Replies to post #16329 on SEC Charges Eleven in Stock Manipulation Ring

[Newly2b]

I've been a licensed Realtor here in California for many years and still am. The legal descriptions of property and ways of holding title are different according to various state laws, as are r.e. practices. In N.J., for example, one uses a lawyer to close the deal and one gets a mortgage. Out here we use escrow to close the deal (So.Calif.) or title companies (No.Calif.) and one gets a Deed of Trust (as opposed to a mortgage).

I am curious as to how other states would designate what is a physical SFR but within a gated community with common areas and a ruling association. If the owner also owns the land, it would seem to me one could run into legal difficulties with a ruling association, rules re upkeep on the private sections and what upgrades are allowed, how to keep landscaping, etc. consistent, how to screen prospective owners to meet certain guidelines, and the ability to impose rules beyond zoning laws such as age limitations in retirement communities, pet restrictions, etc. The simplest way for that type of development to work, IMO, is the way California chooses to do it; i.e., by designating them condos, which sidesteps many possible lawsuits that could develop if each lot within the gated community were owned separately.

One form of ownership we don't see out here (at least not in my area) is split ownership of a duplex where title rests separately in each owner. Here, even with only two units, they would be designated condos legally as the lot cannot be divided in ownership without a variance which is difficult to obtain from the city. The only alternative is for both owners to own the entire property jointly on one title via Joint Ownership, Tenants-in-Common, etc. but that has other legal problems like inheritance issues, tax basis upon death, improvements, etc. and agreement of both parties to any sale.

I'm sure Florida must have gated communities with SFRs, at least in the more upscale areas. With so many retirees in Florida, if there were gated communities with legal SFRs whereby each owner owns the land his own house sits on, how would these communities put on age restrictions to ownership required in retirement communities without running afoul of Fair Housing Laws on anti-age descrimination? How are those communities legally designated?

Newly

PS We also have a designation, similar to Condo, known as Co-Op, just to complicate matters further. . .

[Bruce A Thompson]

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Remember from Real Estate School the "Bundle Of Rights" theory?

In Florida, only God and the State Of Florida can own property. The State Of Florida (and the underlying municipalities) represent God in that they "Rent" the property to the "Owner" for taxes paid every year.

What a property "owner" owns is a bundle of rights. These rights include the right of quiet enjoyment, the right to quiet title, etc. Other rights include riparian rights and mineral rights. These bundles of rights are transferred in the "sale" and usually are warranted by the seller to the buyer in the form of a Warranty Deed.

Mineral rights are the basis for the goofy title rules in California. After gold and oil was discovered, and before the state was developed and populated, most if not all of the state was sold off to oil and mining companies. The companies sold "land" to developers but actually only sold this "land" in the form of 99 year leases and reserved the mineral rights to the seller. That is why "nobody" can own land in California.

There are actually some places in CA which convey property via warranty deeds.