Real Estate Law - How Can We Help You?


DO I NEED AN ATTORNEY FOR A REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION?

YES! To make an appropriate decisions on real estate transaction, you need objective advice from a disinterested person. If you’re buying or selling real estate, you’re entitled to, and should have, an attorney to advise and represent you. Most people trust their real estate agents to tell them everything they need to know and whether they should or should not go ahead with a particular transaction. The problem with that, however, is that real estate agents are paid on commission and don’t get paid if the sale doesn’t close. Because an attorney gets paid by the hour (or on a fixed fee basis) regardless of whether the deal transpires or not, an attorney will give you more objective advice than will a real estate agent.

A real estate agent telling you that you don’t need an attorney, or that you should not go to an attorney for a legal opinion, is a red flag that should tell you to cut ties with that particular agent.

WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR ME AS MY ATTORNEY IN A REAL ESTATE DEAL?

We will review the contracts and other pertinent documents and tell you whether you should or should not do the deal, and if so, on what terms, from a legal perspective. Typically, we advise on title questions, zoning and land use, compliance with various laws affecting the use of the property and the transaction itself, legally required disclosures, interpretation of the sales contract and lending documents, what options you should elect in those documents if given a choice, compliance with conditions by the other party, whether or not a real estate agent or lender is engaging in improper conduct, among other things.

We have instant access to property profiles, comparable sales, title documents, and property histories. We have a complete real estate law library that can answer nearly all questions that arise in real estate transactions.

CAN AN ATTORNEY ESCROW A TRANSACTION?

YES! Although typically most real estate transactions use an independent escrow company, you don’t have to do so. If all parties to the transaction agree, an attorney can do the escrow so long as the attorney represents at least one of the parties to the transaction (buyer, seller, or lender).

WHAT ABOUT LITIGATION AFTER THE SALE?

Most Real Estate litigation falls into two categories: breach of contract (one or more of the parties to the deal fails to perform the obligations arising from the transaction) or misrepresentation/non-disclosure. Most of these problems, however, can be prevented if you have an attorney advising you during the sale to appropriately word the contract and to be sure the other party has complied with all legally required disclosures and what your options are for disclosures that are not required, but are legally permissible, such as requiring a buyer to provide a credit report and financial statement to the seller when the seller is carrying back a note as part of the purchase price.

A Seller has an obligation to disclose all facts within the seller’s knowledge that a reasonable person would want to know before purchasing real property, and is also required to make certain statutory disclosures as well. If the Buyer discovers a material defect in the property after the deal closes, the Buyer has a cause of action against the Seller for misrepresentation. We handle this kind of litigation.

Other real estate cases in which we represent clients in settlement negotiations and in Court include encroachments (adjoining landowner’s structures protrude onto another’s property) nuisance (adjoining landowner’s use of the property prevents other owners form enjoying their properties) trespass (an unwanted or illegal entry on the property of another) zoning (assistance with getting a government agency to change the permitted use of a property) and code enforcement (fighting a government agency alleging violation of a land use regulation).

We also handle title-related litigation, such as forged deeds and transactions missed by the title company in its review of title documents before closing a transaction.

CAN YOU ASSIST ME WITH LENDER PROBLEMS?

YES! A lender and/or loan officer has an obligation to fully disclose all terms and conditions of a loan in a way that is understandable to you before the deal closes. The lender also has an obligation to deal with you in good faith in communicating with you and applying your payments. The law is that all parties to any business transaction have a duty to the other parties to refrain from any act which prevents the other parties from realizing the benefits of that transaction. If your lender sells your loan, your lender has additional disclosure obligations. If you’re having lender problems, call us!

DO YOU HANDLE HOMEOWNER DISPUTES WITH ASSOCIATIONS?

YES! While a homeowner association acan make reasonable regulations, their powers are not unlimited. Many homeowners are intimidated into paying fines or complying demands by their associations because they’re scared they’ll lose their homes if they don’t comply. The law is a homeowner association can’t foreclose to collect a fine, and whatever demands are made have to comply with the CC&R’s (Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions) and the law. You need to consult us if you have a problem with your Association rather than run scared.

DO YOU REPRESENT CLIENTS IN MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION?

YES! Mediation is a valuable way to resolve disputes. Mediators have no formal powers, just the ability to persuade all the parties to a dispute to bring it to a resolution and to assist in formulating mutually agreeable terms. There are many advantages to settlement: elimination of the uncertainty of a courtroom, reduced attorney fees and costs, the ability of the parties to shape the resolution of the case themselves, and confidentiality.

Arbitration to which the parties have agreed in a contract, however, is a different story. An arbitrator’s decision is binding (final) and cannot be appealed to a Court. Our Supreme Court has decided an arbitrator is not required to follow the law, can use his or her own idea of what the law should be to decide the case, and that an arbitrator can render a factually erroneous decision and get away with it. Further, the parties rights to discovery, that is, to take depositions, serve interrogatories, and request documents from the other side, are often severely limited. Simply put, binding arbitration sucks. There is no other meaningful way to say it.

While we can, and do, represent client in arbitration proceedings, we strongly advise ALL clients NOT to agree to arbitration clauses in ANY contract (your agreement to arbitration in real property transactions is optional, not required) and to resist demands by the other parties to the transaction to do so. If the other party to a contract insists on a contractual arbitration clause as a condition of doing a deal, it is time to walk away!

WHAT DO YOU CHARGE FOR REPRESENTATION?

The first consultation is $100 and includes up to ½ hour of attorney time to meet with you and review the documents you bring with you. If you’re out of the area, or not able to come to the office, we can do a consultation by phone with documents emailed or faxed to us for the same price via a credit card. The consultation concludes with our recommendations for further action and a good faith estimate of what that action will cost.

With the exception of document review and preparation, aLL work we do in real property cases is by the hour. For attorney time, we charge $150 to $175 per hour for associates and $200 to $250 per hour for partners depending on the complexity of the case and the dollars at issue. Paralegals are billed at $95 to $125 per hour and clerical staff at $30 to $45 per hour. Expenses, such as, but not limited to, filing fees, process servers, investigators, title company charges, court reporters, copying, travel, faxes, postage, are additional. We do not handle any real property cases on contingency.

For document review and preparation, we quote a fixed fee that is payable in advance.