11/10/2011  Craig Haskins 

The fees to record a document with all Wisconsin Registers of Deeds are about to change.  It's critical that you fully understand how this could affect your transaction because the changes are right around the corner.  See the section on recording fees at www.knightbarry.com to understand the impact of this change.  

4/18/2011  Craig Haskins 

Knight-Barry would like to congratulate its customer Greg Devorkin for his award from the Milwaukee Business Journal in the category of Best Deal/Lease of the Year for his $15million shopping center in New Berlin.  Knight-Barry is proud to have insured this site and many others for Devo Properties.  Furthermore, our construction escrow coordinator, Jennifer Held disbursed construction draws, Elizabeth Peetz performed the closing and the title was insured by Ann Wise.  For more information on the awards visit http://www2.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/events/2011/real_estate_awards/

4/18/2011  Craig Haskins 

Knight-Barry would like to congratulate our customer Aurora Health for its recent award from the Milwaukee Business Journal.   The Aurora Medical Center in Grafton was awarded the Best New Development or Renovation in the Health Care industry for its $184million project.   Knight-Barry is proud to be involved in this project and other Aurora transactions over the years.   Title for this site was searched and examined by Joe Nemith and Ann Wise.   For a blast from the past, Joe Mackesy also provided preliminary search work over the years for this former farm land.  To learn more about the awards, see http://www2.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/events/2011/real_estate_awards 

11/28/2010  Craig Haskins 

The headline describes a couple words consumers usually tend to disfavor – Wall Street and Fees. So these items combined likely would scare the pants off a homeowner, right? Well that’s what I think will happen if the so-called Wall Street Resale Fee makes its way to Wisconsin. Here’s the deal, a resale fee (also called a private transfer fee covenant) works like this:

2/24/2010  Cheri Hipenbecker 

The topic at hand is perhaps one of the least understood and confusing issues surrounding the implementation of the 2010 GFE and HUD1 – “written lists”. Why is it so confusing to lenders and loan originators?

2/10/2010  Cheri Hipenbecker 

Almost daily we receive new updates and clarifications regarding the implementation of the new RESPA rules as they relate to the new GFE (Good Faith Estimate) and HUD-1 Settlement Statement. Of particular note are the following:

3/18/2009  Cheri Hipenbecker 

Not only are our federal legislators in a hussle and bussle to enact new laws, our Wisconsin state legislators are also having fun. Here are some new and possible upcoming laws affecting the real estate industry:

8/13/2008  Cheri Hipenbecker 

Signed into law by President Bush on July 30, 2008, H.R. 3221, the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 (the “2008 Foreclosure Act”), is another tack taken by Congress to address the present foreclosure crisis (in late 2007 our federal government enacted the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 on this topic - click here January 2008 blog for more discussion). With the stated goal of preventing foreclosures, the 2008 Foreclosure Act does the following

7/18/2008  Cheri Hipenbecker 

The title of this blog is not entirely tongue in cheek as in an opinion filed on July 1, 2008, the Wisconsin Supreme Court eased the consequences of lying on a Real Estate Condition Report in a residential real estate transaction. In Below v. Norton, 2008 WI 77 (http://www.wisbar.org/res/sup/2008/2005ap002855.htm), the court held that the economic loss doctrine bars common-law claims for intentional misrepresentation in all real estate transactions (residential and commercial).

6/18/2008  Cheri Hipenbecker 

6/4/2008  Craig Haskins 

Ok, let’s get one thing straight. I’m a title insurance professional attempting to blog about the appraisal process of lenders. At the bottom of this article, there is an area for you to submit comments, anonymous or not. So if I get a fact wrong, please make a comment. Do realize, you are not reading the Wall Street Journal - here goes.

5/23/2008  Cheri Hipenbecker 

For years I have been reading my friendly little community booklet and the local newspaper and sweating over the question – am I going to have to change my pier?

5/20/2008  Cheri Hipenbecker 

Devine v. Notter, Appeal No. 2007AP812: The question raised in a recent unpublished Wisconsin Court of Appeals case - does the inclusion of an attorney approval clause in an Offer to Purchase render the Offer illusory and unenforceable? The pertinent language in the Offer to Purchase stated:

1/30/2008  Cheri Hipenbecker 

1/11/2008  Cheri Hipenbecker 

1/4/2008  Cheri Hipenbecker 

In 2002, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said “NO” to Dockominiums, holding that the conversion of a marina to a dockominium form of ownership violated the public trust doctrine because the owner attempted to convey condominium property contrary to Wis. Stat. § 30.133 (1995-96), which prohibits certain transfers of riparian rights. (ABKA Limited Partnership, et. al., vs. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources et., al., 2002 WI 106).