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An analysis by tax expert Bob Willens of Robert Willens LLC found that Sears' bankruptcy reorganization is set up in a way that will allow Lampert, a hedge-fund operator who is Sears' principal creditor and its former controlling shareholder, to save about $2 billion of income taxes, according to a Washington Post reported. What's more, because of an odd intersection of tax law and bankruptcy law that we'll get to in a bit, those prospective tax savings are far more valuable to Lampert than they would be to any other would-be buyer or liquidator. That would have been one powerful motivation for Lampert to outbid competitors to become New Sears' controlling holder, according to the commentary. Over the years, Sears has run up about $5 billion of "net operating losses," according to Willens's report, and has also been unable to use about $1 billion of tax credits that it has earned. At current tax rates, the operating losses are worth about $1 billion. Add the unused tax credits, and you get about $2 billion of prospective tax savings.

The owner of an unfinished hotel-condominium won its push to stop wealthy developer Glenn Straub from reserving most or all the proceeds from the Palm Beach property’s sale in a bankruptcy auction, Law.com reported. After filing for chapter 11 protection last August, the Palm House Hotel’s owner, 160 Royal Palm LLC, asked to auction the salmon-colored, 82,648-square-foot building at the center of civil and criminal allegations of EB-5 investment visa fraud. Straub’s KK-PB Financial LLC argued it has a $39 million secured interest in the property where the stalking-horse auction bid is set at $32 million. The two sides have been fighting about KK-PB’s ability to credit bid in the auction tied to its secured interest, which could severely limit the cash proceeds available for distribution to others. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Erik Kimball in West Palm Beach ruled from the bench on Friday that KK-PB can’t credit bid any amount in the auction. KK-PB Financial maintains 160 Royal Palm defaulted on its mortgage and asked the court to set how much it could credit bid on the development.

Bankruptcy proceedings will continue for the Williston-West Condominiums after a motion to dismiss the filing was denied Feb. 22, the Falmouth (Mass.) Forecaster reported. The dismissal motion by Coastal Capital Realty, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maine, claimed Frank Monsour, operating as 32 Thomas Street LLC, filed for chapter 11 protection in bad faith hours before a scheduled Feb. 15 foreclosure auction. Judge Michael A. Fagone refused to dismiss the case, and approved an interim motion allowing Monsour to lend money to 32 Thomas Street LLC, with the property as security, to meet business expenses. Coastal had also objected to that request. Court documents show Monsour borrowed $1.4 million from Coastal in 2015, and $1.4 million from Camden National Bank in 2017. The 2015 debt was reduced to $1 million in 2017, but when the promissory notes came due last September, 32 Thomas Street LLC owed a total of $3 million, including interest.

Sales of previously owned homes fell in January, although a decline in home prices and mortgage rates could bode well for a pickup this spring, the Wall Street Journal reported. Sales fell 1.2 percent in January from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.94 million, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday. January marked the third consecutive month of declining sales, and last month’s 4.94 million home sales were the lowest since November 2015. Compared with a year earlier, sales in January declined 8.5 percent. Interest rates were on the rise for most of 2018, but cooled at the turn of the year. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.35 percent the week ended Feb. 21, down from 4.94 percent in mid-November, according to Freddie Mac. Inventories of existing homes for sale rose 3.9 percent to 1.59 million in January. At 3.9 months’ worth of supply, inventories were up slightly from 3.7 months in December, the realtors’ group said.