To many people, a home is the single most valuable asset they will ever own. Commercial real estate and raw land for investment or development often involve millions of dollars. However, buying and selling any real estate frequently involves a variety contracts, including real estate purchase and sale agreements, brokerage or realtor agreements, promissory notes, and deeds of trust, to name a few. Having an attorney negotiate, draft, or examine your real estate contracts can help you to get what you want from the bargain. An attorney can also help you understand what you are agreeing to versus what might be buried in the fine-print, as well as discuss with you what is not included and some of the “what ifs”. Such assistance can help you to identify issues that may be buried in “boilerplate” language, but which are important to the deal, such as environmental liability, limitations on legal remedies, the physical condition of the property purchased, and how to keep earnest money from going hard. Greater clarity at the contract stage might just save you from costly litigation later.
Purchasing a home or commercial building involves more than just buying the structure, itself. You are also usually buying the land underneath. The county public records system tracks the title to the land. Good title is vital to enjoying the benefits of property ownership. Having an attorney review preliminary reports of title and title commitments before you purchase the property can ensure that there are no nasty surprises later, such as claims of ownership by others, liens against the property, or other property rights that might prevent you from building structures of a particular kind or on a particular area of the property. A title attorney can assist you in reviewing the title and negotiating with a title insurer to get the right title insurance coverage that you need. Smith & Shapiro is uniquely positioned with attorneys with a combined experience of in excess of 35 years in title review and title litigation.
A big part of the success of a business is its location and customer access. However, a large number of small and medium-sized businesses do not own their offices, stores, or facilities, but lease them from commercial landlords. It is important for business tenants to get the best price, location, and amenities to be successful. It is important for the landllord to get the best rent, cover its costs of maintaining its property, and get stable rent-paying tenants. In this more sophisticated tug-of-war, form leases are frequently inadequate to address the issues unique to each party’s business. Having an attorney draft, examine, or negotiate a commercial lease can assist the landlord or the tenant to get the best deal possible. As with real estate purchase contracts, such assistance can help you identify what might be vital issues to the deal that are buried in the 30 plus pages of lease terms, including signage rights and expenses, availability of parking, and restrictions on certain business activities.
James E. Shapiro, Esq. has extensive experience with the negotiation, creation, examination, and review of all forms of contracts, business and otherwise. Contact Smith & Shapiro at (702) 318-5033 or submit our online contact form. Smith & Shapiro is open Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at both our Las Vegas and Henderson locations.