The client came to Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. in an impossible situation.  The client’s wife was 7th months pregnant during the height of COVID.  She was not moving and the client’s dream home was not only not for sale but in probate without any indication as to who had the authority to sell.  To make matters worse, the client had signed a contract to sell their existing townhouse home on a specific date without having a place to move.  The client’s only answer as to why they had signed a contract to sell their existing home without a contract to buy their dream home was that they made a mistake but, like in years past, Adam Leitman Bailey P.C. performs miracles and the client needed one now.

I shook my head in disbelief but knew exactly how to get the client to the finish line.

THE APPRAISAL AND BEATING THE LAWSUIT

First, the client refused all visitors in their existing home during COVID as a baby was about to be born.  This means that no appraisal took place inside their home.  When the purchasers later sued, they said that the client did not allow an appraisal to occur. Nonetheless, during the litigation, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C made it known to purchasers’ counsel that drive-buy appraisals using pictures taken outside the home were commonly utilized during the height of the COVID era.

PROBATE AND TRYING TO BUY THE DREAM HOME

The client believed that signing a contract for their new dream home was imminent and about to happen.  However, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C discovered that no owner of the home was chosen and probate of the will had not been completed. We guided our client to use soft hands and to become best friends with the family as best they could.  Somehow they succeeded and the property was never placed on the free market.  Following the probate process, we found the first day on which the property could be sold and also uncovered who had the authority and send our client in to make a deal.  The client succeeded in obtaining the same purchase price that was agreed on before, despite the rising prices in the real estate market.

CLOSING THE DEALS

Once we had an oral agreement, we advised that the seller of the client’s dream home needed to hire an attorney to bring this transaction to fruition. In structuring the deal, we needed to carefully draft the closing date provision to allow for the client to settle the dispute and litigation related to the sale of his existing home. If unable to settle or close the sale of their existing home, the client would be forced to either seek traditional financing or borrow money from a relative to pay the balance toward their dream home. Financing the purchase of the client’s dream home, in a time of rapidly rising interest rates, was really something that the client wanted to avoid.

With this in mind, we diverted our attention back to sale of the client’s existing home and its attendant litigation. Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C came to the quick realization that if this litigation was not settled, both sides would have had to endure many months, if not years, of litigation. Accordingly, in an effort to push for settlement of this litigation, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C served a Time is of the Essence Closing notice on the purchasers’ counsel. Now, with the choice at hand, and the overwhelming pressure from our Time is of the Essence Closing notice, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C was able to engage in more fruitful settlement discussions with purchasers’ counsel. After some savvy lawyering and persuasive settlement discussions, the purchasers of the client’s existing home conceded to Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C’s position and agreed to discontinue the litigation and close the deal.

With the closing for the sale of the client’s existing home now in place, we were able to schedule the client’s purchase of their dream home only a few days later, as an all cash closing. Closing in cash allowed the client to avoid record interest rates, a significant mortgage tax payment, bank fees and loan policy premiums (tens of thousands of dollars altogether). Our client was one of the lucky ones as it is very rare that the above facts all come together.

Adam Leitman Bailey, Colin Kaufman and William Pekarsky represented the client in the litigation related to their existing home and Adam Leitman Bailey and Jason Rogovich strategized, contracted, and closed on both transactions.

Read the Original Case Study Here