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.
