Posted by phil fernandez on November 21, 2000 at 15:38:16:
Attorneys get paid for their time. So even though your two deals didn’t materialize, your attorney still spent his time with the contracts.
Before your next deal you might want to ask the attorney how he will charge for his services.
attorney question…I NEVER heard of this! - Posted by in (ny)
Posted by in (ny) on November 21, 2000 at 15:26:41:
I had two deals that fell through. The first one, my attorney sent the contract but I did not sign the contract.
Got another deal, my attorney sent the contract, I sent a deposit and a signed contract.
Both deals fell through. The only thing the atorney did for both deals is send the contracts & I guess looked it over b/f he sent them…
Today I called to get my deposit back for the second deal…and boom…I will have a bill for $150 for both deals. He NEVER informed me of this charge during both contracts…
Can I dispute this and how. I never signed anything saying that if “no real estate purchase is made, purchaser must pay a fee of $150 regardless of making a purchase”
Thank you in advance!
Re: attorney question…I NEVER heard of this! - Posted by Shaun
Posted by Shaun on November 25, 2000 at 09:52:22:
Why did you have the attorney send the contract to the seller, instead of yourself, in the first place? A contract sent direct by an attorney is liable to intimadate many sellers, so they may not do the deal even if they wanted to. If you think you need an attorney to review your contract once, then pay him a fee to do so, otherwise handle it your self
Well, what did you sign or agree to…? - Posted by dewCO
Posted by dewCO on November 21, 2000 at 23:29:57:
xxx
Well Now You Did! - Posted by Sal
Posted by Sal on November 21, 2000 at 21:54:51:
Lord God! What do you want FREE SERVICES! Hey, it just don’t work that way. You hired him/her to work for you and they deserve to be paid accordingly. Do you work for free? I doubt it! so why should your attorney?
Also $150.00 for two measly deals is just like a freebie. I pay upwards of $350.00 per deal!
Quit Whining and go find some deals to close on.
Sal
Re: attorney question…I NEVER heard of this! - Posted by B.L.Renfrow
Posted by B.L.Renfrow on November 21, 2000 at 21:05:01:
Even though “all” he did was review and send the contracts (and presumably prepare them also) isn’t that worth something? After all, attorneys, like other professional service providers are paid for their time and knowledge. How does the fact the deals fell through mean the attorney should work for you for free?
I pay my attorney anywhere from $150-$650 PER DEAL, depending on what exactly he has to do. And yes, I have paid him for working on deals which did not close.
Personally, I think it sounds like you’re getting a bargain.
Brian (NY)
Did you expect a contingency arrangement ?.. - Posted by Ben (NJ) Esq.
Posted by Ben (NJ) Esq. on November 21, 2000 at 20:31:06:
Phil is right, it doesn’t matter to your attorney whether the deal fell through, if he spent time on it
he is entitled to be paid. ($150.00 for TWO deals? you probably got off easy).
Re: do you have a history of successful deals… - Posted by NJDave
Posted by NJDave on November 21, 2000 at 18:02:29:
You didn’t mention if you’ve had successful deals, only mentioning the two failed deals. Perhaps if the attorney had reason to think that you would be bringing him deals that were structured so as to close… he might afford you some latitude. But, if your deals were sloppily prepared and/or ill conceived he probably thought it best to collect now…
Did he/she prepare the contracts, or simply review boilerplate forms?