How To Evade Liability Lawsuits As A Real Estate Appraiser

By: R Chandler Smith
As an appraiser in the real estate industry, the risk of legal actions is a very real one. Mortgage companies relentlessly pressure you for higher values, lenders are searching for simpletons, and infamous \"investors\" are searching for a sucker to help them carry out fraud. There are very little methods on how to deal with this threat.

1.) Prevention. Don’t do something that can turn you into a liable target.
2.) Movement. Transfer the burden to something else like a client or somebody else.
3.) . The justice system is your friend; employ it to your advantage. Have an insurance company like Errors and Omissions Insurance from a reputable company that will defend you with local attorneys.
4.) Acceptance. Don’t Deny the fact that the threat is true and have yourself insured with some insurance company.
5.) Pay no attention it. Act as if it never occurred and pray it never will.
6.) Disappear. Alter your career to one that is less adversarial.
Here are a few common reasons why a real estate appraiser gets involved in a lawsuit and court cases.

1.) Failing to discover and report enhancement and site flaws. When you want to request for a copy of the purchase agreement, it would be best if you can get the Seller’s Disclosure form signed. Add a note to the appraisal that shows that the appraiser has reviewed the Seller’s Disclosure Statement. Ensure that you obtain a copy of the Seller’s Disclosure Statement. When it is time to examine the house, keep in mind to check with the retailer if there are issues regarding molds. The appraiser could even present the seller with the appraiser’s own form for the seller to evaluate, answer, and sign.

2.) Incorrect computation of total living area. While performing an assignment, the appraiser should never rely upon what is in the MLS system for living area, the previous appraiser’s sketch, an old survey, and the county records mentioning the living area or the architect’s set of plans. If the appraiser receives a set of details for proposed construction, those details should be verified with sketching program to verify the living area size. It will be too late if you’ll wait for the information gathered after the final examination. If the subject has an addition to the living area, such as an enclosed porch or carport/garage, this should at all times be separated in the sketch and in the report – even if the area still has the same contributory value. Any modifications to the living area even if the calculated area is still the same should be noted separately in the report and on a separate sketch.

3.) Did not report roof leakage, foundation cracks, basements that are wet, infestation of termites and mechanical failure.

4.) Reaching a decision in which the property is overvalued or undervalued. You’re likely to cheat if you do not have the needed skill and E&O won’t protect you if found guilty. Appraisers who are inexperienced with their responsibilities and duites are prone to be convicted with fraud.

5.) You’re appraising the wrong estate.

6.) You didn’t verify, that’s it. Includes items throughout the 1004 form of the Federal National Mortgage Association such as utility hookups, zoning, lot dimensions, County assessments/taxes, correct owner of record, history of the subject (both listing and sales), etc… Confirmation should be the primary job during an appraisal.

7.) Libel. A review appraiser can get sued if he or she defames the appraiser rather than the report.

As an appraiser, you can prevent any litigation if you are aware of the dangers regarding your appraisal and avoid them as much as possible.

Article Source:http://www.articleboy.com


This article was written by William D. Cobb with the assistance of Chandler Smith. William operates Accurate Valuations Group and has been licensed as a residential appraiser for 15 years now primarily in the Greater Baton Rouge, LA market area. For more information on William D. Cobb and Accurate Valuations Group, visit Baton Rouge, LA Appraisals. Chandler Smith is a top real estate expert in the Houston and Austin area. He oversees Houston Appraisals

Selecting A Mesothelioma Lawyer

By: Soapy
Asbestos has been proven to cause a number of health conditions, including a disease called mesothelioma. While companies that make products using asbestos have known about the negative health effects of their products for as long as 60 years, many of those who worked in their factories were in the dark.

Mesothelioma lawsuits mean big payouts, with lawyers receiving almost half of the final settlement. Suits settled out of court can bring an average of $1 million, and those that go to court often pay an average of $6 million. With that much money at stake, lawyers are jumping at the bit to handle mesothelioma lawsuits. If you’re considering filing a mesothelioma lawsuit, it’s important to find a lawyer with your best interest at heart and with the skills required to find you the best settlement possible.

What should you look for when shopping for a lawyer to handle your mesothelioma case? Here are some things to ask when considering someone for the job.

1. Has the lawyer ever handled a mesothelioma lawsuit before?
2. If so, what was the outcome? How much was the settlement?
3. Does their law firm specialize in mesothelioma cases?
4. Will that particular lawyer be handling your case, or will it be handed off to someone else?
5. If so, whom, and do they have experience with mesothelioma law suits?
6. What percentage of the final settlement will the lawyer receive?

While interviewing prospective lawyers, you want to get a feel for their communication style and how well you feel you’ll get along. Make sure to ask about any fees or expenses that will need to be paid up-front. Generally, lawyers wait until the settlement is in place and simply take their cut.

Investigate several lawyers before making your final decision. Again, your mesothelioma is a serious condition, and you want to make sure you get the settlement you deserve. If you have a bad feeling about a lawyer or don’t feel he or she has the experience necessary to make the most out of your mesothelioma lawsuit, move on to the next candidate. Find out about their reputation; don’t just take their word for it. See what their former and current clients have to say about their satisfaction with that particular lawyer.

You can also find out about their track record through your local Bar Association. Don’t leave your mesothelioma lawsuit in just anybody’s hands. Find the best lawyer possible—someone with experience and a stellar track record—to make sure you get the best representation available.

Article Source:http://www.articleboy.com


AsbestosNews.com is an online resource for information about mesothelioma cancer and asbestos exposure. Asbestos News has been providing the public with information online since 2001.

Bad Credit? Lawsuit Funding May Help

By: Alec
Many lawsuit plaintiffs have financial troubles while they wait for a settlement–trouble that could lower their credit rating. Credit reports are compiled by companies called credit bureaus that receive reports directly from lenders about their customers’ payment practices. Based on a debtor’s history of paying bills and the amount of debt the person carries, credit bureaus come up with a credit score for each person. Every time a person applies for credit–including applying to rent an apartment–if the applicant receives credit and what the applicant pays for credit is largely determined by his or her credit score. Every lawsuit plaintiff needs to know about credit scores, because any lowering of his or her credit score will affect his ability to get a car loan or a credit card, or rent an apartment, once his lawsuit is resolved and he is ready to resume his old lifestyle. Fortunately, lawsuit funding can help many plaintiffs maintain a good credit rating and, therefore, face a brighter financial future once their cases are settled.

Lawsuit funding can help a plaintiff pay critical bills and loan payments while he or she waits the months–or even years–it can take for a lawsuit to be resolved. Lawsuit funding can provide cash so lawsuit plaintiffs can at least make the minimum payment on credit card accounts. Once the plaintiff receives his or her settlement, he can use that lump sum to completely pay off his debts or substantially pay down his debt.

By helping a plaintiff avoid late fees, disruption of his or her credit, and–worst of all–default, foreclosure, bankruptcy or repossession, lawsuit funding can help a lawsuit plaintiff come through a lawsuit with a respectable credit rating. Once a person’s credit is damaged, it can take years for that person to restore his or her credit. A debtor who has declared bankruptcy is often unable to get any financing at all for years. Foreclosure and repossession are also serious negatives on a credit report. Using lawsuit loans to stay current on bills and debts can produce benefits for that plaintiff for years. Bad credit can cause years of misery.

Litigation funding transactions do not appear on a credit report, so a lawsuit advance does affect a person’s debt-to-income ratio. Too much debt on a credit report lowers a credit score. A LawMax lawsuit funding advance is a lien against the plaintiff’s lawsuit, not a lean against the plaintiff’s personal assets or income stream, and that is why a lawsuit funding transaction does not appear on a credit report so it cannot have any effect on the recipient’s credit score. Additionally, since lawsuit funding advances are not personal loans, if a plaintiff needs a financial statement to apply for a mortgage or other type of financing, the lawsuit funding advance does not have to be included as a liability because a LawMax advance is a lien against the lawsuit, not the plaintiff.

By keeping a good credit record, it is easier for plaintiffs to recover financially after a lawsuit. Good credit is literally something that money cannot buy. It can take months or years to recover from a period of bad credit, so plaintiffs should do everything they reasonably can in order to maintain the best possible credit. In the days, months, and years after a lawsuit is concluded, plaintiffs may need financing for a new car or a new home. Good credit is a key ingredient in getting back to a normal lifestyle once a lawsuit plaintiff has received his or her settlement.

Article Source:http://www.articleboy.com


Alec is a well known author and has been writing content for Lawsuit Advancesas a Loan service to fight your legal case for so many years. His content is worth reading as it gives you an insight about different aspects of availing this service. For more information visit \"www.fundmycase.com\"

Attract Whatever You Want With The Law Of Attraction

By: Colin Joss
In Life we become whatever we make of it. We get out of life what we put into it. As we sow, so shall we reap … the list is never ending.
While these are true, it is up to us to choose how we would like to view these adages. In a positive light, with a positive energy, we could say, ‘three cheers, I have control of my life. I am going to attack life and make the most of it. I want a lot out of life and so I am going to give it my all. In a negative light, we could develop a laissez faire attitude or a ‘hands off’ attitude. Whatever happens to me is my ‘karma’ and so rather than interfere with it and risk making it worse, I will just sit back and let life take its pre-determined course.
We need to now follow one of the steps we need to take to leverage the Law of Attraction. We need to Be Responsible. We need to focus on the fact that we attract what we want in life. We will find that once we buy into the Law of Attraction and start practicing it, we will begin to experience Abundance Attraction i.e. we will not only achieve the single goal we have set our sights on, but gradually a number of other things will also fall into place.
How does this work. We set a goal, focus on it and start working towards achieving our goal. As we cross our stepping stones, we feel more and more motivated as we get closer and closer to our goal. We begin to radiate more and more positive energy, we begin to feel better about ourselves. This is when we begin to attract more and more positive energy from our surroundings and low and behold more things seem to fall in place.
We attract what we want in life.
With hindsight, what we have in life today is what we have attracted or invited. Our goals could be simple “I want to ride a bicycle, I want to swim across the pool or be more ambitious and run a marathon. We write down the goal and focus on it and work out all the stepping stones that we need to cross to ride that bike or run that marathon. We chalk out the time we will need to spend learning to balance on the bicycle or the hours to build up the stamina to run the marathon. We set ourselves a time frame to achieve these goals and then we are off the block and on our way, working diligently towards our goal. Then half way across we wobble on our bikes or go beneath the water. We regain our balance and proceed, but now we are hampered by that momentary fear we experience when we wobbled. Our focus begins to shift a bit from our goal to our fear and the negativity of uncertainty begins to creep in and this pulls us down further. The trick here would be to acknowledge the wobble, but to focus on our feeling of triumph as we regained our balance after the wobble, instead of focusing on the fear of the wobble.
As we master the Law of Attraction and gain control of our lives, we find that more things are beginning to fall into place. We begin to believe that good things will happen to us and so they do. Next time you envy a person who has life made, stop and look at the steps he has taken to get there. Look at how he had set his goals and then focused on achieving his goals. His ‘good luck’ did not fall from heaven, much as we would like to believe that enviously. His success has come because he has paved the way for his success. He has paved it with focus and hard work and sacrifice and most importantly he has paved it with positive energy.
Call It the Law of Attraction or the Power of Positive Thinking, but belief in the words of the song that go “Something good is going to happen, something good will come my way” will attract positive energies your way and life will begin to fall into place.

Article Source:http://www.articleboy.com


Colin Joss is the author of Inspired Attraction – a bestselling ebook packed with practical advice and inspirational stories from thirteen masters of attraction – including two stars of The Secret. It\'s available at www.inspiredattraction.com

Civil Lawsuits: Are They A Way Of Life?

By: Steven Rich, MBA
Lawsuits are becoming a worldwide menace. Everyone should be afraid of lawsuits. You might think, \"I\'ll never be sued\". How wrong you are! It\'s so easy being sued now days. Why?Direct & Indirect Liability We all know that we can be sued for direct involvement with an accident or by negligence. You can also be indirectly involved with a lawsuit. Joint & Several Liability is a legal concept used globally to drag innocent bystanders into lawsuits. Here\'s how. Theft, Fraud, or Personal Injuries caused by your Spouse, Business Partners, or Employees can make you liable.You can be sued and become \"jointly and severally\" liable for an injury to someone without having been personally negligent. All that is necessary is that you were connected in some way. If you are dragged into a lawsuit and the other defendants are without assets or insurance, you may end up being held liable for the full amount of the judgment!

WHAT ABOUT INSURANCE? Many lawyers recommend you purchase at least $1 Million insurance for each of your businesses, homes, land, cars, motorcycles, and boats you own. This will cost you $ thousands in premiums every year depending on how large a deductible (which you\'ll pay to the plaintiff) you are willing to afford. Is that enough?

$ MILLIONS CAN BE AT STAKE
Here are some recent civil court judgments from the United States:$84.5 million for children drowned and brain damaged in a swimming pool.$7 million to a laborer who lost a limb at work on a construction job.$5.87 million for sponsoring a party where a guest later caused an auto accident. $2.7 million for spilling some hot coffee on the legs while driving. In addition to the court award, you must pay $ Thousands to your defense attorney! You will also endure a lot of wasted time defending yourself and your reputation. Let\'s not even get into the physical & psychological Stress. Not Just in the USA: Citizens of Canada, Europe, Russia, Central & South America, and even communist China are being sued for similar injuries.

HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOURSELF? The best solution is to strip you of all assets and become what is known as \"judgment proof\" amongst the personal injury trial lawyers around the world. Most lawyers charge their clients no direct fee for filing a personal injury lawsuit. This is known as a \"contingent\" fee. It means that the lawyer will collect no fee unless he wins the lawsuit and can collect the court awarded judgment amount. Before a lawsuit is filed, a careful lawyer will research the defendant\'s ability to pay a court judgment. If the defendant is \"judgment proof\", (he has no insurance, no ownership of assets that can be seized to pay off a court judgment) the lawyer will not want to sue that defendant. That\'s because the lawyer will spend all of his time and money pursuing a lawsuit with no hope of ever being paid. So, how can you make yourself Judgment Proof?

OFFSHORE CORPORATIONS & PRIVATE INTEREST FOUNDATIONS
Domestic Corporations: Owning a corporation set up in your own country may provide a little protection. However, a domestic corporation can be sued as well. In addition, your shares in a corporation are assets in which a judgment creditor can seize. So-called \"Limited Liability\" corporations, companies, and partnerships don\'t really offer you bulletproof limited liability.

OFFSHORE CORPORATIONS: A better solution is to set up a corporation outside of your country (offshore). An Offshore Corporation can own real estate and vehicles in your country. For even better protection, set up different Offshore Corporations so each one owns only one of your major assets. For instance, one corporation owns your cars, another owns one piece of real estate, and another owns different real estate. As the old saying goes: \"Don\'t put all of your eggs in one basket.\"

PANAMA OFFERS THE ULTIMATE IN ASSET PROTECTION
WHAT IS ASSET PROTECTION? Asset Protection entails protecting your accumulated wealth from unnecessary taxation, frivolous lawsuits, burdensome governmental intrusion, and greedy relatives or in-laws.

WHY PANAMA? Years ago, former British colonies like the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands offered anonymous corporations & secret bank accounts. Not any more. Even Swiss bank accounts are no longer secret. Panama is one of the few remaining countries allowing you total anonymity with setting up business entities and opening secret bank accounts.

Panama\'s Bank Secrecy Laws are the best in the world. Your funds remain private, confidential, and safe inside Panamanian banks.Panama\'s Corporation Laws are the strongest around the globe. Corporate shares are never registered with any government agency in Panama. Panama is one of the last countries allowing total anonymous \"Bearer\" shares protecting the identity of shareholders.

THE COMPLETE OFFSHORE STRUCTURE
You read about Panama Offshore Corporations. Their main purposes are to Protect your Assets and provide you with Privacy regarding your financial affairs. Let us explore the ultimate in Asset Protection and Privacy. The Complete Offshore Structure is a combination of Panamanian legal entities. A Private Interest Foundation owns the shares of Offshore Corporations. This is the utmost in Asset Protection, Privacy, Anonymity, and Convenience!Here is How It Works: Panamanian Corporations own all major assets (real estate, commercial businesses, commercial bank accounts, vehicles, etc.). The Foundation acts as a holding company for the Corporations. The Foundation also holds passive investment accounts and bank accounts.

What is a Foundation? The Panamanian Private Interest Foundation is a legal entity that acts like a Trust and operates like a Corporation. Law No. 25 of June 12, 1995 created and regulates Panama Private Interest Foundations.The Panama Private Interest Foundation based on Private Interest Foundation models from three different jurisdictions: Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. Panama carefully designed the Panama Private Interest Foundation as a more modern, flexible, and affordable Asset Protection & Estate Planning vehicle for people worldwide.Banking: Panama has always used the U.S. Dollar as its official currency. Panama is a famous international banking center. Panama doesn\'t share its banking information with any other country. It is a crime for any bank employee to disclose banking information to any third party in Panama.

Tax Haven: Offshore corporations and foundations do not pay Panamanian income taxes on income earned outside of Panama. Therefore, you can use your Panama entities to make money in other countries tax-free.

ASSET PROTECTION is necessary in today\'s lawsuit crazy world. While the steps we have summarized for you above may seem difficult and complex, they really are not. That\'s because using experts who know how to set up Offshore Corporations and Private Interest Foundations will make this easy for you.

Lawsuit Protection can now be a way of life.

Article Source:http://www.articleboy.com


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