Buying small office building - Attorney Review vs. Due Diligence

[Rui Zhang]

Hi BP, I am under contract to purchase our first office building, it is fully occupied with 2 tenants. I have asked standard documents through my attorney to the seller's attorney - leases, insurance with any claims in the past years, service contracts, any permit violations, etc during attorney review. My attorney said these documents can be required after attorney review closes. So far, except signed leases, I have not received anything else. My attorney keeps asking about the physical inspection. I'd like to complete the financial inspection first. 

What is the difference between attorney review and due diligence? Is this the right attorney for me? 

Thank you.

[Greg Dickerson]

@Rui Zhang I would make sure your attorney does commercial real estate as a focus.

Typically once you agree on terms with an LOI you turn that over to your attorney to draft the contract. That's all they do at this point until you satisfy your due diligence period. At that point if you are moving forward the attorney will then proceed with preparing closing documents and title search.

Due diligence is you responsibility . You need to gather all the info from the seller or his agent  such as  leases, financial documents, do a physical inspection of the property and have a formal inspection if you feel it’s necessary.

The bank will order appraisals.

That’s pretty much it for a small property like this.