Looking for a RE lawyer in or around Oakland, CA

[Simon Stahl]

I am looking for a good RE lawyer on Oakland or the Bay Area. He should be able to create offers with creative financing for me and also help me with the closing. Any suggestions?

Simon

[Jenifer Levini]

Hi @Simon Stahl and all,

I'm a real estate lawyer, here in the bay area. I'm happy to help you with your real estate transactions. Unlike the preconceived notions about lawyer costs, its actually a lot less expensive to hire an attorney, than work with a realtor, if youre able to find the properties, buyers or sellers, on your own.

For example, I just worked on a sale of a condo in San Mateo, for the seller. The buyer and seller found each other and came to agreements on the price and other terms. I wrote the Sale and Purchase Agreement based on the terms they agreed on. If a realtor was used the cost would have been around $33,000 for the commission (based on 6% of the sales price of $550,000). My charge for the contract and talking through/explaining all the points of the negotiation,  disclosures, and fixing inaccuracies from the title company was $2500. That's a savings of $30,500!!! The seller was able to lower the price based on this savings and both parties were extremely happy.

Another reason to hire a lawyer is that we are able to write custom contracts that really suit the exact transaction both parties want. We can include all sorts of creative and unusual financing agreements, irregularities about the property, easements, and anything else that makes the transaction work. A realtor has a CAR form and can only check the boxes. If the parties want to do something that is not included on the form, realtors usually tell them that its not legal or impossible to do it.

Lastly, realtors spend a lot of energy covering their own butts. A huge part of the CAR form is about removing any liability from the realtor while making sure they get paid their commission. In an agreement written by a lawyer, every term in the agreement is only about the deal, the real estate, the closing, the financing, etc. There is no other party to the contract.

Although this might sound like I'm anti-realtor. That's not true. Realtors have access to the MLS so they are a great source of finding and listing properties. They also have incredible patience showing people property until they find the ones that suit their needs. I send clients to realtors when they have property to sell, or want to buy and dont know where to start, and need hand holding. In those cases the realtors certainly earn those commissions.

If you want my contact info, just PM me.

Jen