Ozelis'
Rules of Real Estate

Take notes as if you were going to court with them

According to some lawyer friends (yes, I said “friends”); a very small percentage of real estate deals or construction contracts actually wind up going to court because of contract disputes.

If there is a disagreement about a contract or transaction, always try to work it out with the landlord or GC as soon as possible, preferably face to face.

If you can't settle things and it gets to the point where it actually goes to court, rather than a Perry Mason-type jury trial, it will probably go through arbitration first.

Now, according to Wes Roberts, author of Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun; He states: “Never arbitrate; it puts your future in the hands of a third person". And that's completely understandable.

If you ever want to feel extremely mortal, just show up in court with a smile and without the proper documentation. While you're there, a court appointed representative or court reporter will take depositions from both parties, forward them to a judge who will read through the report and she or he will make a ruling based upon the facts and statements presented.

In as much as this is the American way and, in theory fair; a successful outcome will depend on who saved the most (or, who saved the least) paper.

You need to remember this..."Take cover, and obtain paper superiority"

And, by saying, "obtain paper superiority", we mean save all emails and correspondence as well as the envelopes that all the letters came in (for verification of posting dates) and staple them to the letters.

All correspondence should be filed (as neatly as possible) for future reference. The more paper you save, the better. Let your attorney weed-out what’s not important.

Keep and maintain your appointment book to the point of compulsion (If you still use one) or create a special folder on your desktop and keep all of your files in there (including emails).

Proper documentation, kept to the point of compulsion, may make all the difference in the world when the final decision is made.

The idea is a simple one: always be prepared!

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