Real Estate Taxes
Richard B. “Rick” Chess, Louis J. Rogers
This session will discuss an analysis of the challenges of assessment, equalization, use transition, deferred exchange and development incentives and address how proper positioning on tax issues can allow a real estate investment to turn a profit.
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Commercial: Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy
William L. Nusbaum, Abigail Johnson
Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) is an innovative tool to finance energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water efficiency improvements for existing and new commercial, industrial, multifamily, and nonprofit-owned buildings, and will start becoming available in localities around Virginia in 2018. The C-PACE loan, obtained from a private lender, is secured not by a deed of trust, but by a special assessment lien against the property, and repaid via installments billed on the property’s real estate tax bill, in parity with the real estate taxes. Consequently, C-PACE financing will often prove more advantageous to property owners than second mortgages, mezzanine debt, equity investment, and other means for funding PACE-eligible improvements.
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Residential: Forms over Substance or Substantial Form Changes? Current ALTA® Forms
Ronald D. Wiley, Jr.
This session will both update residential real property practitioners on the title insurance forms we use every day and remind us about some basic principles we sometimes forget in the rush to closing. Virginia title insurers have begun using the ALTA® Commitment for Title Insurance form adopted August 1, 2016. While that form returns to a traditional format most Virginia real estate attorneys will recognize, the new form does contain some substantial changes.
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Staying Afloat Among the Sea Changes in Recurrent Flooding Public Policy and Flood Insurance
Henry R. Pollard, Mike Vernon
This session will address the dynamic issues of recurrent flooding and sea level rise, public policy and regulatory responses to these concerns, and related facility and development risks and legal liabilities, as well as evolving flood insurance policy requirements, related financial considerations for property owners, and trends in the insurance and construction marketplace in response to the changing flood maps and flood insurance guidelines. The presenters will offer practical tips and “real-world” perspectives based on their experience in the public policy arena and working with a broad range of facility and property owners, contractors, agencies, and other parties.
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Ethical Issues in Real Estate Practice: From Conflicts of Interest to Cybersecurity
Beth Burgin Waller, L.O. Natt Gantt II
This session will consider various ethical issues faced by the real estate practitioner, including the role of attorneys and potential conflicts of interest in real estate transactions, issues relating to confidentiality and disclosure of client information, and unauthorized practice of law concerns in real estate transactions. This session will also consider the various ethical considerations of the intersection between technology, cybersecurity, and the practice of real estate law. From the highly sensitive personal information a real estate lawyer handles to wire transfers to electronic recording of deeds, real estate is constantly evolving and cyber threats are also. The session will be interactive and will include analysis of specific ethical scenarios for group discussion. Professionalism and best practices considerations beyond the baseline ethical requirements will also be discussed.
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Multijurisdictional Practice Issues for Real Estate Lawyers (Ethics)
Thomas E. Spahn
This interactive session will use hypotheticals to explore lawyers practicing law in states where they are not licensed, including: the effect of lawyers practicing law in states where they are not licensed; the permissibility of lawyers giving advice about the law of states where they are not licensed; the ability to practice "virtually" in other states; permissible temporary practice by lawyers in states where they are not licensed; the rules governing lawyers moving permanently to another state; the ability of lawyers not licensed in the state where they practice to represent clients before federal agencies, and in matters involving federal law; limitations on in‑house lawyers practicing in states where they are not licensed.
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Constitutional Takings—A Lively Discussion of Murr v. Wisconsin
Gus B. Bauman
This 5–3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 23, 2017, concerning building lots merger makes a mess of takings law, creating a new, confused, multi-factor test for determining what is the proper unit of land to be assessed for a challenged taking.
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