Real estate
Purchase, sale, default, short sale, and foreclosure.
Real estate law covers land and the structures on it, plus fixtures and the financing that makes the deal possible. When a loan goes into default, the options — foreclosure, short sale, or deed in lieu — each have consequences that are difficult to reverse.
A foreclosure is the lender exercising its right against a home used as collateral. When the borrower can no longer pay, the loan can be accelerated and the property taken. A short sale is a lender-approved sale for less than the amount owed because of financial hardship. If a short sale is not feasible, a deed in lieu can transfer the property back to the lender to satisfy the mortgage, before a foreclosure completes. All three processes contain landmines inside a nuanced set of laws. An experienced attorney can help you navigate what is, almost always, a stressful time.
Zaven Pehlevanian is not only a lawyer. He has more than a decade of real estate experience as an agent and licensed broker. That background matters when the dispute is about a purchase contract, a closing date, the condition of the property, title, or a servicing error that a purely courtroom practice might treat as paperwork.
Transactional and dispute work
- Negotiating and reviewing residential, commercial, and mixed-use contracts
- Title, escrow, and closing issues
- Mortgage review, default servicing, modifications, and foreclosure defense or strategy
- Landlord-tenant disputes, leases, deposits, and related litigation
- Neighbor, boundary, easement, and land-use problems
Mortgage-related disputes can implicate state consumer-protection rules and federal statutes such as TILA, RESPA, HOEPA, and related CFPB regulations. We review the file for servicing errors, disclosure problems, and workout options before the sale date is the only fact left in the case.