Commercial and residential buys and sells
People tend to think of a real estate deal as being the “closing.” But the closing itself is just one part of a real estate sale transaction.
Closings have become more government entangled and more lender complicated and just all around more sophisticated over the past ten years. And that’s true for commercial as well as residential deals. We like to have all of the details and issues worked out before everyone sits down at the actual closing.
An individual can always choose to represent herself, although we rarely see that. It is unusual to see a deal where there was a pro se buyer or seller. Even attorneys hire real estate attorneys. Nevertheless, there’s certainly no law against someone representing themself.
Commercial closings are not merely residential closings with a different name. The commercial deals are usually larger value wise and involve many factors not found in a residential closing such as environmental inspections, bulk sales of inventory, UCC financing liens, corporate authorities, and a number of other issues. Just like in a residential transaction, an individual may represent herself if she is the named buyer or seller. But if a corporate entity is a party then Illinois law says that the corporation must be represented by an attorney.
Some transactions involve trust owned or estate owned real estate. These transactions frequently have probate related considerations that can complicate the deal.
Assessed Value appeals
Most people call these “property tax” appeals. But that is somewhat of a misnomer. It is actually an appeal of the assessed value that the assessor placed on the property.
There are two primary approaches to a residential appeal. In a uniformity appeal assessed values are compared to the assessed values of properties having similar characteristics. In a market value appeal actual sales are used for comparison.
Residential appeals are fairly common but many of the commercial taxpayers who should file appeals – do not. The reason is unclear, especially considering that most of the attorneys will take an assessed value appeal on a contingent fee basis.
If commercial assessed values increase more so than residential assessed values then a shift of property tax burden from residential to commercial can occur. Some business taxpayers choose to pay the property tax rather than pay someone to help reduce the assessed value. Other commercial tax payers look at the cost of prosecuting an appeal as a cost of doing business. The answer here is to challenge the assessed value at every opportunity, since assessed value is used to calculate the property’s portion of the property tax.
Residential appeals rarely require an appraisal. Commercial appeals, on the other hand, almost always require an appraisal, which the commercial taxpayer will need to pay for regardless of the outcome of the appeal.
The office will prosecute assessed value appeals for residential and commercial properties such as:
Single family homes;
Condominium associations;
Apartment buildings;
Storefronts;
Shopping centers;
Office buildings;
Lease holders who pay property tax;
Hotels;
Industrial properties;
Historical properties; and
Cook County 6b, 7, 8, 9 incentives.
Scott Bagnall has a long established history of advocating for property tax payers. He is an Certified Illinois Assessment Officer, a licensed Illinois Real Estate Broker and a licensed attorney. He is the author of Reduce Your Property Tax which numerous taxpayers have used to file do it yourself appeals.
Commercial Leases
Many times a commercial/office/retail tenant will learn what the terms of a lease mean when they are presented with a bill, for example for their share of the property taxes, or for their calculated share of some huge maintenance expense. A better practice is to learn what everything means before signing.
Litigation
Sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
The office represents clients in Real Estate litigation, such as:
Fraudulent misrepresentations as an inducement to purchase;
Breach of contract;
Estate issues/disputes/litigation involving real estate;
Disclosure Act Misrepresentations; and
Inspector malpractice.
Law Office of Scott Bagnall
5 Revere Drive
Suite 200
Northbrook, Illinois 60062
312/580-3800
sb@scottbagnall.com