TESTIMONIALS:
"When clients of my firm received an unsolicited offer from a
prominent land broker for undeveloped land that they had earlier
purchased, I advised them to consult with Lance Davidson for
advice on how to respond. His research revealed market
comparables for their land at about $7,000 per acre, substantially
less than the $11,000 they were offered. Interestingly, when the
buyer learned of Lance's representation of the clients, the price
immediately escalated to $17,000/acre. Yet Lance conducted
further inquiries and research about the land, the buyer's
motivations and the buyer's statements. When Lance emerged from
an all-afternoon meeting with the buyer's agents, he had raised the
price up to $37,500 per acre, based primarily on information he
had gleaned from the buyer's representatives during negotiations.
In addition, Lance converted deposits credited against the purchase
price to option payments, so that the clients, if all options were
exercised by the buyer, would receive just under $40,000/acre, far
superior to the $11,000 they initially wanted to accept. Lance's
efforts made a significant difference for our clients created
extraordinary profits for our clients. His diligence, resourcefulness
and knowledgeable approach was very much appreciated. I'd highly
recommend Lance as an attorney and trusted advisor." - R. J.
"As the junior partner in a dental practice, I had entered into a
partnership agreement with buy-out provisions several years earlier
with the senior partner...Lance was able to negotiate a buy-out
price reduction in excess of $100,000 due to his skill in voiding the
formula used to set the price in the agreement which had been
drafted by the other attorney. That savings was a huge financial
return to me for only a few thousand dollars in legal fees. I would
not hesitate to recommend Lance for other business transactions
requiring complex, cautious and creative legal skills."-M. S.
"I retained Lance Davidson as my attorney to represent me in lease
negotiations to rent offices for my 34-person architectural firm...
Lance kept down legal fees to my great satisfaction. But in one
interesting twist, Lance was able to tweak the contract with what at
first appeared to be a minor word replacement, but which later had
significant costs savings to my firm of upwards of $27,000. For a
single word!"- R. D.
"After some pointed questions to elucidate the nature of the
transaction, the character of the other party and deal points, Lance
drafted a seemingly innocuous agreement that was promptly
signed. Apparently, that was Lance's intent. Some six months later,
however, that agreement came back to haunt the other party, who
realized he'd been tied up in knots as a result of his trying to
circumvent me and the agreement. But Lance had anticipated this;
not only did he prevent the deceit, but he inserted a provision in
the agreement that would have caused the other party to owe me
nearly half a million dollars. As a consequence, the other party has
turned from a lion into a pussycat, and I'm a much wealthier man."
- V. D.
"My company had performed contracting work at two properties,
the owner hadn't paid me, and I wanted to protect my rights. When
Lance ordered title documents showing the liens against the
properties, it showed me in fourth position behind [prior
lienholders]. Even Lance thought the situation was virtually
hopeless and thought it required a miracle. Nonetheless, he began
the journey to get me title to both properties. I have now a
judgment against one, and Lance is just waiting for the judgment
on the other property. I am in first position on both, having wiped
out three prior liens on each property, and the ownership interests
in both properties, which involved federal bankruptcy proceedings."
- S. S.
"My office spent approximately a year in fruitless efforts to get a
lien removed from my office property. Both the title company and
lienholder dragged their heels and we were going nowhere fast. I
retained Lance so that I could refinance my office property before a
rapidly approaching deadline. Lance reviewed the file, asked some
questions, and then drafted a forceful one-page letter to the
lienholder. Poof. The lienholder's attorney responded, the lien was
removed, and I timely refinanced my property. I spent about a year
at no cost trying to get a lien removed--without success. Yet within
a few weeks at a comparably nominal fee, Lance was able to get
the lien removed-successfully." - R. J.
"Our property was weeks away from foreclosure and, in order to preserve our credit rating and work with-rather than against-our lender, we proceeded with a short sale. We had obtained a legal opinion that the lender could not pursue us for the deficiency, or the difference between the loan balance and the sales proceeds received by the bank. Soon thereafter, however, we were sued by the lender for the deficiency and we retained Lance Davidson to defend us. Mr. Davidson explained that neither the statutory language nor the most pertinent case protected us--the statute expressly bars deficiencies only after a trustee sale, not a short sale, and the case precedent, unlike ours, did not involve our consent to the bank informing us of the deficiency and its right to recover it. After all, if we had no liability, why would the bank sue us for the deficiency? Our other attorney apparently had only read the 'Cliff Notes' version of the statute and case law. Mr. Davidson filed a Motion to Dismiss and in oral arguments against the bank's counsel persuaded the judge that the intent of the case and the statute barred the deficiency lawsuit. The judge also agreed that the bank's warning did not give sufficient notice. We have learned that a bankruptcy-collections attorney who lectures on anti-deficiency laws and practices for creditors and debtors throughout Arizona was 'amazed' at your success. And significantly, your success permitted us to recover all of our attorney's fees so we had a free defense! But, most significantly, since the judge's ruling effectively eliminates the debt as recourse, there is no debt forgiveness so we owe no 6-figure tax liability! You saved us many, many times what would have been your legal fee in debt liability and tax liability. Thank you, thank you." - J.S.
"I owned an income property with three co-investors and when we sold it, we went to a title company to arrange our sale. We agreed to take back a significant portion of the purchase price as seller financing in the form of a promissory note secured by a deed of trust from the buyer. Unknown to us, the buyer arranged to simultaneously sell the property to another buyer, while taking back a significant portion of the purchase price as seller financing in the form of a promissory note secured by a deed of trust. We were receiving no income on the note, the property was declining in value due to waste, and the deed of trust was appearing to become worthless. Lance Davidson was highly recommended as a real estate attorney, so we retained him. We were urged by others to file a lawsuit immediately to get the attention and scare the title company. Lance demurred. Our case was complicated by the impending foreclosure action by another lienholder on the property which, although it should have been junior to ours, would wipe out our entire interest in the property. Lance instead negotiated with the title company, the title insurer and the lienholder, pitting them against each other. Remarkably, instead of waiting years for the note to come due on a property losing value, we obtained all of our money back immediately. We obtained via settlement virtually everything we were due--roughly 97%--including the note principal and interest and most of our legal fees. And, considering that settlement, by definition, involves giving up something in return, we eliminated for a pittance what could have been years of stress, huge legal fees and costs, time burdens of trying a case, etc. In fact, upon hiring Lance, I expressed my hope to get a certain amount, of course not really expecting it; Lance instead obtained for us almost 30% over what I had hoped for-an amount far more than what I expected! We are grateful to Lance and his firm, and recommend him highly." - N.P.