About Me (that’s not really me)

I have been a real estate and consumer protection attorney in the Minneapolis – St. Paul area for more than 25 years. Some of my experience:

  • Executive Director of Consumer Advocates in American Real Estate (www.caare.org), the only non-profit 501(c)3 dedicated to consumer protection in residential real estate.  I’ve drafted an Amicus Brief, helped journalists write dozens of stories, filed numerous complaints with regulatory authorities, drafted numerous letters to legislators and helped other nonprofits work on important consumer issues in residential real estate. In this position, I have advocated on behalf of consumers nationwide in regards to many harmful practices involving realtors and title companies including:
    • Dual agency and designated agency.
    • Price fixing of buyer brokerage commissions.
    • Secret bonuses (bribes) paid by listing brokers to buyer brokers.
    • Pocket listings, aka “Coming Soon Listings” or “Pre-Listings.”
    • Self dealing
    • Data hoarding through MLS and other arrangements.
    • Controlled business arrangements.
    • New construction agreements.
  • Owned and operated www.TitleOne.com, a Twin Cities title company that focused on Minneapolis/St. Paul properties for more than 20 years. That company was voted the most technologically advanced title company in the nation under my leadership. I sold my interest in that firm so that I could pursue consumer protection in residential real estate. I remain a loyal fan.
  • Spoke before Congress about the corruption in the title insurance industry (click here for the video).
  • Volunteered on the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Residential Form’s Committee for more than a decade.
  • Multiple class action consumer protection lawsuits involving:
    • Edina brokerage firm that engaged in undisclosed dual agency.
    • Minneapolis brokerage firm that secretly offered sub-standard coop fees to cooperating brokers.
    • Edina firm that set up sham title firms in order to pay kickbacks to realtors.
    • Edina brokerage and title firm that steered clients to in-house firm.
  • Expert Witness testimony.
  • Helped draft the Code of Ethics for the National Association of Independent Land Title Agents (www.nailta.org).