Areas of Practice:

Real Estate

Buying and/or selling a home becomes the important decision that many people make in their lifetimes, and with importance comes financial and contractual complexity. While Tenenbaum Law Group is in the business of seeing a transaction reach its successful completion, in the rare instances of disputes, our real estate clients get the benefit of a full-service litigation firm, as Tenenbaum Law Group is prepared to legally contest the issues that otherwise cannot be resolved through negotiation, including breach of contract, earnest money issues, and evictions.

Even what appears to be an anticipated smooth closing transaction may have a lot of uncertainties.

S. Aaron Tenenbaum will handle the situation with confidence and provide valuable legal advice. 

Here are just a few sample questions that our clients often present:

  • Can one safely back out of the Contract once it has been fully executed?

  • What terms of the Contract are negotiable?

  • What is a home inspection contingency and what option are best for the clients?

  • What is a Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement, and what should be included there?

  • What if one does not want to deposit too much earnest money?

  • What if one really wants to buyer certain property but has not yet sold an existing house?

  • What is a mortgage contingency and how its various stages affect your transaction?

  • What is title insurance and what encumbrances will affect ownership of the property?

  • What are the survey defects?

  • What are the common pitfalls encountered by “for sale by owner” sellers?

  • What is the best way to handle sensitive issues such as mold, radon or lead?

  • What are liquidated damages?

  • What reasonable charges should you expect at the closing?

Legal advice from an attorney practicing residential real estate can help bring your financial risk to the minimum and therefore becomes the most important first move as you begin your property purchase negotiations after the contract is accepted by the Seller and is fully executed.

By hiring S. Aaron Tenenbaum, an experienced attorney who practiced in the field of real estate since 1999 and handled numerous complex situations during ups and downs of market and economy, will get you the peace of mind you deserve. S. Aaron Tenenbaum will represent your best interests on every stage of the transaction, he will review all important documentation, write necessary modifications, request critical extensions, protect integrity of your contract and earnest funds, and advocate for you at the closing.

Select us as your attorneys for your next construction or remodeling project, and we will work closely with you with your agenda in mind. We will save you resources and time, and keep your transaction together and proceed to closing at all costs. Numerous references from well-established developers are available upon request.

Focused Representation For Builders and Developers

Without limitation, we offer the following critical legal components for consideration of builders and developers:

  • Detailed pre-acquisition review;

  • Drafting and explanation of all documentation and pitfalls in “For sale by Owner” and purchase “directly from the Owner” situations;

  • Intimate familiarity with residential construction timeline and deadlines;

  • Customized individually drafted Contracts, not preprinted forms, including pre-sale contracts, option contracts, custom home building contract, full municipal construction packages for Chicago and suburbs;

  • Handling all aspects of Mechanics Liens, including drafting and recording of liens, demands to file suit, Mechanic’s Lien litigation and negotiations, handling all aspects of title work relative to implications of Mechanics Lien Act;

  • Review and drafting of general contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers’ contracts;

  • Advice on insurance coverage and builder’s risk insurance;

  • Customized individually drafted home warranties with certain party’s interests in mind;

  • Implication of property taxes: tax appeals, holding of tax escrows, customized tax proration agreements with certain party’s interests in mind;

  • Representation in court on municipal violations;

  • Assistance with lien waivers and contractor’s sworn statements;

  • Ability to act as liaison between clients and municipal building/zoning departments;

  • Review, preparation and registration of all necessary corporate and LLC documentation;

  • Representation of domestic and foreign corporate entities;

  • Arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.

Short Sales and the Benefits

For homeowners who ended up in the situation when their property is worth less than they owe to the banks and lienholders, we offer an individual legal “short sale” approach.  A short sale allows the real property to be sold even if the lenders are not getting full payoff on the existing loans.  With our experience in foreclosure representation and various levels of dealing with creditors, we are proud to state that we successfully close about 98% of our short sales files and always negotiate with our clients’ best interests in mind, whether those interests are debt forgiveness, amount of relocation assistance, ability to stay longer in the house, negotiating with lien holders that may vary from IRS liens to significant unpaid homeowner’s association debts.  We are faced with complex negotiations matters daily and will put our best effort forward to produce the result clients are looking for.  All short sales related work is conducted in-house, our process is streamlined and made easy for the clients and real estate agents, our updates are regular and detailed and our closings are flexible.  We understand all the details of financial considerations, bankruptcies or pending litigations, work out title defects and survey matters, work closely with buyer’s attorneys and agents to make sure the transaction will culminate in closing.

If you have ever thought of short sale, let us negotiate your Short Sale and work with your bank to allow transfer of title to bona fide third party buyers for the shorter negotiated payoff. Some of the benefits of a short sale are listed on the panel to the right.

  • All fees, including real estate commission, are paid by your lenders.

  • In most cases, sellers are released from the personal liability of a mortgage.

  • While not applicable in every situation, The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 provides for relief from having to pay taxes on canceled mortgage debt by exempting the forgiven debt from being counted as income for the homeowners that conducted short sale.

  • Short sale homeowners may quality for relocation assistance. In most cases of selling primary residence, you may be able to obtain relocation assistance issued at closing table from $2,500 up to $10,000, and sometimes substantially higher depending on the loans and investors holding the notes.

  • In most cases, as part of the short sale negotiation, we are able to obtain release for other debts affecting the title, i.e. prior credit cards or other judgments, mechanics and government liens, municipal violations fees, unpaid assessments and unpaid property taxes, to name a few.

  • Short sale minimizes damaging effect on the credit score and allows credit to restore much faster when compared to a foreclosure proceeding record on the credit report.  Successful short sale shall result in dismissal of underlying foreclosure case, even if judgment has already been entered.

  • The most common loan programs typically stipulate that persons that concluded short sale of their property may buy another home under their programs in about 3 years.

    Whether you are still paying your mortgage and consider a short sale option or you are in the final stages of post-judgment foreclosure, we still may help with the short sale by filing emergency motion to stay judicial sale if you have a valid short sale contract.  Note that the short sale may be completed while foreclosure case has been filed and case is pending in court. Contact us to discuss your unique situation, we will answer all of your short sale questions.