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Wed, 21 Feb 2024 22:23:45 -0800

Andy from
private IP
/all
Issues facing attorneys who practice real estate

Hi all, Andrew Watters here.  As some know, I am @TinaTest's husband
and I have my own small law firm of four attorneys and three administrative
professionals.  Tina graciously splits her time between being CFO of my law firm
and running her own real estate deals as a broker.

Although I focus on litigation, which is 95% of my practice, I do sometimes
handle commercial real estate transactions for existing clients, and otherwise. 
Examples of projects include commercial leasing, purchases, and sales, and
various types of transactional documents such as powers of attorney, deeds, etc.
 And of course, real estate litigation.

I want to share a brief vignette about my work in real estate litigation.  One
of the issues that comes up is the client's subjective belief versus the
objective facts and law.  I had a case involving a residential purchase where
the seller experienced "seller's remorse."  Bottom line, she signed the papers
to sell her house and then changed her mind.  It was a deep dive into risk
management, including such colorful anecdotes as the parties meeting at a
Jollibee to discuss the transaction; the buyer's agent competing in bodybuilding
competitions (complete with grainy video), the buyer's attorney and my expert
witness both being wackos, and other controversy.  In summary, my client got
buried at the arbitration, and basically the arbitrator politely called her
delusional.  That was a tough loss, but I learned from that experience.  That
was about 10 years ago and in the meantime, I've never taken another case of
seller's remorse.  The end.
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