Trust This. January 5, 2024.
👋 Happy Friday! The last week of the old year and [...]
👋 Happy Friday! The last week of the old year and the first week of the new year encompass not only Christmas and New Year’s Day, but also my birthday, so I’m still resting in Asheville, hoping the coming snownami doesn’t prevent us from heading back to Florida on Saturday. So this edition is going to focus on some nuts and bolts of some changes regarding our trust and statutory registered agent services. We’ll return with more prognosticating, cogitating, speculating, and ruminating next Friday.
One more thing: I’ll be giving a free webinar for CFRI members next Thursday evening, explaining the new FINCen BOI reporting requirements. If you’re a CFRI member, click here to sign up.
We moved our physical offices in November.
Why it matters: If you (want to) use our statutory registered agent services for your Florida LLC or corporation, you must enter the new address in your annual report.
The registered agent’s name should be entered as “L.T.S.C., LLC”.
The new address information to be entered is “1901 West Colonial Drive, 1st Floor, Orlando, FL 32804”.
You would e-sign it as “Joseph E. Seagle, manager” on the registered agent line.
Of course, you could avoid this hassle if you have us to file your annual report on your behalf. Our website has more information if you want us to handle the details.
The new website to report business ownership information is open for business.
Why it matters: All active, for-profit, non-publicly-traded corporations, LLC’s, limited and general partnerships, and other artificial business entities that are created through their local version of Florida’s Division of Corporations must file their BOI Report before the deadline.
Those entities existing prior to January 1, 2024 (estimated to be over 40 million) must file their reports by December 31, 2024.
Those created on or after January 1, 2024, must file their BOI Reports within 90 days of creation.
Penalty for failure to file timely and truthfully: Civil penalty of $500.00 for each day late, and criminal penalty up to $10,000.00 and 2 years in jail.
I tried out the system on January 1, the first day it was active, and found it to be:
Tedious: There’s a lot of information to enter about many people involved with a company — officers, managers, members, directors ….
Confusing: There are drop-down explanations of what they’re seeking you to answer on each new page, but it was a little difficult to understand whether they needed information about the person who was filling out the form, the company itself, or the persons who control the company.
Repetitive: If the same person filling out the form is also the same person who controls and owns the company, then it requires the person to enter their name, address, date of birth, and Drivers License or Passport information at least three times in separate places on the form.
Of course, once you get a FINCen Identification Number, you should be able to use that on subsequent filings to more quickly complete the form.
For instance, if another LLC owns an LLC, then filing the member LLC’s BOI report first would provide the ID that could be used on the other company’s report.
The bottom line: Fortunately, you only have to file the free BOI Report once for an entity.
The only reason to access a report again is to update information if the name of a manager, officer, or owner of more than 25% interest in the entity changes.
Keep the filing receipt handy. You’ll need it later to re-access your report should anything ever change.
Changes must be reported within 30 days of occurring.
Private sector employment increased by 164,000 jobs in December, and annual pay was up 5.4% over the prior year, beating inflation. Almost all the experts had predicted a slowdown in hiring, so this was unexpected news on Thursday. PRNewswire
The good employment news caused global stocks to tumble as chances of the Fed cutting its lending rate early in the year decreased. U.S. markets could see similar adjustments as traders’ hopes of an early rate cut are dashed. Reuters
The biggest concern for homeowners is the price of insurance. HousingWire
First American is slowly getting back on its feet after a hacker took them down on December 21 and stole data, delaying thousands of closings nationwide and worrying anyone who’s ever had a closing with them in the past. HousingWire
Hidden/junk fees cost Americans $167 billion in 2023. That’s over $1,200 per person. MReport
On January 1, 2024, after 21 years, we changed our law firm name.
Since 2002, we’d been known as “Joseph E. Seagle, P.A.,” but in the second half of 2023, I started thinking it was time to change to a brand name not centered on moi.
Why it matters: My passion is helping people aspire to a better life. That’s the core mission of our companies, including My Land Trustee and my law firm.
I’m the great, great, great-grandson of a man who — at seven years old — boarded a ship in Ireland to come to the U.S. to work as an indentured servant on a farm in Western North Carolina.
In the ensuing years, each generation helped the next one to move from the field to the mill, to the classroom, to the boardroom.
So, it’s built into my core to reach out and help those who also aspire to better lives.
Our hiring process and everything we do is geared toward attracting and retaining crew members with this core passion.
It was time to change our name to reflect that driving focus.
The bottom line: Aspire Legal Solutions PL is now the brand you’ll start to see on our letterhead, e-mail signatures, and website whenever the law firm has a tangent with you.
What’s next: Let us know if there’s anything you aspire to do or be, and we’ll work with you as best we can to help you accomplish that.
We hope you found this helpful — any feedback is appreciated and can be shared by hitting reply or using the feedback feature below.
Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.
Have an idea or issue to share? Email us.
Follow MyLandTrustee and Aspire Legal Solutions on LinkedIN, or subscribe to our YouTube channel!
Be on the lookout for our next issue! 👋
Our mailing address: PO Box 547945, Orlando, FL 32854-7945
Our physical address: 1901 West Colonial Drive, Orlando, FL 32804
👋 Happy Friday! The last week of the old year and the first week of the new year encompass not only Christmas and New Year’s Day, but also my birthday, so I’m still resting in Asheville, hoping the coming snownami doesn’t prevent us from heading back to Florida on Saturday. So this edition is going to focus on some nuts and bolts of some changes regarding our trust and statutory registered agent services. We’ll return with more prognosticating, cogitating, speculating, and ruminating next Friday.
One more thing: I’ll be giving a free webinar for CFRI members next Thursday evening, explaining the new FINCen BOI reporting requirements. If you’re a CFRI member, click here to sign up.
We moved our physical offices in November.
Why it matters: If you (want to) use our statutory registered agent services for your Florida LLC or corporation, you must enter the new address in your annual report.
The registered agent’s name should be entered as “L.T.S.C., LLC”.
The new address information to be entered is “1901 West Colonial Drive, 1st Floor, Orlando, FL 32804”.
You would e-sign it as “Joseph E. Seagle, manager” on the registered agent line.
Of course, you could avoid this hassle if you have us to file your annual report on your behalf. Our website has more information if you want us to handle the details.
The new website to report business ownership information is open for business.
Why it matters: All active, for-profit, non-publicly-traded corporations, LLC’s, limited and general partnerships, and other artificial business entities that are created through their local version of Florida’s Division of Corporations must file their BOI Report before the deadline.
Those entities existing prior to January 1, 2024 (estimated to be over 40 million) must file their reports by December 31, 2024.
Those created on or after January 1, 2024, must file their BOI Reports within 90 days of creation.
Penalty for failure to file timely and truthfully: Civil penalty of $500.00 for each day late, and criminal penalty up to $10,000.00 and 2 years in jail.
I tried out the system on January 1, the first day it was active, and found it to be:
Tedious: There’s a lot of information to enter about many people involved with a company — officers, managers, members, directors ….
Confusing: There are drop-down explanations of what they’re seeking you to answer on each new page, but it was a little difficult to understand whether they needed information about the person who was filling out the form, the company itself, or the persons who control the company.
Repetitive: If the same person filling out the form is also the same person who controls and owns the company, then it requires the person to enter their name, address, date of birth, and Drivers License or Passport information at least three times in separate places on the form.
Of course, once you get a FINCen Identification Number, you should be able to use that on subsequent filings to more quickly complete the form.
For instance, if another LLC owns an LLC, then filing the member LLC’s BOI report first would provide the ID that could be used on the other company’s report.
The bottom line: Fortunately, you only have to file the free BOI Report once for an entity.
The only reason to access a report again is to update information if the name of a manager, officer, or owner of more than 25% interest in the entity changes.
Keep the filing receipt handy. You’ll need it later to re-access your report should anything ever change.
Changes must be reported within 30 days of occurring.
Private sector employment increased by 164,000 jobs in December, and annual pay was up 5.4% over the prior year, beating inflation. Almost all the experts had predicted a slowdown in hiring, so this was unexpected news on Thursday. PRNewswire
The good employment news caused global stocks to tumble as chances of the Fed cutting its lending rate early in the year decreased. U.S. markets could see similar adjustments as traders’ hopes of an early rate cut are dashed. Reuters
The biggest concern for homeowners is the price of insurance. HousingWire
First American is slowly getting back on its feet after a hacker took them down on December 21 and stole data, delaying thousands of closings nationwide and worrying anyone who’s ever had a closing with them in the past. HousingWire
Hidden/junk fees cost Americans $167 billion in 2023. That’s over $1,200 per person. MReport
On January 1, 2024, after 21 years, we changed our law firm name.
Since 2002, we’d been known as “Joseph E. Seagle, P.A.,” but in the second half of 2023, I started thinking it was time to change to a brand name not centered on moi.
Why it matters: My passion is helping people aspire to a better life. That’s the core mission of our companies, including My Land Trustee and my law firm.
I’m the great, great, great-grandson of a man who — at seven years old — boarded a ship in Ireland to come to the U.S. to work as an indentured servant on a farm in Western North Carolina.
In the ensuing years, each generation helped the next one to move from the field to the mill, to the classroom, to the boardroom.
So, it’s built into my core to reach out and help those who also aspire to better lives.
Our hiring process and everything we do is geared toward attracting and retaining crew members with this core passion.
It was time to change our name to reflect that driving focus.
The bottom line: Aspire Legal Solutions PL is now the brand you’ll start to see on our letterhead, e-mail signatures, and website whenever the law firm has a tangent with you.
What’s next: Let us know if there’s anything you aspire to do or be, and we’ll work with you as best we can to help you accomplish that.
We hope you found this helpful — any feedback is appreciated and can be shared by hitting reply or using the feedback feature below.
Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.
Have an idea or issue to share? Email us.
Follow MyLandTrustee and Aspire Legal Solutions on LinkedIN, or subscribe to our YouTube channel!
Be on the lookout for our next issue! 👋
Our mailing address: PO Box 547945, Orlando, FL 32854-7945
Our physical address: 1901 West Colonial Drive, Orlando, FL 32804
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Chaos is wracking the National Association of Realtors leadership, and two class action suits are facing the Association that could lead to billions of dollars in damages.
Why it matters: The lawsuits could end the longstanding custom and NAR requirement that the listing agent share sales commissions with the cooperating buyer’s agent.
Not only did the NAR president recently step down amid multiple sexual harassment allegations, but the powerful trade organization is battling two massive class actions over their requirement that listing agents pay buyer agents a commission on each sale.
Plaintiffs argue that buyer agent commissions have been artificially inflated due to NAR rules requiring home sellers to compensate the buyer-broker.
What they’re saying: NAR argues that the rule has been in place for 100 years and helps consumers.
RE/MAX and Anywhere Real Estate, also named defendants in the lawsuits, have settled with the plaintiffs. As part of that settlement, the companies can no longer:
Require franchisees or agents to join NAR.
Comply with NAR’s “Participation Rule,” under which sellers pay for 1) buyer-broker commissions and 2) access to the local real estate board’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
Situation Awareness: If the class action courts decide to mirror the settlements and issue an injunction prohibiting sellers and listing agents from paying buyer-broker commissions, REALTORs could start leaving the profession in droves.
According to analysts at Keefe Bruyette Woods (KBW), the injunction could:
Shrink the annual commission pool worth $100 billion by 30 percent as consumers start negotiating their own contracts with buyer brokers.
Shrink commission rates by 200 basis points.
Drive as many as 1 million brokers out of the industry.
By the numbers:
The top 20% of agents are responsible for 80-90% of transactions. In comparison, the top 10% of agents are responsible for about two-thirds of transactions, according to KBW analyst conversations with brokerage industry participants.
The agent count in the U.S. could decrease to an estimated 300,000 to 600,000, based on the current NAR membership of 1.6 million.
A twist in the story: In early October, just two weeks before the trial began, NAR announced a change in its interpretation of the Participation Rule:
Listing brokers can now offer zero commission to buying brokers and remain in compliance, a sharp about-face for an organization that has insisted for decades that a compensation offer of zero did not comply with the rule.
What’s next: The first class action trial began on October 16. We’ll keep you up-to-date on any new developments.
Regulatory authorities at the state and federal levels are cracking down on illegitimate joint ventures formed by title insurance firms and real estate agencies.
Why it matters: Joint ventures between title agencies and real estate companies aren’t illegal.
However, authorities have found that many such collaborations are sham operations that don’t meet regulatory standards.
If regulators find that your joint venture doesn’t follow regulations, you could be in serious legal trouble.
The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), and specific state regulations prohibit settlement service providers, such as title agencies, from offering kickbacks to real estate agencies who refer work to them.
To get around this prohibition, some title firms and real estate agencies create a joint venture (JV), which allows them to streamline the settlement process and share in the profits. However, some JVs are little more than shell corporations used to funnel financial rewards to real estate agencies for referrals illegally.
A comprehensive white paper by McGuire Woods law firm states that a legitimate JV between a title company and a real estate agency must satisfy three statutory conditions:
The company must make specific disclosures to consumers who are being referred.
Consumers must not be required to use any particular settlement–services provider.
The referring party may only receive a return on ownership interest.
Deviations from this third point are of most significant interest to regulators. According to McGuire Woods, certain illegitimate joint ventures “contribute nominal or even no capital in exchange for their ownership interests in the JV,” leaving the venture wholly undercapitalized for the services it claims to provide. The law firm also posits that such businesses often show profit dividends that are “wildly disproportionate” to their investments and that business models like these increase costs and stifle competition.
Other signs that a JV is not legitimate include a failure to have dedicated office space (i.e. a separate exterior door and lobby), employees, insurance, or other operational necessities.
The bottom line: RESPA, CFPA, and state regulators are spotlighting JVs between title agencies and real estate companies. If your company is involved in a joint venture with a settlement service provider, comply with all federal and state regulations.
Go deeper: Housingwire
Foreclosure filings are up nationwide by 28% over last quarter and 34% over last year at the same time. DSNews
New home listings are up 2% since the beginning of September. National Mortgage Professional
Mortgage bankers expect the average 30-year mortgage rate to drop to 6.1% by the end of 2024. Realtor
Home sales are on track for the slowest year since the Great Recession. WSJ
Orlando area home sales fell another 8.4% in September from the month before. Orlando Sentinel
At the end of the largest tax audit in U.S. history, Microsoft has been ordered to pay $28.9 billion in back taxes, penalties, and interest for trying to shunt profits through a small Puerto Rican factory. ProPublica
The Fall housing market cooled faster and more than usual this year. DSNews
Constraints are powerful change agents for business.
Why it matters: Whether you’re a Realtor who focuses on buyers or you’re a title agent who uses JV agreements to ensure you have a full pipeline of closings, based on the stories above, you’re facing some significant constraints coming your way.
If your main source of income is from listing brokers paying a portion of the overall sales commission to you, and NAR’s rules do away with that century-old way of doing business, what do you do?
If your main source of referrals is from Realtors who own an interest in your title agency so they can share in the profits, but it is found to be out of compliance with the regulations, requiring you to shut it down, how do you keep the Realtors coming back?
If your title agency relies on buyers’ Realtors referring business to your title agency, but buyers’ agents leave the profession because they no longer get paid a part of the commission, how do you survive as a title agency or as a Realtor who relied on those distributions?
What if I’d asked you in October 2019 to imagine a pandemic shutting down all businesses worldwide so no one can leave their homes to work? What solutions would you have devised to survive?
What solutions did you come up with?
Constraints come at business owners in the form of new technology (think AI), changes in the law or regulations, employee resignations, and new competitors.
Those constraints can be seen as obstacles that cause us to give up, or they can be taken as challenges to improve how we do what we do.
💭 Joe’s thought bubble: Business is always changing with new constraints. Exercising our organizational brains to prepare for constraints is necessary to be ready to roll with the punches.
SWOT analyses and focusing on our visions and core values are two things we can use everyday to be prepared when the Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes like these pop up.
Go deeper: The power of constraints: Phil Hansen at TEDxKC
How often do you do a SWOT Analysis of your life or business?Your response is anonymous |
We hope you found this helpful — any feedback is appreciated and can be shared by hitting reply or using the feedback feature below.
Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.
Have an idea or issue to share? Email us.
Follow MyLandTrustee and Joseph E Seagle PA on LinkedIN,
Be on the lookout for our next issue! 👋