CRE Insider Blog

Welcome to the CRE Insider Blog, a source of info and insights from First American’s leading real estate experts.

Recent Posts by Mike Berey

Senior Underwriting Counsel First American Title Insurance Company; formerly Chief Underwriting Counsel (New York) and Senior Vice-President, First American Title Insurance Company; Fellow, American College of Mortgage Attorneys; Member, American College of Real Estate Lawyers; Member, Executive Committees of NYSBA’s Real Property Law Section (2000 – 2014) and the New York State Land Title Association; Chairperson, Task Force on Electronic Recording and Webmaster, NYSBA Real Property Law Section (2000-2014); Chairperson, Law Committee (2010-2013) and President (August 2013 – September 2014) New York State Land Title Association; Recipient of NYSBA Real Property Law Section’s 2014 Professionalism Award. Boston College Law School, 1976. Frequent lecturer on mortgage recording tax, transfer taxes, transferrable development rights and New York’s Lien Law. Author of “Current Developments”, a summary of real property-related cases and legislation for New York, since 1997. Author of numerous articles including, most recently, “ Step Transaction Doctrine Applied to New York City Transfer Tax”, New York Law Journal (“NYLJ”) June 9, 2015; “A Primer on New York’s Mortgage Recording Tax”, N.Y. Real Property Law Journal (“RPLJ”) Spring/Summer 2015; “New York’s Court of Appeals Rules on the Lien Law”, NYLJ August 6, 2013; and “New York’s Mortgage Tax Partially Securing Multiple Obligations”, RPLJ Spring/Summer 2013. Current Developments and articles are posted at www.firstamny.com.
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Notice of Pendency Not Properly Filed by Adjoining Owners

By Mike Berey on February 27, 2019
The Supreme Court, Suffolk County, granted the application the Petitioner had submitted to the Town of East Hampton’s Zoning Board for approval of a subdivision map and directed the Zoning Board to grant final approval. Intervenors opposed the ...
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Topics: Commercial Real Estate

Mortgage Foreclosures / Appointing an Administrator for a Deceased Mortgagor

By Mike Berey on February 5, 2019
The Defendant-mortgagor died in 2009; a mortgage foreclosure was commenced in 2016. No representative was substituted for the decedent in the foreclosure. The foreclosing Plaintiff’s motion to vacate the foreclosure sale, the Order of Reference and the ...
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Topics: foreclosure

Religious Status of Property Owner Considered

By Mike Berey on January 29, 2019
A survey showed that a building under construction encroached up to 3.75 inches onto the Plaintiff Church’s property. Justice Modica of the Supreme Court, Queens County, serving as an Emergency Justice, held that the encroachments were not de minimis ...
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Topics: CRE trends CRE

Fraud in the Inducement

By Mike Berey on January 15, 2019
Plaintiffs sought to recover their property, alleging that they had conveyed their property to the Defendant based on the misrepresentation that the Defendant would assist them in effectuating a short sale to relieve them from a defaulted mortgage debt. ...
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Topics: Fraud CRE

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”)

By Mike Berey on December 20, 2018
FinCEN has issued Geographic Targeting Orders (“GTOs”) requiring certain U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind companies used to pay all cash for high-end residential real estate in New York City, Broward, Palm Beach and ...
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Not-for-Profit Corporation Can Sell only on Board or Member Approval

By Mike Berey on October 10, 2018
The Plaintiff and the Defendant, a not-for-profit corporation, entered into a contract for the sale of the Defendant’s real property. The contract was executed on behalf of the Defendant by one of its Trustees but the contract was not approved by the ...
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Topics: Non-profit

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