REAL ESTATE boomin the
bust A
ILLUSTRATION: JEREMY BRUNEEL
The 'ticking time bomb' of potential mortgage defaults offers real estate lawyers other options for keeping their practices healthy.
BY K E V IN MARRON N
ow that Canada's long- running property boom has finally hit a brick
wall, underemployed real estate lawyers are looking for other ways of eking out an income. An obvious option is mortgage enforcement. It's a business that booms when property markets go bust. Few may relish the thought of working to put people out of the homes they helped them buy during the boom times. But lenders have rights too and also require legal representation. Fur- thermore, mortgage enforcement spe- cialists will tell you that many defaults result from specula-
tion, greed, fecklessness, or downright fraud. And, as one
lawyer puts it, "I don't want to sound like too much of a vul- ture, but I love being busy."
www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com JANU AR Y 2009 19
