The process of buying and selling commercial real estate can bring about many advantages for Miami residents. Purchasing a specific piece of real estate can be vital to a business and result in future success. Likewise, the sale of real estate may allow a business to move in a different direction, while obtaining a beneficial price for selling the property.
While commercial real estate transactions can do a lot of good for Miami businesses, these transactions can also result in headaches and harm when the situation is not handled right. There is no shortage of problems that can arise when buying or selling property with another party.
For instance, if there are title issues with the property at issue, it can result in conflicts not only between the buyer and seller, but third parties who claim some ownership interest in the property as well. Likewise, a purchase agreement that does not accurately reflect the legal description of the property may lead to ambiguities over what was intended to be sold and whether the agreement is enforceable.
In other situations, there may be zoning problems that arise when the current zoning is not consistent with the intended real estate land use. For instance, a party may intend to use a property in one way, but may later discover the zoning does not allow that use. In other cases, a party seeking to purchase an existing business may learn that a license was grandfathered only for the old business and will not transfer.
Even when these outside disputes do not arise, there can be problems between the buyer and seller directly. These disputes may be made worse when the purchase agreement is silent on an important issue, or where the express language of the agreement conflicts with what the party had originally intended.
All of these issues cry out for individuals and businesses to protect themselves at the time the transaction is being negotiated and entered into. By doing the necessary research and properly drafting a purchase agreement, individuals and businesses can minimize the likelihood of future disputes, thereby saving hundreds of thousands of dollars or more that might otherwise result from legal battles.
Source: American Bar, “12 ways to foul up a real estate transaction,” Evan L. Loeffler, April 2006