Hello all,

We hope this feature of our website will be a great resource for both home buyers and sellers. We can use it to communicate up to the minute information about Rockland and Orange County real estate, the mortgage market or commentary on news that effects everyone such as September's disasterous banking failures. Watch for more interesting articles as we keep you appraised of what's up in the V-Team Blog!

 

Not a lawyer joke, but it could be.

 

This week I had a situation occur that almost cost me and one of my my sellers a sale. My clients had chosen a personal friend, a trial lawyer, to represent the sale of their house. They said that he was a trusted friend and although he didn’t specialize in real estate law, they were confident he was well qualified.

 

When a very qualified buyer made an offer on the house, the seller’s lawyer was involved in a trial and for whatever reason, failed to return phone calls and messages left by the buyer’s attorney. The buyers were upset by the delay to say the least and threatened to withdraw their offer. They assumed that the sellers weren’t motivated, which wasn’t the case at all.

 

Moral of the story: In this market, where there is so much inventory (homes for sale) available, it’s essential to use an attorney who knows the game. Buyers need to move quickly, to nail down mortgage rates, and to close deals which often take months to finalize. Trial lawyers are accustomed to cases which move at glacial speeds. They use delaying tactics as a strategy to win cases.  But slow moving lawyers won’t get deals done in real estate, especially when buyers can and do walk away from deals for the slightest reasons.