As a Real Estate attorney for my whole career, the latest mortgage/real estate crisis here in Michigan has been a real wake up call. I used to handle over 20 real estate transactions a year for my clients, both residential and commercial. This year it has been 3!
Like all of us in transition, I had to revise this area of my practice to focus on Landlord/Tenant law, Mortgage Company renegotiation / foreclosure help, and short sales.
This blog update will focus on these areas and give you some assistance in these hot areas.
For those people with real estate investment properties, the crisis has been magnified. There is no "flipping" properties in this market (buying houses and then reselling at a profit). Often clients will come to me in this situation. Of course, this is where the newly hot lease market comes into play. With no houses selling in Southeast Michigan, the one option is to lease. Finding tenants who may be downsizing or losing their primary residence is easier and with glorious free classified ad options such as www.craigslist.org, it doesn't take too much trouble to find tenants.
Of course, you are now a "involuntary landlord," with all the pitfalls that come along with that. Keeping good tenants, screening new tenants, getting rid of bad tenants are all part of the fun. But, its ultimately better than foreclosing on a house that cannot sell.
I will focus my next blog update on Short sales, deed in lieu of foreclosure, and other options if leasing is not for you.
In the mean time, feel free to contact me at www.kliszlaw.com or call me at (313)402-0853 for free real estate advice on any issue. Thanks for reading and don't forget to comment if you want more or different issues discussed on Michigan law.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
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