Real Estate Litigation (and how to avoid it)

The firm has extensive experience with lawsuits involving title to land, wrongful foreclosure, mortgage workouts, nuisance, trespass, partitioning of land between joint owners, real estate purchase contracts, earnest-money interpleader, negligent construction, boundary-line disputes, quiet title, deed reformation, materialmen's liens, condominium issues, bankruptcy adversary proceedings and contested matters, and landlord and tenant cases.

A house may be the most valuable asset that one will ever acquire. Purchasing or leasing a home or a commercial property, an ostensibly simple exercise, can actually be (and usually is) enormously complex, and can cause similarly enormous legal headaches. It just makes sense to secure a (relatively inexpensive) legal opinion on your real estate transaction before signing on the dotted line.

Any purchaser or seller should adopt a "team approach." In addition to hiring a real estate agent, a home buyer or seller would be wise to consult an attorney to review contracts and loan applications, to parse closing documents, and to give advice on legal and non-legal considerations that a real estate agent often cannot or will not address. Other the "team" members the firm works with regularly include experts in engineering, surveying, contracting, construction trades, structural pest control, and finance.

While a commission-driven real estate agent may encourage closing on a risky transaction, an attorney with no stake in the deal may have a different perspective. The firm can give you an expert and unbiased opinion on your real estate transaction ... and before it's too late.

It also goes without saying that one should never pay a deposit to or sign a contract prepared by a home builder or contractor before consulting with a qualified attorney. Builder warranties, conditions of payment, draw schedules, and lien waivers and affidavits are just a few of the many considerations that often get ignored as a project gathers "momentum."