Posts Tagged real estate

What is a life estate?

Posted by David Leon in Legal news and errata on 04/07/2009


A life estate is the right to occupy or use a specified parcel of land for the period of a person’s life.

For example:

John owns a farm. John grants a life estate in the farm to Juan. This means that Juan can use or occupy the farm for the rest of Juan’s life. Upon Juan’s death, the property will either revert back to John, or will be passed to a “remainderman” (depending on how John set up the life estate.)

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What is a ‘liar loan’?

Posted by David Leon in Criminal Defense, Foreclosure, Real Estate Law on 27/06/2009


A ‘liar loan’ is a nickname for a ‘stated income’ loan. These loans were popular from 2000-2007. They were also called ‘no-doc’ and ‘non-verfied’ or ‘streamlined’ loans. Basically, with these loans, a bank or mortgage company would simply ask a borrower what his or her income was, and offer loan products based on the person’s statement of income. The banks usually did not verify the person’s ‘stated’ income. In some cases, people were overstating their income to qualify for houses they couldn’t afford. The typical hope was that the person could use a short term ARM loan or teaser loan to keep the house (and mortgage) afloat for a year or so, and then sell the house for a profit due to the rising house values. Once home values stopped rising, people’s ARMs adjusted upward, or the teaser rates ended, and the people wound up with homes they couldn’t afford. The practice of overstating income on a ‘liar loan’ is a criminal offense, per Texas Penal Code Sec. 32.32.

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How do you dispose of a deceased person’s property if there was no will?

Posted by David Leon in Estate planning and probate, Real Estate Law on 20/02/2009


There are several ways to dispose of a deceased person’s property in Texas. Assuming the person died intestate (without a will), the Texas laws of decent and distribution would control the disposition. The types of procedures necessary to document the transfer of assets would depend on the status of the estate.

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I sold my house to a company for a low price, and they agreed to lease it back to me. Can I get my house back?

Posted by David Leon in Contract law, Real Estate Law on 15/02/2009


Possibly. Texas Property Code provides that the taking of a deed under these circumstances may be considered a deceptive trade practice. Accordingly, the deed may be void and no lien would attach to the homestead property as a result of the purported sale.

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A company offered to buy my house at a discount and then rent it back to me.

Posted by David Leon in Contract law, Real Estate Law on 15/02/2009


First, if the house is mortgaged, then the transfer of the interest in the property may violate the mortgage’s “due on sale” clause. This means that the mortgage company has the option to call the entire amount of the loan due and payable. Further, such a transaction, may be considered to be a loan, if the house was sold at less than fair market value. This means that all payments made from the seller to the buyer in excess of the sales price will considered to be interest subject to the Texas Finance Code. These cases tend to be fact specific, Contact Us if you wish to discuss.

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