People make mistakes.
What do you do when a simple error results in the sale of a condo at auction for $21,897 when it was meant to sell for $219,105? That’s exactly the issue the California Supreme Court is struggling with.
Scott Graham wrote about this story in an article titled, “Pondering a $200K Real Estate Mistake,” posted April 4, 2013 for The Recorder on the Law.com website.
Auction Creates Interesting Legal Problem
Graham writes that some things are just too good to be true. Apparently that was the case when David Biancalana found the deal of a lifetime when he saw the three-bedroom, two-bath condominium in Watsonville that sold for $380,000 in 2004. Graham writes that Biancalana checked with the foreclosure service agent, T.D. Service, twice to confirm the price, before bidding and winning the property.
The lender, Greenpoint Mortgage Funding, Graham explains, instructed its foreclosure service agent, T.D. Service, to list its opening credit bid at $219,105. But T.D. unintentionally set the auction figure at the amount of the mortgage delinquency, which was $21,897.
The court now must decide, Graham, for his part contends.
In Related News…
All in all it is a very strange dichotomy indeed: We hear the economy is still weak, and yet big business and in many areas, real estate, seems to be more or less booming. I am sure the low interest rates have a lot to do with that, according to a friend of mine who owns a real estate Big Bear firm.
Take the case in point, Boston.
Ira Kantor tells the story in his report posted on the bostonhearald.com website under the BizSm@rt Column: “Report: Hub commercial real estate market roaring back,” April 9, 2013.
Kantor declares Boston as officially in growth mode. He cites local real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle as saying that it has entirely made up for recession losses, its pace of recovery one of the best in the nation. In places like Big Bear this certainly seems to be true.
The first quarter began with strong leasing activity in several sectors, Kantor notes, from financial to life sciences, technology, biomedical and engineering firms. The vacancy rate in Greater Boston dipped below 15 percent for the second quarter in a row, and surged 27 basis points” because of a number of spaces that were known to be coming to the market, including Monitor’s 196,000 square feet at 2 Canal Park in Cambridge and IBM’s building at 5 Technology Park in Westford.”
Here’s a real surprise: Kantor adds that downtown Boston’s vacancy rate dropped to just 9.6 percent. Rents increased in Downtown Boston 0.4 percent this quarter and 2 percent year-over-year.
Kantor’s note of caution is that even though things are looking up, the effects of sequestration, he warns us, remain to be seen “in this market that relies heavily on NIH funding and federal spending in defense,” according to Jones Lang LaSalle.
Sequestration? We almost forgot about you
![[feed link]](/wp-content/plugins/google-news-widget/rss-cube.gif)
