I recommend attorney Donald Strumpf very highly to anyone buying a house, especially first-time buyers like myself. I'm financially savvy in general, but at first I had no idea about how complicated the home-buying process would be and about the sheer number of disparate tasks that I would need an attorney's help with. At first, I naively thought that he would just draft the agreement of sale and that I could do everything else on my own.
But Donald stepped into a chaotic situation and shepherded me through it, educating me a lot along the way and empowering me to make key decisions rather than forcing his opinions on me. He was a true partner and treated the whole process with the same level of attention and concern as if he were a co-buyer.
My wife Diana and I were buying the house we were already renting, so no real estate agents were involved. Because there was no shopping process, I was able to save a lot of money by hiring a real estate attorney instead of a realtor. Donald did everything that a realtor would have done for me, and more. Worth every penny. He:
- negotiated and drafted an agreement of sale.
- guided me through the home inspection process and helped me decide which inspection results might be worth raising with the seller in order to get a price decrease.
- kept the seller's attorney happy and well informed of our progress, so that the seller wouldn't get impatient and walk away from the sale.
- evaluated the terms of my mortgage loan and suggested the areas where it might be worth negotiating better terms, such as the mortgage insurance premium.
- explained all the closing costs and prepayments (e.g., annual real estate taxes)
- helped me figure out how to do the transaction in the most tax-efficient way possible.
- worked closely with the mortgage broker to get the right people's names on the title and the deed (we had a co-signer).
- stayed on top of all deadlines (both external and self-imposed). I was working hard to keep up with him, not the other way around. He was constantly on the lookout for what could go wrong during settlement and/or what could delay the settlement date.
- was careful not to let his bill get too high, despite the fact that my case turned out to be more complicated than he was led to believe at first.
I would be happy to answer any questions you have about Donald. Contact me at AwadMike at gmail dot com or 215-713-9262. If you want your home purchase to be done right and with minimal hassle at a reasonable price, skip the realtor and hire Donald Strumpf as your attorney. read more