Quote: (06-23-2011 03:34 AM)thegmanifesto Wrote:
Malcolm Tucker -
Great post.
Any links you recommend in particular?
I try not to read too much about the details anymore because it gets me too angry. I used to be an attorney who believed in the rule of law and all that horseshit, but now I know that wealth, bread, circuses, propaganda and men with guns who work for a paid-off entity know as the government are what really matter. I just want to make money and GTFO, and right now there are better ways to invest my time. YMMV.
Real estate blog-wise I really only check up on naked capitalism with any regularity, but it's as good a place to start as any AFAIK. It's a bit pussy leftist at times but even a stopped clock is right twice a day and their coverage of issues like MERS' cases and the linked blogs and stories in their entries can lead to more interesting reading.
If you are a DIY guy and you want to know how fucked up things are from what they're supposed to be get a couple old slightly used property law casebooks (the 1L versions), read them to understand the basics of property law, then get some used general real property casebooks and read them. That will get you started.
After that you can read up on local caselaw from wherever interests you and learn the details. A cheap used legal dictionary, a cheap used guide on how to research legal cases/statutes/regulations/etc, a cheap used bluebook to understand citations (they're not rocket science even if they look arcane at first), a couple cheap used textbooks, and a bottle of NoDoz would help regardless if you are into the DIY thing. Think of it like teaching yourself Spanish like Roosh did if it helps.
That's one good thing about the textbook business I've found: if you aren't a student who thinks he has to buy the latest editions of the $150+ legal casebooks then you can buy the earlier editions for pennies on the dollar. But I digress.
Or you could just make friends with some competent practicing real estate attorneys and buy them drinks. In vino veritas and all that. They probably need the distraction and they'll be able to give you the skinny on what's really happening and answer your questions as you learn what to ask, especially regarding a particular locality or area of the business.
Other than that I can't help you.
But for what it's worth, I bet that if I knew what I was doing it could be a great time to put money into certain areas and certain properties if the risk/reward structure made sense. But if a sophisticated institutional purported note holder can't produce the proper documentation to collect on a note he/she/(sh)it claims to be overdue, state and federal judges are issuing more than the usual number of real estate law related verdicts that are clearly against the black letter law, and the record keeping system has been compromised by weird private entities so that I or my attorney can't go down to the local courthouse and research a property's ownership history with any degree of certainty, then how can I buy with any reassurance other than that I'm buying a place in line in some future massive court action and not full fee simple on a duplex or whatever?
Sure I would buy some title insurance or whatever type of insurance I needed according to the black letter law/best practices/my attorney's advice/WTFever, but I don't trust those insurance fuckers enough to pay up when the time comes these days when it's an open-and-shut case. That's what happens when a system loses moral legitimacy: can't trust nobody.
I'm nowhere near an expert though, but I bet someone reading this is and can point you in the right direction while knocking a few holes in my post too. Like I said, I try to stay ignorant about this shit as much as I can because it pisses me off too much and I eat elsewhere these days. But it doesn't take much to get me ranting in a long post or over a couple of drinks. I need to work on my not-giving-a-shit skills.
tl;dr meh