[Christopher Peisher]

Christopher Peisher

I thought i would share a letter i wrote to my attorney today. This illustrates the value of staying in control of the transaction, and in particular, the benefits of using an attorney you KNOW will close the deal vs. one you THINK can close the deal. Enjoy…

[MY ATTORNEY],
I know you are very busy but I’d like to quickly share with you a recent experience with another attorney. I have a sub-to deal under contract down here in [MY TOWN IN GEORGIA]. I planned and expected to assign the deal to another investor for a small assignment fee [$2,000], personally step out of the way, let them reinstate the loan (which was several months behind) and continue making payments on the note. Since this investor had never done a sub-to deal, i offered, as part of my assignment to “hold his hand” and help him get all the details worked out with the land trust, POA, insurance, etc. My preference is always to close with you [MY ATTORNEY], but he wanted to use his attorney. I agreed. Big Mistake.

Over this past week I have experienced this attorney, [OTHER ATTORNEY], and his legal secretary, [HER NAME], say that my land trust deed was illegal, that all my documents were an underhanded way of circumventing the “law” (the “due on sale clause”), that i purchased houses this way to hide it from the IRS and avoid paying any taxes on the gains, and over all insinuate that i am some kind of crook.

When i told him that you, my regular closing attorney, closed this type of deal all the time and that you had no problem with any of the paperwork i was currently using, he told me that “[He] knew [MY ATTORNEY], and [He had] no doubt that [MY ATTORNEY] did exactly what i told him to do regarding my transactions.” I asked him if he thought [MY ATTORNEY] was the kind of guy who would “just do what i told him to do?” To which he responded that “Well…[he] didn’t know you all that well…” I ended up telling them to use their own documents and counsel their client however they wanted.

This attorney counseled his client to record the Declaration of Trust, make the beneficiaries a matter of public record and set up the investor’s LLC as the Trustee for a Land Trust. I checked with [ANOTHER JACK MILLER FAN INVESTOR] on this, and if our understanding is correct, under Georgia Law if the Trustee of a Trust is not a “natural person” it must be licensed as a bank and authorized to have a trust department.

The attorney formed this trust, and recorded it yesterday, presumably at his client’s expense. They did this in an effort to be able to reference the book and page of the trust in the Warranty Deed, which he assured me was required by law. Even after going through all of that mess, it appears the attorney or [THE LEGAL SECRETARY] (who “has been doing this for 20 years and has never seen a deal like this” and “can’t believe that [THE OTHER ATTORNEY]or [MY BUYER] were going to go through with this deal”) finally managed to persuade [MY BUYER] not to do the sub-to deal.

Ultimately the investor, [MY BUYER], told me this morning, 6 hours before our closing was scheduled to take place, that he was not interested in purchasing the property subject to the existing loan. He did indicate that he thought i was providing something of value and was still interested in purchasing the property through more traditional means, i.e. his own financing. So as far as i know the deal is still on.
It would be easy and therapeutic to rant about how aggravated i am with this attorney and legal secretary for their ignorance. Instead let me simply say: THANK YOU.

I deeply appreciate all of the hassle-free transactions you have facilitated for myself and many other investors in the area in recent years. You always explain things to my clients in very easy to understand terms and they always feel comfortable doing business at your firm and with you in particular, as do I.

I look forward to doing many more transaction with you and your firm in the future.

With Warm Personal Regards I am,

Sincerely Yours,

Christopher S. Peisher

P.S. – Should you ever feel inclined to contact [THE OTHER ATTORNEY] regarding my interaction with him, or his presumed opinion of your lack of integrity, i would be pleased to hear how the conversation went.