RECENT BLOG POSTS
Especially when my clients are acquiring investment property, I am asked what entity they should use as the Owner. Almost always, the answer is a limited liability company ("LLC"). The LLC combines the best aspects of incorporation with the tax advantages of partnership, without the red tape of e...
03/23/2011
The current economic slowdown has hit people's pocketbooks across the country. People are behind on their mortgage payments, and people are behind on their taxes, and people are behind on their monthly common area fees. Lenders are dragging their feet on starting, and completing, forecl...
03/22/2011
Adjustments at a Real Estate Closing--A Primer for those who attend, but do not conduct. the closing
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As a Massachusetts title attorney with more than 40 years experience, I have handled more than 24,000 real estate closings. While there have been many changes in the industry over the course of my career, there are still some basic concepts that have remained constant. There follows a primer on t...
03/22/2011
Today is my 68th Birthday. When I was a kid, I used to think of people who were 68, as basically "ready for the scrap heap". Fortunately, I am feeling pretty healthy today, and I am grateful to God for that. I have acted as a Massachusetts real estate professional, working on purchase and sale a...
03/22/2011
It is a term that is thrown around lightly, but really not many of us have dealt with it. Specific performance arises, when it does, because of one basic truism that pervades the "equity" division of our legal system. That axiom is "no piece of real estate is exactly like another piece of real es...
03/21/2011
When I started practicing law in 1968, I was assigned a Mentor in the law firm I was working for in Boston. This attorney had a long list of successes in labor negotiations, and the first thing he told me to do was to get a solid spiral notebook. Into this notebook I was to write everything I hea...
03/21/2011
The real estate industry is unique in that many of the best opportunities for marketing and advancement present themselves when there is a problem. Consider the following situation. There is a purchase transaction which is supposed to close within the next two weeks. The buyers have ...
03/19/2011
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These are turbulent times in our industry. More attention than usual has been thrust on real estate because of the plethora of short sales and people being "under-water" on their mortgages. Many people are angry at the system, and they are manifesting this anger in their real estate negotiations,...
03/19/2011
Like everyone else's business, my business as a Massachusetts real estate lawyer runs in spurts. Lately, I have been involved in three situations concerning Easements. In one situation, a client of mine is buying a guest house while the Seller is retaining the major home. All the systems, h...
03/19/2011
As a MMassachusetts real estate attorney with more than 43 years of closing experience, I am involved in residential real estate closings every day. MMassachusetts is a jurisdiction where the real estate attorney usually negotiates the purchase and sale agreement, reviews the title, conducts the ...
03/17/2011