In the early 1970s I was working for a law firm, which exclusively did real estate law. I started with them in 1971 or ’72. I have been involved in real estate from then till now. Over the years I’ve represented buyers and sellers of residential property, builders of residential property, developers of shopping centers, malls, tenants in malls, tenants in freestanding stores, owners of freestanding stores, commercial buildings. Just about every person involved or every occupation involved in the real estate trades, masons, contractors, materials. I’ve just been through so much that I have a knowledge and a working knowledge of dealing almost every area of real estate law Including litigation in the secondary mortgage market. That’s where a lender packages his loans and sells them to another lender and then keeps a certain piece to do the servicing.
I’ve just been around and it usually takes me a lot less time, I think, to go through a lot of these contracts than others. When I see a standard form contract, I recognize what it is and I can quickly determine what the changes are from the standard form to the customize, and then I accomplish what I want by talking with the client, finding out what they really want, and explaining to them in everyday terms what the clauses of the contracts mean and how they affect them and what they should do in terms of countering it or accepting it and dealing with it. And I help them make the financial and legal decisions according to what they feel they need to do.