By Linda L. Kruschke, Director of Legal Publications
In A Charlie Brown Christmas, after Lucy complains that she never gets what she really wants for Christmas, Charlie Brown asks her what it is she wants. Lucy replies, “Real estate.”
That’s what some of our bar members have been saying, too. They want updated editions of our Real Estate Series books. Unfortunately, they won’t get them for Christmas this year, but a completely revised Real Estate Deskbook will be available by this time next year.
The Real Estate and Land Use Section created a subcommittee, which became the editorial review board, to tackle a reorganization of the existing real estate books that OSB Legal Publications publishes. With the exception of Documentation of Real Estate Transactions, these books were last updated in 2001 to 2003, so they are in need of an overhaul. Plus there is some overlap among the five real estate titles (Fundamentals of Real Estate Transactions, Principles of Oregon Real Estate Law, Real Estate Disputes, Regulation and Taxation of Real Estate, and Documentation).
The new editorial board is comprised of Tom Bahrman, Dustin Klinger, Dina Alexander, Andy Davis, and Phillip Joseph. This team has reorganized the current real estate books, combining chapters that covered the same topics and planning the addition of new chapters to touch on topics not addressed before. They also determined that four chapters from Foreclosing Security Interests more logically fit within a comprehensive Real Estate Deskbook. Then they took on the daunting task of lining up authors for the 64 chapters of this five-volume resource.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but quite a few authors have already submitted their chapters for review by the editorial review board, and in-house editing has begun. As more chapters are submitted, reviewed, edited, and given final author approval, we will begin posting chapters to the BarBooks™ online library. But if you are itching for a hard copy, you’ll have to wait, but you can definitely put it on your wish list for next year.