| 16 November 2009
Greetings Realtors! As a real estate attorney I have done transactional work for over 27 years. Never have I seen a market like we have today here in South Florida. But on the assumption that every disaster brings with it an opportunity, Leticia Ferraro, formerly the owner of Elite Title Professionals, and I, are joining forces to create the title service provider for the 21st Century. We are offering a broad range of real estate services; attorney supervised efficient services at moderate prices. Many title companies have had to close their doors…not us! By providing a quality product, handled by licensed professionals at reasonable prices, we expect to only grow larger and continue to be there for you when this market turns around. Until that day we thrive by providing the services that your clients need today and the support that you need to deliver for them in an upside down real estate market.
For several years now, we have been submitting and closing short sales for our realtors and their clients. I won’t lie to you and say that we have found some miraculous way to get through the bank’s defenses and close these things in short order, because we have not; but we get them done, and there are very good reasons why you should have an attorney handle the short sale process. First, the bulk of the submission consists of the borrower’s personal financial information. Realtors are not in a position to handle this information as just the act of possession creates new potential for exposure to professional liability that may not be covered by your errors and omissions coverage. This private information is protected in the hands of an attorney by the attorney-client privilege; something that realtors do not have. A realtor could be called to testify in a judicial hearing should it be determined that the information contains evidence of actionable fraud. Possibly even more important, a realtor earns his living procuring a buyer for a client’s property. He makes no more commission, if he or she then spends hours negotiating the approval of the seller’s lender in a short sale, he or she is loosing on his bottom line. Realtors have better things to do with their time. I also represent clients in foreclosure cases. It is common place that while a short sale is pending, or before, a foreclosure will be filed. Without the assistance of a qualified attorney, the client runs the risk of losing the property before the deal is consummated. In this case, no one wins!
Often you will find that a person will come in even though he really doesn’t want to sell his home, he just cannot afford the payment any longer and is afraid of losing it. What those clients really need is a modification of their mortgage. My associates and I handle mortgage modifications for clients every day. What makes us unique, aside from the fact that that we have an amazing success rate and our fees are low, is that in addition to a payment reduction, we request a principal reduction as well, at no additional cost to the borrower. The prospect of a reduction is speculative, at best, but if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Furthermore, as a component of our principal reduction request submission, we include a BPO prepared by a realtor. When a realtor refers a modification to this office, we request that that realtor prepare the BPO, the cost of which we are more than happy to cover out of our fee. I would love to discuss the prospect of having your office handle BPO’s for us. I know you will be pleased with the fee that we are able to pay for this service.
We don’t do doughnuts, but we do offer a wide range of professional services at reasonable prices and we are here to stay. That should be enough. I hope that you will consider being a part of our team. Take care and call me anytime.
Warm Regards,
Michael H. Hirsch, P.A.