When the going gets tough, the tough go get an attorney

[Lance Thompson]

Got an excellent story I want to share with you Good People,

For those of you outside of the U.S. there’s a very old wise saying here in our country that goes "When the going gets tough, the tough get going". In other words, when you’re dealing with tough circumstances it’s time to get off your a$$, buckle down and work hard to get ahead in life…….Well there’s also another wise comedic, humorous spinoff saying from that laced with accuracy that says "When the going gets tough, the tough go get an attorney" and I’ll be d*mned if the meaning of that 2nd statement didn’t shine its light on me this week.

Have told you all many times about my Baltimore property and the trouble that property has given me over the years. Well due to those troubles I’ve just decided to close the property down, not rent it out for a few years, put an alarm system in and 9 video surveillance cameras up on the property including 4 cameras on the roof (one on each side of the roof, each pointed toward the middle), 1 on the front door, 3 overlooking the backyard, and 1 over the front porch’s roof, and just leave the property EMPTY while just paying the monthly mortgage and just taking care of the landscaping, maintenance and upkeep. In the tips and guide section I’ll go into greater detail about all of the reasons WHY I had to do that but the only thing that I can tell you guys is that when you buy in a bad neighborhood?? Sometimes you may find yourself having to do that!

Well leaving the property empty and well maintained has actually worked out PRETTY WELL. I told y’all in a previous message that since Trump went on the offensive and fired off that negative tweet about the late Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings a couple of years ago during the impeachment hearings my phone has been BLOWING UP with texts and phone calls from investors asking me if I’m interested in selling…..Just like I told y’all before, whenever "a sitting President" says something, no matter HOW STUPID it may be and no matter HOW MAD it might make you, or how HAPPY it might make you, take your personal feelings out of it and just look at how it may affect your investments in a positive way. The problem though is that most of the investors who text me out of the blue keep coming with these lowball offers. Here I owe $45,000 on the house and every investor comes to me asking if I’d be willing to sell it for $30k……Well I contacted a realtor a couple months ago and told him my problem that investors keep trying to get me to sell the property at a wholesale price and asked him if he could run the comps and let me know what the retail value is on the house if I decide to sell it to homebuyers instead…..The guy ran the comps and came back and told me that the house is currently worth $100k……I said "Hmph…..that’s interesting cause all my online searches on Zillow said it was only worth $77k"…….The realtor said "That’s why you always contact a realtor and have US run the comps instead of Zillow"……Touche’ Sir. So I told the realtor I’m just gonna sit and let it appreciate for several years…..I’m in no rush.

Well I had a guy representing a Md. real estate investing company text me earlier this week and ask me if I’d be interested in selling……Told him I wasn’t interested in any lowball offers from an investor…..So he texted me back and said "Well what’s your number??…..Every seller has a number…."…………I said "Well $120k would be awfully awfully tempting"……So he said "Okay let’s talk"……We get on the phone right?? First thing I noticed about him……HE WAS VERY FAST-TALKING which is ALWAYS a red flag cause you know what they say about fast-talking salespeople or businesspeople….."The devil is always in the details" and important details ALWAYS get left out during those rapid conversations. So he told me "Well look, let’s just be honest, there’s no way we’re going to pay $120k for that house……"……..A 2nd red flag because it was like he was just ignoring what I told him I wanted……but he continued "I’ll tell you what we WILL offer you is to assume the mortgage and then turn YOU into the lender where we would then pay you a monthly mortgage on the $45k you owe and then pay you the rest of the $45k upon the sale of the house a few years down the line"…….Well, what did I say before?? The property HAS been a headache for me when it comes to getting it to generate MONTHLY RENTAL INCOME the way I wanted it to so them offering to pay me a monthly mortgage payment WAS TEMPTING. So he put me in touch with his numbers guy who explained everything to me…..and all of this happened 2 days ago on Wednesday. But after I got off the phone with his numbers guy I STILL felt a little bit uneasy about the deal because I didn’t want THEM to be the ones who then sell the property for $135k and then pocket the $90k difference while I only get what was left on that $45k mortgage. That just didn’t sit right with me.

So both HE and the numbers guy were very "fast talking" and "smoove" as they say on the streets which made me feel like I was "in over my head"…..So what’s the old saying??……"When the going gets tough, the tough go get an attorney". So I hopped on the phone all day on Thursday and called several Baltimore real estate attorneys…..Kept on getting sent to voicemail with several of them until I called Mr. Yang…….Mr. Yang answered the phone himself, not his receptionist…..and no, Yang isn’t his real last name but he IS Chinese so I’m just going to use Yang for the purpose of this story. So Mr. Yang answers the phone and I started explaining to him about the deal I had been offered by this Md. RE investment company to "Assume the mortgage" and then turn ME into the bank…..So Mr. Yang said "Okay, so that means they’re going to ASSUME TITLE and become the owners right??" and I told him "Well they didn’t get that specific Mr. Yang" and he quickly replied "Yeah I bet they didn’t"……He then told me "Mr. Thompson, when it comes to real estate it falls under 1 of 3 transactions……..

1. Buying

2. Selling

3. Leasing or renting"

He continued "If they aren’t specifically BUYING the property and if all they’re doing is becoming some kind of partner of yours in this then guess what?? If they default and stop paying the mortgage, which they can very easily do, then YOU’RE THE ONE who the bank is going to foreclose on and completely mess up your credit score. Then they can walk away from the deal and when the property goes up for auction these same guys can come right back and bid on the property and purchase it for possibly even less than the $100k it’s currently valued at."……..He said "Mr. Thompson I’ve seen that happen more than once"……I said "Okay…..okay……Well here’s what I wanna do…..How do I retain you as my attorney??"…..He then e-mailed me the retainer letter to sign and quoted me the price of $500 to retain him. Now that was yesterday on Thursday and in the meantime The Smooth Talkers were BLOWING UP MY PHONE with text messages and voicemails asking me if I was ready to sign the paperwork for the deal. I didn’t return ANY of their phone calls or texts on Thursday.

Talked to Mr. Yang this morning who informed me that he had received my electronic payment and the "signed" retainer letter that I had e-mailed him and he told me "Mr. Thompson, I mean no disrespect when I say this but please follow my instructions on this…..From here forward when dealing with these guys YOU NO LONGER HAVE A MOUTH….. you just let ME do all the talking" and I said "Mr. Yang that’s not a problem at all. You go right ahead and do what I’m paying you to do." and that was that. I then texted the Smooth Talkers to inform them that I had retained an attorney named Mr. Yang who will handle all details of this transaction and that from here on out they should talk to HIM and HIM ONLY.

I’ll let y’all know if the deal takes place or not…..I’m kinda skeptical at this point.

[Lance Thompson]

Yeah…….

The attorney was out of town last week y’all so we haven’t been in communication…..But both before he left town and while he’s been out of town “the fast talkers” have basically been trying to make an end-run around him…..I told Mr. Yang that I have had to REPEATEDLY tell these guys that he speaks for me and that all negotiations go through him and him only……It was like they didn’t want to accept that……Like they were going to “make me” do this deal. Now that Mr. Yang has had a chance to go through the deal and “read the fine print” I understand why. Below is the e-mail that Mr. Yang sent me this morning…….And for anybody asking “Lance, please tell me you weren’t stupid enough to take that deal?!?!”……Good people, not only did I say NO, I couldn’t say no FAST ENOUGH……I did tell Mr. Yang to inform them that if they were interested in buying the property at the $120,000 asking price we can talk……Other than that they can “kick rocks”……………

Oh and one last thing y’all……Although in THIS case the fast-talkers where White, don’t place a color on that……Fast-talkers come from all races and they definitely aren’t always White, I can tell you that right now.

ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION

Lance,

Good morning.

Yes, I spoke with them last week and I wanted to touch base with you before I contacted them back, hence why I had not followed up with them yet.

Essentially, they are proposing a “subject-to-deed” conveyance. What that means is that the property would be transferred to them, at a purchase price, but instead of the existing mortgages being paid off, they would pay you a monthly amount, which would go towards the mortgage for you to pay. This is not an assumption of mortgage where the bank approves of the transaction. So, what that means is that the bank would not be notified of the transaction. However, if it became aware of the transfer, it could trigger your “due on sale” clause, meaning the entire loan amount could be demanded by the bank–you’d technically be in breach. Both parties assume a lot of risk by entering into this transaction. The seller (you) does because the “due on sale” clause could be triggered, in which case, the property could go into foreclosure, and then you might be subject to a personal deficiency judgment if you cannot come up with the full loan amount. The buyer assumes risk because if you failed to pay the mortgage, then they might lose the property due to foreclosure or if you filed for bankruptcy. It’s basically a creative way to get around traditional financing, which saves the buyer a lot of money on closing costs. Presumably, what this company does is then either attempt to sell or rent the property to turn a profit. This then becomes a risky proposition because if they cannot, then they might default on their payments to you, in which case, the property should revert back to you, but depending on the contractual language, it might not be that simple or cheap. What I can advise you is that unless you are in dire straits with this property and you absolutely need to convey title to another individual or entity to avoid financial liability, then I would proceed with extreme caution regarding a transaction such as this. If you can hold onto the property, then the safe approach would be to find a traditional manner of selling the property, if possible. Otherwise, there are any number of ways for this type of transaction to fall through. Bear in mind, I have not reviewed the proposed contract because I wanted to first understand what was being offered. Now that I do, it’s really up to you whether or not you want to assume these risks. I would assume that any proposed contract pushes most of the liability onto you if things go sour. Even if there is a reversion clause, which transfers the property back to your name if the buyer cannot make payments, you have no assurances that the property will be conveyed to you in the same condition that it was in prior to the conveyance. This type of transaction might make sense if you are close to filing bankruptcy or you cannot meet your mortgage payments–basically if you’re anticipating a financial loss if you continue to own the home. But, if not, then the risks involved probably outweigh any benefit you might receive. Please let me know if you’d like to discuss transfers further and we can schedule a conference call. If this is something that you are still interested in pursuing, I can request the proposed contract for my review. However, I would only advise doing so, if you are serious about moving forward.

Thanks,

Andrew Yang, Esq.

[Lance Thompson]

Yeah……………………

One last thing…….some people view attorneys as scum…..And if we're talking about a criminal attorney defending a p.o.s. scum criminal??…..I would agree with that……But when we're talking about real estate attorneys who will help you protect your property or properties from weasels???

Sheeeeeidddddd………………………………..

Attorneys like that are worth their weight in gold, you hear me???…….Worth their weight IN GOLD……..I'm so glad I had Mr. Yang go through this deal before accepting and signing it! Saved me from getting swindled…….He was worth every penny paid……..

 

LT

[Lance Thompson]

Yeah……below are the e-mails from Mr. Yang to the guy John representing his company that we'll just refer to as the RE Investment Co. of Fast-Talkers, and then John's text messages directly to me……….Tell me if you don't sense any "anger" in the tone of his text messages to me…..Like I said, John seemed to have an attitude like "Oh you're gonna accept our terms and no matter how many times you tell me that your attorney speaks for you, I'll talk to you whenever I want!"……….Whatever you say Man……(sarcasm)…….For some reason or another he had an attitude like "Even though I approached you asking to buy the house, we're gonna do things MY WAY cause I'm the authority here, not you"…….If you say so…….(more sarcasm)……..

 

Mr. Yang's "official" e-mail to John this morning………

"John,

Mr. Thompson has considered REICFT's offer, but he is not interested in entering into a subject-to conveyance. However, he is willing to sell the property outright for $120,000 through a traditional conveyance. If that is agreeable, please let me know"

 

John's e-mail reply back to Mr. Yang………..

"No problem. We aren't always the right fit so have a good day. The property isn't worth that in the condition it's in considering neighboring comps."

 

John's immediate text message to me………..

"honestly you could have just told me you didn't want to do it and not have me wait 2.5 weeks for an answer. no worries tho…..well wishes"

 

My 1 text message back to John and when I say one I only replied once it was because I saw no need to keep on repeating myself and going back-n-forth with him……What do you have to say to people when you get into arguments with them online??……"Let's just agree to disagree"………

"Sorry you feel that way……Hate to be technical but you only would have had to wait a week & 1/2 if my attorney hadn't been about to go out of town when I first retained him. And believe it or not I was going to do the deal provided everything was straightforward and above board. After my attorney's review of the deal I found out just how terrible a deal it would have been for me. I don't have any hard feelings. I hope you don't either. If you guys are ever interested in buying the property outright at the $120,000 asking price though give me a call…..I would strongly suggest that if you're gonna do that to do it in 2020 because the asking price will go up in 2021. Don't take things not working out that specific way personal John. It's nothing against you, it's just business. I will only part ways with that property for a deal that is most advantageous to me……If you owned it you would too. The door is always open for the right deal".

 

John's final text back to me and like I said, having "The last word" seemed really really really really important to him so I let him have it…………….

"no worries no hard feelings, you say it's a terrible deal but we are making it into a cash producing asset but your attorney doesn't understand the subject-to process, which my attorney was going to explain to him with the contract set forth. when you're misinformed then you lose out on opportunity. have a good day. no hard feelings. I hope you're able to get what you want for it but if anything changes let us know. have a blessed day."

 

Some of y'all sitting there like "All right dude…..as they used to say on the streets back in the Old Days…….Love……Peace……& Hairgrease!"……Ha!! 🙂