TYPES OF TRANSACTIONS
Within our real estate department, we complete the following types of transactions:
- Purchase and Sale of Residential & Commercial Properties
- Commercial Leasing
- Financing and Refinancing
- Assignments
- Private Mortgages
What sets us apart from other firms is our extensive use of technology. In addition to staff members dedicated to technology development, we have legal professionals with computer science backgrounds on our team who innovate and come up with new approaches to the practice of law on a daily basis.
CLOSING COSTS
Please use our closing cost calculators for the calculation of the costs of your closing for your purchase, sale or refinancing transactions. When using the calculators, please note that if you enter your email and click on Email Me a Copy, the system will send you a fairly detailed email containing a preliminary trust ledger.
Purchase and Sale of Residential Properties
Our approach to residential real estate law is simple. For us organization is top priority. Law firms in the residential real estate market deal with volume and no matter how experienced the lawyers on a particular team are, if you do not have the appropriate structure to handle volume, you won’t be able to remain organized and do a good job. Many clients who come to us complain about not having received sufficient attention from their previous legal representatives. This is a very common problem in an industry where the law firms have to close 100s of transactions every month in order to remain profitable. We call this the “volume problem”. Humans are prone to error, especially when they do repetitive tasks. Our experience shows that software and technology is the only way to eliminate the volume problem. The key from the law firm’s perspective is to retain the volume but yet to have the client receive sufficient attention and feel like they’re one of the only clients the firm deals with. This is what we do at Lexpand and once we finish a residential closing, we provide our clients with a nicely binded record book containing all of the client’s closing documents as well as all financial documents including copies of all cheques exchanged between the parties as part of the closing. Try one closing with us and you will see.
Commercial Transactions
In commercial transactions, we assist our clients with completion of due diligence and often review commercial leases for them and prepare summaries. In our initial meeting with the client we determine their priorities and in our due diligence process, we look out for points that the client deems to be important in their transaction.
Private Mortgages
On private mortgage transactions, we typically act for Lenders. We have many private lenders who use us to lend money in exchange for registration of a mortgage/charge on the borrower’s property. When the lenders are also represented by a mortgage brokerage, we typically obtain the commitment letter from the brokerage and begin the process. For lenders who are not represented by a mortgage broker, in addition to the completion of the transaction, we also assist them with the preparation of the commitment letter.
Assignment Transactions
With respect to assignment transactions, we acknowledge that they can be extremely tricky and so we spend considerable time on them to ensure we get them right. Our experience shows that every assignment is different from the other ones and there are many nuances that need to be considered. Of course, when all parties deliver on their promises, there is no need for concerns, but the additional provisions included in your assignment agreement will become extremely important when one of the parties breaches their obligations. We tell our clients that for assignments, we prefer to be engaged at the time of drafting the offer. We see many assignment agreements that have been prepared with boiler plate language that are deficient and leave room for uncertainties and disputes. Our goal is to eliminate those issues and get the agreement right from the beginning.
Realtors
With respect to our relationship with realtors, we view them as our partners in the industry. We take advantage of every available opportunity to assist realtors with their offers. We understand the time-sensitive nature of the real estate industry and when we receive a call from a realtor with a question on a particular clause, we acknowledge that time is of the essence and that they require a response right away and before their deal is dead.