It is copied for your convenience. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/gagosian-suit-offers-rare-look-at-art-dealing/?goback=.gde_2054749_member_185417266

"In court papers the Gagosian Gallery has said that Mrs. Cowles's son, Charles Cowles, who was in financial straits, maintained that the painting was his to sell, not his mother's. Another version of the painting sold at Sotheby's in 2007 for just over $4 million. But Mrs. Cowles's painting, which Mr. Gagosian took on consignment, was eventually sold for only $2 million after assertions by the gallery -- disputed by Mrs. Cowles -- that it was damaged. Mr. Gagosian made an unusually high commission, $1 million.

A central question in the case has been whether Mr. Gagosian in essence worked both ends of the deal -- not disclosing to Mr. Cowles that his gallery had a relationship with the buyer and that it was trying to get a favorable price for that buyer. In a deposition made public on Wednesday, Mr. Gagosian said that he frequently represented both the seller and buyer in a deal without disclosing that fact to either party. "To be honest with you, the question hardly ever gets asked," he said. "I never get asked the question, 'Are you representing both sides.'"

When asked whether, in a consignment agreement, Mr. Gagosian felt "any duty of loyalty whatsoever to the seller," he replied: "I just don't think about it in terms of -- in those terms. I think about, 'It's a financial transaction, and the seller wants to get paid.' My objective is to pay the seller and to make a profit for the gallery." Mrs. Cowles's lawyer, David Baum, claims that such representation of both parties without disclosure is "blatantly unlawful under New York agency law." On Wednesday the gallery called the claims baseless and said its "practices are fully consistent with both the law and the standards in the art world." A lawsuit claiming that the gallery owner Larry Gagosian defrauded a prominent collector is pulling back the curtain, if ever so slightly, on the way high-end deals are sometimes made in the contemporary art world. The collector, Jan Cowles, 93, sued in January, accusing Mr. Gagosian of selling a 1964 Roy Lichtenstein painting, "Girl in Mirror," from her collection without her consent.
Larry Gagosian.Casey Kelbaugh for The New York Times Larry Gagosian.

In court papers the Gagosian Gallery has said that Mrs. Cowles's son, Charles Cowles, who was in financial straits, maintained that the painting was his to sell, not his mother's. Another version of the painting sold at Sotheby's in 2007 for just over $4 million. But Mrs. Cowles's painting, which Mr. Gagosian took on consignment, was eventually sold for only $2 million after assertions by the gallery -- disputed by Mrs. Cowles -- that it was damaged. Mr. Gagosian made an unusually high commission, $1 million.

A central question in the case has been whether Mr. Gagosian in essence worked both ends of the deal -- not disclosing to Mr. Cowles that his gallery had a relationship with the buyer and that it was trying to get a favorable price for that buyer. In a deposition made public on Wednesday, Mr. Gagosian said that he frequently represented both the seller and buyer in a deal without disclosing that fact to either party. "To be honest with you, the question hardly ever gets asked," he said. "I never get asked the question, 'Are you representing both sides.'"

When asked whether, in a consignment agreement, Mr. Gagosian felt "any duty of loyalty whatsoever to the seller," he replied: "I just don't think about it in terms of -- in those terms. I think about, 'It's a financial transaction, and the seller wants to get paid.' My objective is to pay the seller and to make a profit for the gallery." Mrs. Cowles's lawyer, David Baum, claims that such representation of both parties without disclosure is "blatantly unlawful under New York agency law." On Wednesday the gallery called the claims baseless and said its "practices are fully consistent with both the law and the standards in the art world." "

The Law Offices of Aaron Resnick is one of the few South Florida firms with an Art Law division.

Five of the nation's largest banks have provided $3.6 billion in mortgage relief for Floridians as part of a nationwide foreclosure settlement, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Monday. An additional $1.3 billion in modification relief is "in the pipeline," Bondi said in a written statement. More at the Tampa Bay Times and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

About the Law Offices of Aaron Resnick, P.A.

The Law Offices of Aaron Resnick, P.A. is a full service boutique law firm with offices in Miami, Boca Raton, Gainesville/Ocala, Jacksonville and New York City. For additional information, please go to www.thefirmmiami.com, or call 305.672.7495.