To: Harry.Bovik@K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
Subject: Real-Estate Attorneys
Keywords: homes, lawyers
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 92 18:13:11 EST
Message-ID: <7205.698368391@GS74.SP.CS.CMU.EDU>
From: James_Daniel_Morrow@GS74.SP.CS.CMU.EDU


I asked for recommendations on good real-estate lawyers...

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 I don't know about "specializing" but when we bought our house 5 years
ago, my wife worked with someone whose spouse was employed by FINKLE,
LEFKOWITZ, OSTROW & WOOLRIDGE (spelling approximate, but probably close
enough to be able to find it in the phone book), so we contacted them
and they gave our case to WILLIAM HARVEY. Bill was really helpful to us.
Between the time we applied for mortgage and its approval, interest rates
went up 2 points, so the banks were sneaky and gave us four days (including
a weekend) notice to close ("...Don't worry, we're sure that even if you
don't close by 5pm Monday for 8 1/2% , you can be approved at the new rate
of 10 1/2%...."). Among the usual things, like telling us that it was okay
to sign everything, he also wrote a couple of special agreements for us:
one in which the sellers put up some escrow money in our stead, and we agreed
to meet the escrow-release conditions by the time they were to close on their
new house; a rental agreement for our sellers to remain in the house until
their closing; and a buy-back agreement, whereby the sellers would buy back
the house and return all our costs in the event their new mortgage did not
come through (remember, this closing was three weeks earlier than had been
planned). Initially, our sellers were leery of his presence -- even though
it is your right to bring a lawyer, it was relatively unheard of around here
then (don't know if things have changed) -- but afterwards, they hired him to
represent them at the closing on their new house.

 As I said, I don't know if he "specializes" in real estate (he was just
the guy that FLO&W gave to us), and I don't know if he'd remember us at
all, but he made a lasting enough impression that I have to reccomend him.
(His fee didn't make as lasting an impression, it seems to me it was
approximately $400 total, but I can't be sure, nor can I recall if there
was an hourly break-down on that.)

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We used Phil Bromberg for our first house purchase last year.  He was
pretty fair and covered all kinds of things we had never thought about.
We wound up having some problems with the roof and then our sellers
needed to stay a month more than we wanted them to (our lease ended, we
closed on our house, they couldn't move into their new house).  They
wound up renting the house from us for a month.  He worked out the
legal details for renting the house, dealt with their sleazy, expensive
Porche driving lawyer over the roof and charged us 350 for everything.
From what I have read about lawyers rates, this worked out pretty well.
BTW, we found him by posting on the general bb.  He was the only person
who had multiple recomendations.  I don't have his phone number
available because he has recently gone into partnership and moved.  I'm
sure that he can be found in the phone book.

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My husband and I just used Ressler and Ressler in Wilkinberg, 731-3663. 
They are $125.00 and hour.  

I highly RECOMMEND that what ever lawyer you use, that you DO use a lawyer no
matter what any real estate agent or salesman says.  Since this past November,
my husband and I have gone through the worst lessen in buying a house.  We 
didn't end up getting a lawyer until the very end.  I can let you know all of 
the details if you like but basically try to remember the following.

1) No matter what, do not trust any real estate agent.  They are in it solely 
for themselves and the SELLER.  We learned this the hard way when I mistakenly
assumed that since our agent was a good friend that he would look out for our
interests.

2) Attach a rider to your agreement (when you bid on the house) that
states a specific date that you can pull out of the deal if problems
arise.  We were stuck with the standard "time is of the essence" clause
which hurt us in the end.  We had to wait around for two extra months to
find out if we would get the house. 

3) Have your lawyer specify other such clauses to protect you.

Like I said we had a horrible experience that most don't have, but do be
careful.

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We purchased a house in Murrysvile 2 1/2 years ago and worked with
the firm of Papernick and Gefsky out of Monroeville.  They were
recommended by our real estate agent and we found out that most of the
sales in our area go through them.  They handled everything well and we
had no problems, although I don't know how expensive they are since we
were moving from out of state and couldn't shop around.  Overall, we had
no complaints and you may want to consider them.

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I have used Phil Bromberg several times, and recommended him to a friend
who also used him.  In each case, we were very satisfied with his work
and his prices.  His work phone is: 227-2440 (he just moved, but I
believe that is his new number).

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We used Michael Marks (421-8944) when Hosing Mortgage Corp tried to screw us to
the wall.  Michael was great.  He helped us out of a tough situation.  I would
recommend him highly and would dis-recommend Housing Morgage equally strongly.

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My wife and I have used our attorney at two closings now (one as the
buyer, the other as the seller). She doesn't specialize in real estate
per se, but she really did a good job -- I was very impressed with her
knowledge of all aspects of the transaction, and her ability to organize
everything. And while you didn't mention this as a consideration, her
fees are quite reasonable. I know that in the case of the house we
bought, she charged us about $350, compared to the seller's attorney who
charged the seller more than twice that -- and our attorney had to help
him with a couple of things he didn't know how to do.

	Virginia Cook
	247-1012 (Edgewood)

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A good real estate attorney is Louis B. Swartz (288-0300)

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