All Forum Posts by: Richard Singh

@Mindy Jensen

This is good to hear, I admittedly didn't know what to expect from a realtor or lawyer. I am usually very detailed in my everyday life but felt I was burdening them with questions and details throughout the process, so I scaled back. Never again, sticking to my system.

"No one is going to care about the deal more than you. No one stands to lose more money than you." - Amen!

@Bob Prisco See this is good. Will use this in the future. Is it possible to close on a home without an attorney? 

@John Clark 

Realtor/Broker and Sellers Attorney. My lawyer did mention that and I never assumed the information provided to me from my realtor would be wrong. It was detailed numerous times in the deal, as the deal would not have been attractive without renovation and getting market rents for the units. Good lesson to not completely depend on the realtor; and trust but verify. 

@Shane H. You’re 100% right. Wanted the deal too much and although I did push back at multiple times, I was less willing to walk and that possibly showed early on.

@John Clark I definitely dropped the ball here. Although I did trust the realtor, you’re right, everyone wants to get the deal done. We didn’t follow up because they kept saying the sellers didn’t have a lease. I now know I should’ve took this into my own hands, but in the moment I assumed my lawyer was going to advise me this was a red flag. Definitely got lazy here.

@Kim Knox This is a great explanation. I think it’s easy to assume wrong doing without knowing the details, but after this explanation it’s understandable how this could have been the scenario.

Although I feel my realtor and lawyer should’ve educated or looked out for me here from a diligence standpoint, it could be a case where everyone is going on the word of the seller’s.

Appreciate the detail.

@Todd Rasmussen Right on. I’m better then this, I trusted my lawyer and realtor far too much, I’m always concerned about being too micromanaging but at the end of day, it should never be taken for granted. Thanks. 

@Joe P. I feel the same, which is why I needed to test my assumptions. I was naive to not trust but not verify. 

@Mike McCarthy Yes, for sure have all those emails and have requested the rent difference. Their lawyer is claiming we had our time to verify, although he continually did not send the lease over. I find it hard that a lawyer that does this all the time thinks what he sent was acceptable. If I didn’t work in Finance, I would probably assume it was a innocent, but it doesn’t add up. 

@Matt B. I can’t say for sure if they were aware, but again, hard for me to believe they pushed the HAP voucher instead of a lease. My suspicion is they were pushing for the double commission and did what they had to do. I get it, but it doesn’t sit well. I certainly didn’t feel well represented by my realtor, but I wouldn’t pursue this any further beyond trying to get the rent difference. 

Thank you all for your input, doing my own DD is a must next time.

@Kim Knox

Thanks for that, I’ll reach out and find that out.

So just to clarify we’re closing this week and far past that point. The mortgage company actually needed it and we had to reach out and get it directly, no authorization needed surprisingly, my lawyer just stated they were representing buyer. I have let them know this seems like something they should’ve done from inception. 


I’m curious to know why the realtor or sellers lawyer are not at fault here?  I have emails stating the tenant was MtM from their lawyer and realtor. Are buyers truly on their own here? I do acknowledge this is lesson learned of doing your own diligence. 

We’ve been super accommodating with this transaction, but I do understand that doesn’t always count for much. 

When I reached out to housing before I put in an offer, they told me that the tenant is not supposed to be in a 3 bedroom since it’s only her on the Voucher and she lives alone. 

Following up on another thread of mine added in description, a few questions regarding Section 8 (NJ).

I am buying a property in Guttenberg NJ with a Section 8 tenant. Seller misled me to believe the tenant was on Month to Month when we eventually found out the lease is until Feb 2021. So now I am trying to figure out best options here:

1. If I plan to owner occupy their unit, can I break lease?

2. Are there government freezes on giving notices during Covid? Does that affect owner occupied buildings?

3. Worst case, if lease has to expire - do I have to give any other reasons to not renew other than owner occupied?

Thanks.