Tag Archives: real estate professionals

Selecting a Real Estate Attorney—Some Advice from the Other Side

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In my over forty years of practicing real estate law in Massachusetts, I have had clients in all sizes and shapes. Many of my clients have been satisfied with my services, others not so much. When I have dissected what went wrong with the clients who were less than enchanted, I found that the old “C” word, communication, led to most of the disappointments on both sides.

With that inmid, I would submit the following set of rules to follow when considering attorneys to assist you in what will, perhaps, be the biggest single investment you will make in your lives.

   1. Ask the prospective attorney the following questions:

       a. Is real estate you primary area of practice? It seems so obvious, but many times you will have counsel who is “learning while you learn”.  This is generally not a good thing.

       b. Will you do this on a fixed fee basis or on an hourly basis? Many seasoned attorneys are not afraid to quote a fixed fee. Others will say “hourly” but will consider a “ceiling” on the amount of the fee. Some will day a fixed fee, with the understanding that if the deal goes way off the tracks, the parties may revisit the fee situation to assure that the attorney is not disadvataged when events really changed in the course of the transaction. In any event, too many people enter into a professional relationship with an attorney with no clear understanding of what the matter will cost, and that can lead to disatsifaction on both sides.

       c. Whatever is agreed upon for fees, enter into a fee agreement with your attorney. This should set forth the amount of your retainer, if any, the hoursly rate if that is the way the transaction is structured and any other important aspects of the attorney’s representation.

       d. Find out in advance if you can expect to be dealing with the attorney you slected most of the time. or if you will be dealing with an Associate or a Paralegal. My firm, Topkins & Bevans, is small, and one of my marketing approaches is “I am the A Team, and there is no B Team”. Other lawyers operate on a different basis. Find out in advance so you will not be frustrated because Mr. X or Ms Y is not returning your calls or emails.

     2. Once you have established the rules wth your attorney, learn to live with them. Attorneys, like any other professionals, cannot manage through exception. Realize that the attorney has other clients, and that sometimes you will have to wait for a response.

     3. Try to listen to the advice your attorney gives you. AsI said abopve, the purchase or sale of real estate is one of the most important things you will do in your financial life. Once you find the right attorney, listen to what he or she has to say. Many of us have been through thousands of transaction, and we know our crsft. Listen to what we tell you; we are on your side.

Getting the deal done—Common Goals almost Always Make People representing both sides “Comrades in Arms”

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I was speaking with a fellow Massachusetts attorney yesterday about our practices. He is a partner in a downtown Boston firm; my firm is mid-sized and mostly suburban, with an office on Newbury Street in Boston, but one office in the Western suburb of Waltham and one office in the Southern suburb of Braintree. After we spent the better part of an hour hammering out the terms of a purchase and sale agreement for commercial property in Boston, Massachusetts, we agreed that he would do the changes in the latest draft, send it along to me for final review, and we could sign things up before the end of this month.

When we finished out work, and we exchanged pleasantries about how smoothly our negotiations had gone, and how we had developed a basically fair deal for both sides, he commented to me that this result is why he has enjoyed practicing real estate law so much. He said the common enterprise which followed the negotiations makes real estate transactions different from all other areas of law. His point was that when you have a willing Buyer and a willing Seller, and we perform required due diligence through inspections and confirmations with governmental authorities, we have a “deal” and all sides are working together to get the sale closed and the buyer moved in.

Upon reflection, it occurred to me that this was the charm of real estate work in general. After the preliminary discussions, and offers and counter-offers, the deal gets done, and both sides are generally pleased with the outcome. This is not the sale of a business where the Seller knows of some changes in revenue projections which mean that the Buyer may be overpaying. This is not a litigation where there is a winner and a loser.

We are engaged in a professional where everyone can win and walk away smiling. I have been impressed with how many realtors comment about the great feeling they experience when the deal is closed, and the Sellers and the Buyers coalesce into discussions about maintenance issues or reliable artisans and contractors to use.

So, at a “feel-good” time of the year, after we have thanked our young men and women for defending our country on Veterans Day, and prepare to thank a higher being for the joys of family and home and good friendship on Thanksgiving, we can also have good feelings about our profession. Each in our own way, we make the dream of home ownership a reality for people every day. And we do it together, both sides working together to try to make things as manageable as possible for Buyers and Sellers who have justifiably relied upon us for assistance. I salute us all.