So you think title is typically not an integral part of your deal. Think again!

Here is a title story, of epic proportions, told to us InmanNews. Remember this scenario the next time someone poo-poos the importance of securing title, prior to a development deal.

Some Hollywood moguls who were ready to build a $282 million movie production studio that would yield some 2,000 high paying jobs and a flow of movie and television shoots to the tiny community of Plymouth, Mass. are getting an education in clearing title.

Rock Studios just “dropped a bomb” on the town council this week by announcing that the 1,000-acre site they’d picked has a huge problem associated with it: Clearing title on 7,058 individual campsites dating back to the early 1900s.

• “Tracing the chain of title on each of them is necessary and half of them have serious problems that will take extensive time to rectify,” Emily Wilcox of WickedLocal.com reports.

• Realistically, the job would take about two years, even if the city tried to take the land through eminent domain.

• As a result of the title issues, just two weeks after voters gave the project the go-ahead, Plymouth Rock Studios officials say they’re looking at nine other sites, two of which are outside the town.

Movie Lots and the Sub-Prime Lending Debacle.

Makes you wonder what kind of mess rustbelt cities are going to have redeveloping neighborhoods hard hit by foreclosures.

Reporting on the city of Cleveland’s lawsuit against 21 investment banks and mortgage lenders, Newsweek says the city and surrounding Cuyahoga County have 22,000 vacant foreclosed properties.

Many of those properties are undoubtedly scattered throughout some neighborhoods that are still viable, but there are probably opportunities to bulldoze others, combine lots, and create public spaces or build larger residential or commercial projects.

A resource for all: The National Vacant Properties Campaign provides information and tools for cities tackling such challenges.

Tags: Clearing Title, Sub Prime, Title

Posted in Developers, Subprime, Delinquency Rates, Real Estate Brokers, Attorneys, Commercial Title Companies, Bankers, Commercial Real Estate | No Comments