The homeowner considering refinancing his home came to my office with a notebook filled with numbers. He and his wife owned a home worth about $450,000, with a current mortgage obligation of approximately $180,000. In addition, they had an RV loan of $65,000 they wanted to pay off, and figured...

A caller to my law office said she was having a disagreement with her husband. They'd been bickering for a while as to whether "short sale" homes were all bargain priced. Hubby said they were the best deals in town, but his spouse was skeptical. As a real estate agent...

The woman was fidgety as she shared her qualms about buying a house. More than once she said, "I know this doesn't make total sense..." as she discussed the reasons for her reluctance.

"I don't want to take a big mortgage out now," she explained, "because I don't know...

"I'm selling my house, not mugging anyone," vented a homeowner who's been trying to sell since March. Optimistically, he thought he'd discuss hiring me as his attorney. Pessimistically, he griped about the way potential buyers reacted to his asking price. "They seem offended, you know? Like I'm stealing their money."

As long as I've been practicing real estate law, there have been festering feuds and flaming fights. Real estate agents take exception when attorneys wrest control over deals, attorneys resent agents for picking up bigger paychecks, buyers begrudge sellers who continue to act like homeowners until closing, and sellers harbor...

I'll share a little secret with you: sometimes, I'm happy when a real estate deal dies sooner than later. My delight in a speedy passing means I never advocated or sidestepped multiple renegotiations. A quick demise lets me dodge reading a home inspection report or discussing the intricacies of a...

I was chatting with a man who declared that he was withdrawing his home from the real estate market. Why? "I'm absolutely not giving my house away!"

I questioned the audacity of any buyer that expected him to bestow a house for free, but he didn't realize that I was...

Whenever I'm representing a home seller these days, I'm tempted to swap my suit for some scrubs. As an attorney, I take it in stride when a homeowner needs their thorny title issues treated or building department woes made well, but these days, I have no remedies for what's ailing...

If there's a news report soon about a formerly nice suburban neighborhood morphing into a home-selling battlefield, I may have to take a bit of the blame.

Last week I had the same introductory chat about the challenges of selling a home with owners living a few houses apart. There...

The man sitting at my conference table admonished me. "I'm not here for you to give me permission to buy a house. I already decided that I am."

I earn a living representing buyers and sellers of real estate, so discouraging a client from entering into a transaction was certainly...

When I was solvent, the Mets weren't for sale. When I had money, I spent tons of it on Mets partial season ticket plans. I should have taken the major bucks I shelled out over many disappointing seasons and invested that money.

I never moved in Madoff-circles, or even people-who-had-cousins-who-played-tennis-with-Madoff...

He was trying to elicit referrals from me; he boasted how many homes he had in inventory. "Enough to fill the wish list of every client you send my way. I'm one of the leading listers of distressed properties in [the area]."

I had already spoken to two clients who'd...

He was a business owner who'd weathered economic downturns before. When things were bad he fretted and worried, but he always believed that an upturn was around the corner. In 2010, he begged, borrowed, and stretched to make payroll each week. Scrounging together extra money for the lavish bonuses of...

As a real estate attorney in a depressed market, I am peppered with questions about why things aren't improving when rates and prices seem so attractively low. When I arrive at the part of my answer about bloated housing inventory being on the verge of swelling further following the next...

The woman knitting a scarf was blathering: "Who cares if it looks nice? What does a homeless man care?"

Sitting near her in our gathering of knitters, I was indignant at her insensitivity. I nearly exploded once she bleated, in response to a question about her finishing technique, "No,...

Driving along a large retail road the other evening, I wondered where the florist on a very busy corner went. Moreover, what the heck was ORIS, which the display sign proclaimed was sold there instead?

Nearby there was an ELI and a KE SHOP and a CE BA. Across the...

Lurking around the fringes of our current housing inventory glut are scores more potential home sellers. They are standing in the shadows, watching and waiting for the opportunity to add their houses to the "for sale" listings.

As a real estate attorney, I have talked to plenty of these prospective...

As the co-owner and editor of a niche publication focusing on the Long Island boating lifestyle, attending regional boat shows is a great way to attract new readers. We started our publication in 2007, just before gas prices rose and the industry ran aground, so the majority of the shows...

I get so tense, and then I need to lash out.

Look at me the wrong way some days and I'll take your head off.

I used to be calm, but now I'm angry all the time.

Out of context, I could be quoting therapy patients with roiling road rage...

There are so many vacant stores in my area that the disappearance of another storefront pizza parlor shouldn't have had much of an impact on me. I'm a vegan who never even tasted the pizza at Bella Nonna (though my family liked their food well enough), and there are as...