Resolving Real Estate Disputes

Most real estate transactions close without a hitch. Agents on both sides explain the rights and responsibilities to their clients, and everyone does as required and expected. By and large, agents are competent and thorough, and buyers and sellers are…

Structuring Listing Agreements

Ask any real estate attorney about disputes between sellers and listing agents and you are likely to hear a lament about the lack of specificity in residential real property listing agreements. The forms widely used in Silicon Valley are generally written…

Tree Disputes with Neighbors

The care of trees creates a lot of work for arborists, which is not surprising. However, many attorneys have also put food on their tables thanks to trees and their various related issues. Few things spark tensions between neighbors as quickly as a dispute…

The Trap of Long-Term Listing Agreements

Long-term listing agreements are great for Realtors® and bad for Sellers. Period. As a real estate attorney and real estate broker, I have encountered countless clients who felt their agent wasn’t living up to their expectations, yet the agent would…

Agents’ Heightened Duties to Clients under Saffie v. Schmeling

Last year, the California Court of Appeals handed down a decision that may have serious repercussions for the real estate broker community (Saffie v. Schmeling, Fourth Appellate District, Case No. E055716, dated March 7, 2014). In Saffie, a Buyer’s…

Real Estate Matters—Conflicts of Interest

Although the practice is completely legal and widely accepted in California, it seems impossible for one real estate agent to zealously represent both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction, even when the situation is properly disclosed. Simply…

Obama’s New Visa Law Opens the American Door to Chinese Buyers

Earlier this month, President Obama announced a new plan to further open the American door to the Chinese and predicted that this new visa agreement could inject billions of dollars into the U.S. economy. “Under the current arrangement, visas between…

Liquidated Damages, Initial with Care!

These days, it seems like every small transaction requires long and complex forms filled with legal jargon. It is often difficult to tell exactly what certain contract provisions mean, and even harder to understand how the provisions operate. This may…

Enforceability of the “As-Is” Provision in Residential Real Estate Purchase Contracts

Given the hot housing market in Silicon Valley, buyers, in the face of multiple all-cash offers, feel pressured to make their offers as appealing as possible. Not only do these buyers make offers with no contingencies, they also take the property “As-Is.”…

Savvy Use of the 1031 Exchange

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin, 1789 Could Mr. Franklin have been half wrong? The answer is yes for individuals willing to make systematic and disciplined use of tax deferred exchanges…