Natalka Falcomer

Lawsuits are not inevitable if you know the most likely reasons why real estate sales reps get sued and how to keep yourself from making fatal mistakes. Here are the top three reasons why you’ll get sued.

We all know nothing in life is free. So why do we believe this to be the case with tenant inducements? Inducements are not free, and just because you paid for it doesn't mean you can keep it.

Real estate investing is not easy. I know because I’m trying to do it and because my clients tell me horror stories. Here are my top three bad habits and how I’m working on changing them.

The Tenant Estoppel Certificate (TEC) is a legally binding document where a tenant represents or promises certain things to be true. These “things” relate to the relationship between the landlord and the terms of the lease.

Given today’s hot market, tenants and their agents are quick to hold up a deal by signing an Offer to Lease (OTL). After all, OTLs aren’t binding, right? Wrong!

Many industry experts assert this standard practice is a feigned attempt to not split fees and to ensure an easy, fast close by remaining in control. Does that sound ethical to you? No wonder agents are getting sued!

The subordination clause is very important to lenders because it states that any leases signed by the landlord will always be lower in priority to any existing or future mortgages on the property.

In our haste to get the deal done, we didn’t care about the language we used in our exclusive use provisions. The agent believed that we had an understanding that the clause was to be narrowly interpreted.

Learning is what all of the greats – Charles Darwin, Mozart, Henry Ford – did in order to succeed. They all intimately understood that they would not succeed if they did not learn. It’s a simple, obvious fact, yet few do it.

The most hated of lease clauses – the insurance clause – is not only frequently ignored, but is also poorly understood by almost everyone in the real estate industry. And that includes real estate lawyers.