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Top U.S. Law Firm Warns Against Joint Ventures

Written by Todd Ewing on . Posted in Article.

A prestigious law firm has signaled that real estate agents should avoid participating in joint ventures. McGuireWoods’ guidance follows a recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issuance in the Federal Register regarding misconduct around the Consumer Financial Protection Act, which was enacted by Congress in 2010.

Beyond banks and credit unions, attorneys at McGuireWoods note that the policy statement is also applicable to real estate agents who participate in joint ventures with title or mortgage firms.

“None of these state laws makes an exception for when real-estate agents disclose their conflicts, and it is unlikely that an agent’s disclosure of a conflict would dissuade the Bureau from enforcing the CFPA. This is particularly true when the purported disclosure is made, as it often is, after the referral—for example, when it is buried among the dozens of pages that the parties must sign when ratifying the purchase agreement—and in language that is impenetrable to the average consumer.”

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Todd Ewing
Todd Ewing is an entrepreneur and attorney. After receiving his law degree from Drake University, Ewing left his home state of Iowa for opportunity in the Capital Region.He launched Federal Title & Escrow Company in 1996. The company that began on a piece of plywood strewn across a couple of sawhorses in a tiny office in Tenleytown had a unique premise: Give back to homebuyers what other title companies kick back to their referral sources.The innovative REALCredit™ distinguished Federal Title from its competitors and helped move Federal Title to the top echelon of independent title companies in the United States.A perennial trail blazer, over the years Ewing has also introduced one of the title industry’s first paperless closing workflows and a mobile app known as Close It! that was first to pinpoint for buyers, sellers and agents exactly how much cash would traverse the closing table during settlement.Ewing is an active outdoorsman who enjoys golf as well as hunting and fishing.
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Todd Ewing

Todd Ewing is an entrepreneur and attorney. After receiving his law degree from Drake University, Ewing left his home state of Iowa for opportunity in the Capital Region.He launched Federal Title & Escrow Company in 1996. The company that began on a piece of plywood strewn across a couple of sawhorses in a tiny office in Tenleytown had a unique premise: Give back to homebuyers what other title companies kick back to their referral sources.The innovative REALCredit™ distinguished Federal Title from its competitors and helped move Federal Title to the top echelon of independent title companies in the United States.A perennial trail blazer, over the years Ewing has also introduced one of the title industry’s first paperless closing workflows and a mobile app known as Close It! that was first to pinpoint for buyers, sellers and agents exactly how much cash would traverse the closing table during settlement.Ewing is an active outdoorsman who enjoys golf as well as hunting and fishing.