Most of you have purchased real property – be it for your homestead, your business, or in some other fashion. As things improve, you should consider what things you should do and understand to make sure you are protected when there is so much money on the line.
For starters, should you use a real estate agent/broker, sometimes called a Realtor? Should you use an attorney? Should you use both?
What do some of these terms mean in these agreements, and why are these agreements so long in the first place? What impact does something like “time is of the essence” mean to the buyer, or to the seller? What about something like “to the best of my knowledge” – does that open the door up to any liability to you?
Should you personally purchase commercial property? Sure, the banks always make you sign personal guarantees for any money you borrow from them, so then does it even matter whose name the deed is under? If you do have your business buy it, should your business purchase the real estate itself, or should you form a new company?
What about when the purchase go south? Most folks understand that any earnest money may be returned or may be forfeited, depending upon whether the buyer or the seller walks away, or depending upon the reasons the contract didn’t happen? Are there other remedies available? If the real estate market tanks in the meantime, can the seller sue the buyer for a lost opportunity or specific performance if the buyer breached the agreement? What is lost opportunity, specific performance, and who is it available to? Can anyone force the deal to happen no matter what?
What about more complicated deals – in our industry there are often these 99 year land leases, where you aren’t really purchasing the land, but you are purchasing an interest in a lease, where you pay the owner of a land something nominal like $10 per year – what are your rights under these kinds of transactions? Should you even enter into something like this?
We would be happy to sit down with you and help advise you on these issues. Our attorneys have vast experience dealing with real estate issues, especially in this industry. Our attorneys have taught real estate law at the law schools of this State, and can help you navigate these issues, and offer financial options for their representation that may be more beneficial than you have imagined.