How To Sign New Jersey Banking Contract

How to industry sign banking new jersey contract

[Music] hello everyone my name is Vanessa lot and this is showcase Sunday today I am sitting with a very special person my first attorney interview mr. May moon was Staffa how are you sir I'm doing well I can't complain good I am so happy to have you here today it is a pleasure to have a well-respected attorney to teach us a little bit about the real estate transaction on the attorney side so thank you for being here thank you for having me I appreciate it of course showcase Sunday is about getting to know the people that are sitting here with me so I do want to ask you tell us a little bit about yourself again my name is May moon Mustafa I am probably not everyone says their age but I'll start with my age I'm 43 years old I've been a practicing attorney here in New Jersey since 2007 I've been out on my own since 2008 I am a husband to a lovely wife and amazing four children family man a hard working person absolutely thank you again for sharing that so uh why real estate attorney what made you go into being a real estate question well I initially started out my practice on the criminal side but I always enjoyed real estate like just looking at properties my father God rest his soul was a real estate investor in Jersey City Union City and so I have that background then he always would like to just be driving around then we'd be I was like 10 years old 12 years old and he would just be looking at real estate so I always had an interest in real estate at a very young age and we all would say around like 1819 you know he had some properties I would collect the rents for him so I always found it interesting that there was always money there at the end of at the beginning of the month for him is exciting and then I just loved the actual physical part of it like the homes and the beauty and you know like the renovations and all the stuff that people could do with their properties the landscaping it's just very a piece to the eye sure absolutely so did you do anything prior to being a real estate attorney oh yeah actually did a lot but I would say the the main thing that I did prior to going to law school actually and deciding to become an attorney was I worked right down there and the Newport Center 525 Washington I worked for an investment bank for about two-and-a-half years then I was back and forth on Wall Street it was a Wall Street banking firm investment bank and I worked there was miserable for the most most of the two years because I was just sitting in an office and plugging away at a computer and didn't have interaction with people that often ik other than the employees and some client services over the phone yeah no I mean you're very you're very light in our industry you know people when people talk about you moon they say amazing things about you so appreciate you you know that that that uh not everybody says nice things about everybody is you know returning especially I was going to say that so you know you're so it's it's great again they did I get to sit here with you and ask you but I wanted to get into some real estate questions because I think that I'd like to educate a little bit more um I don't I don't think that I I've been able to are I haven't been able to educate people on the process on the coming from an attorney so what do you think people don't know so I think people don't know a lot actually you are especially are you deal with a lot of first-time homebuyers I deal with a lot of seasoned investors and I also deal with plenty of first-time homebuyers I think the attorney review process is a little confusing for a lot of people so what happens with when you sign on let's just go at the standard broker contract here in New Jersey the Realtors fill in the blanks that gets submitted and the seller signs it and then it comes back and then there's a paragraph in there and I believe it's paragraph 35 and you don't quote me on this tactic but it basically says that an attorney review its now it goes into attorney reviewing and during that period one of the attorneys has to object the contract you have to literally say I object the terms and its standard practice we all do it but in those three days you want to make that objection because that allows you to then enter in to the eternal review period and start to negotiate some of the terms because a lot of its boilerplate language there's mortgage language in there that I always found representing a buyer I want to make sure that my buyers deposit is protected in the event that that that they lost their you know their mortgage gets denied because it can happen a mortgage gets issued on a normal course of a transaction a lender will issue a mortgage commitment with conditions and then from the time that you get the commitment to closing what happens in the event you lose your job you're no longer going to be approved for that mortgage despite there is a commitment to to give you a mortgage so one of the terms that I'll put in my writer or addendum or whatever you call it a turn or review letter is that in the event the mortgages denied after it's been issued for one unforeseen event such as a loss of job or god forbid something happens to someone then they can get their deposit back and walk away right if you don't do that during a turn interview the standard contract doesn't cover that particular situation or scenario so it's very important that number one we get the contracts quickly and for me I'm always I'm looking to be very aggressive in a turn in review especially in this market for my buyers because if there's a competing offer during a turn in review once the contract is a is rejected then anyone could cancel until you're under contract right for any reason you don't even have to give a reason during review you can just change your mind once you're under contract you have to obviously good only get out by one of the terms in the contract so what would you say is that one of the values that you bring to the table as an attorney what what would you say yeah that's a that's a big part of why I believe I've you know become pretty successful in in in the practice of real estate laws because I'm I'm all over the attorney review period so when I get a contract I'm looking to get it get it get a rider out get a letter out as quickly as possible if I'm representing my buyer from representing my seller I'm not saying I don't want to move it quicker but some sellers will actually tell me hey it's Friday don't push this I wanna we want to have another weekend of open another open house and see what comes in so I may you know drag it a little longer on the seller side but on the buyer side my goal is to of course my client has to want that sure my goal is to get you under contract and get you at a review as quickly as possible without obviously you know sacrificing anything so let's do um 101 so after it goes into a review what happens after it goes into review the normal process I would say is I send out my as a buyer's attorney I send out my letter the other side will respond with some changes for the most of the time it's not much sometimes you get a lot and then I'll have to negotiate not negotiate I'll have to explain those proposed changes from the sellers side to my client if they agree then we can I can sign off they'll sign off on the letter and we'll go under contract a lot of times there's a dispute there and then now I'm negotiating terms once we're under contract the next step is again I'm just going on the buyer side because it's different for the seller yeah well for the box touch the seller side once I'm under contract my office automatically sends out then the next phase of what needs to be done so we'll instruct on the deposit the deposit date when it's due where it needs to go and how much it is just to remind the client of what the deposit amount is sometimes they actually don't even know what the deposit is unless we talk about it with them they forget things too so we'll remind them we'll also instruct them on the inspection phase now you should schedule your inspections typically it's a 10 to 14 day window from the date you're under contract we recommend inspectors that we're comfortable with they obviously have the choice to go with whoever they look want sometimes people know their own and so we then after that we're or or title insurance so we make sure I'd like to get title early so I make sure if there's any problem that everyone has enough time to get the title out we like to reach out to the lenders pretty quickly so we make sure we have all the length the loan term so that goes to title so we we're pretty much communicating all the way through from the moment we get the contract till the closing date and most of the time after closing I'm communicating with people with various things that they ask and documents or whatever it is that they have questions about so I are there all the way through sure so now on the seller side how is that a little different so on the seller side we don't have to do any inspections we're waiting we're kind of waiting for everything to come to us on my seller side so the seller side I like to also get titled because for me as the sellers attorney I have to make make sure mortgages are getting discharged and I have to get payoffs I have to worry about judgments and taxes and many different things that can pop up on title so I want to start to work on that as early as possible I have sometimes I have estate sales and you know people that are lost their parents and now they're selling the property so there's stuff that I got to work on there so the seller size presents its own challenges as well that's a little different on being proactive is you know is everything right communication I think the key to it all yeah absolutely what do you think are misconceptions when it comes to attorneys in in real estate are they needed are they not needed and why are they needed because I'm just gonna say they are need good question I mean I know this the lower half of the state they don't use attorneys the way I see it is number one we're proud one of the more least expensive professionals in the transaction the going rate for an attorney is like 1200 1500 to whatever $1,700 that's not a lot of money to put into someone that's going to be protecting you on the basically the biggest purchase of your life so these are very complex transactions I find it almost I don't want to say it's I don't want to say dumb I need another word for it I can't think of the adjectives that I know that's proper but along the lines of dumb let's just say that it wouldn't know why this it's not very wise it's poor judgment in my poor judgment for you to undertake a such a huge transaction without my amount of money because I've seen things that can go bad and I've seen where the terms if you really don't understand some of the terms you can get really jammed up on some of this stuff so I think it just doesn't make sense for me for someone to not have an attorney who's trained and you know went to school and I've have years of reading these contracts to understand what some of this that's not layman's terms for the most part it's really some of it can be very complicated even for me as an attorney I in the beginning I had to struggle with some of the things as I was learning I picked up the phone and called a lot of people that I knew or professionals that were in the business for a while that were kind of like my you know my mentors so I learned a lot from them as well it's just not easy so you shouldn't go at it without an attorney no I agree I I absolutely agree with you so I mean at the end of the day there's there are a lot of attorneys that can be you know people choose from relationships what are the most important aspects when choosing your attorney what should one be looking for number one is obviously for me would be just someone you can trust you really need to be able to trust your attorney because if you don't have trust in your attorney the relationship is not going to be it's gonna be sour it's not gonna go well well communication is also huge especially especially first-time homebuyers they just don't know anything and a lot of times I have first-time homebuyers that are constantly asking questions so if you're not able to communicate to them and I'm not saying I answer every single phone call every single time they call but for the most part I get back to everyone with whatever it is that they need for the most part so I think communication and Trust are two of the biggest things because if you don't have either then you're just gonna be lost some people are obviously you need to walk hold their hands a little more some are just like hey may moon I heard I heard I hear great things about you you know I trust you you you know somebody trusted me somebody that I trust told me to use you and I'm just gonna do that and I trust you and so I love when they tell me that because it makes me feel and I actually go I don't want to say harder but I go really hard for someone that I earned their trust with without even really knowing sure absolutely you know reputation I think is also really important you know I'm when I started our conversation although we've had never met in person you know I knew that you had a reputation that was just amazing and people speak really highly of you we actually have a in common clients and even them like they're amazing people so for me to know that they work with you you know reputation means a lot so I think like you said it's trusting communication and reputation because unfortunately we have seen some unfortunate incidents with real estate attorneys so you have to be careful yes so I mean of course trust you know your Realtors and things like that but also I think that everyone should look into you know who they work with right absolutely yeah you have to look into it you know we as real estate attorneys you know I just had went through an attorney trust account audit you know and it's there's a lot of stuff that attorneys can do because there's a lot of money that our hands are touching and like you as I see all the money that's going into your attorney trust account you know so you really want to make sure that your attorneys not in Atlantic City gambling away your deposits absolutely so it's really important to trust that person is there any advice that you want to give let's touch a lot some let's hone in on first-time homebuyers is there any advice that you have for first-time homebuyers as far as just um unlegal stuff I mean obviously you're gonna acquire an attorney but anything that they did they should know because they're afraid right even putting in an awkward like is there anything that they will be afraid well this is what I would I will say if you work with me sure okay right if you're gonna work with me yeah don't be afraid to sign the offer sign the offer send it in because I are afraid to sign that initial offer because they think oh my god I'm signing it I need to have somebody review this first a lot of my first-time homebuyers they call me with that question I'll tell them don't worry sign the offer because I'm going to reject that contract and make I'm gonna propose the changes that I feel are necessary to protect your deposit because people really care about their deposits because you know you're putting up ten grand and you really don't know what's gonna happen ten grands a lot of money to most people I mean it's a lot of money let's just say that not the most people ten grand is ten grand yeah so you know in that scenario I would just tell my first-time homebuyers if you're working with me you can if you're working with the right realtor as well you can sign that that contract and not be afraid you electronically sign it send it out they accept it once it's fully executed I'll be sure within that attorney review period probably the first hour I get the contract it's getting rejected and I'm sending an email out to the other side so overall what do you do differently than most attorneys I don't sleep that's the truth i I think I outwork my competition and that's what's gotten me I think I don't want to brag or it sound like I'm bragging I think I'm I'm good at what I do because I outwork everyone well I ju t feel like my work ethic is is is what's gotten me to become the real estate guy that people know absolutely you know here are just yesterday showcase um Dale you know will come out in the entire month of February so I don't know when you know this will come out but just the yesterday or the day before I believe there was a tragic death and so if we talk about things that legends do or people that are on top of their game you know they out work their competition and that's how you stand out you know you you you do your focus is different and you know and that's why you know like you stand out you definitely stand out on what you do so just telling my friend yesterday that I haven't really taken a vacation in quite a while like a real vacation where you'd go away for a week two weeks and just get away like when I take a day off I almost feel weird like I'm just knee-deep in this and I don't mind it I actually enjoy it okay I'll read I'll relax and in my 50s I'm in my 40s so I'm like I'm gonna go as hard as I can yeah and the the tragic death of Kobe hit really hard you know I've witnessed a lot of celebrity deaths you know Kobe was different I think it's it's not even the basketball side of him that was what really affected us I'm a you know father of four children myself I'm a husband for you know we've been married for 13 years well no 14 is 2020 so I really go hard for my family and Kobe has you know made it cool to like okay to be that father figure just you know being with your kids and that's not why I do it but it's it's great to see like these ultra famous celebrities huges Kobe's huge obviously that his death affected the world that you could just see how big he was right and he's like going to his kids games and he's coaching his kids and he died with his children you know like with his daughter like taking her to a game I I probably have missed maybe two of my kids games I have four two of them are involved in youth sports the other two are young I have three boys and a girl my oldest two are involved in baseball and in basketball they used to play soccer so they're in swimming there and I'm the one who's pretty much at every game I'm that dad that's like fired up in the stands I'm coaching as I'm not even the coach but I can't help but at all times because I have a sports background myself sports is like a huge part of my life so losing him they just hit home they really just you know just hurt and it was like people are saying you know how can you be hurt by not like knowing someone like I don't know I don't know I never met him I met a lot of celebrities Kobe not being one of them but I never met God either it doesn't mean I don't have a relationship with God and love God you don't have to actually meet the person you know what he stood for is what we loved absolutely absolutely you and I had a small conversation and you said you know when legends die it's for a purpose in our reasons so you're very likable there's very relatable and I think that's another reason why people use you know it's the regular G and that a you know what you know how many regular Joe's are out there and are intimidated by an attorney you know they don't know what they can ask and I think you know I'm thankful that you bring that side out because it allows people to get comfortable and ask the right questions and hopefully you know there will be more people you know purchasing properties and things like that especially using an attorney for yourself yeah um I think one of the things that I get a lot at my closings is I always I don't always meet my clients beforehand I give them the option to come into the office if they like in the beginning but most of the time everyone's so busy we do the they do the retainers and whatnot electronically and I meet them at the closing a lot of times they're surprised when they meet me at the closing because you know I'm just a regular Joe you know and oh yeah I thought you were older and I'm like I just don't look at this despite the salt and pepper going on I'm just too cool oh yeah I mean I get that too but yeah you know yeah I guess it's the hip-hop background and stuff like that because a lot of my clients they do follow the the IG and they see that hey wait a minute lawyer likes like mob deep yes yeah that's that's different that's that but that makes you relatable and I and I love that you know I love that about you so is there anything that you want to leave what's with today me more besides my contact info which is you know you could find me on the gram at Mostafa esq & J that's M UST AFA esq NJ my office contact info you could catch me at the office just call nine seven three seven five four zero one three eight and the only thing else I could leave everyone with is you know just love hard live life go chase your dreams and don't let anything stop you if it's a house and you're afraid just go get that house don't be afraid just stay motivated to work hard to make that mortgage payment every single month because you're making a right payment anyways absolutely and it isn't the American dream to lose the American Dream just chase your dreams don't give up don't let anyone stop you you know people are going to tell you that you can't I'm sure you heard things and coming up in your career you know people trying to tell you you can't do things I've had that happen to me I've had a lot of naysayers in the beginning and it just never faced me I knew I wanted to you know do this and I was excited about it and you know I'm just honored to for you to have me here they obviously my hard work is getting me places that's why people are asking to talk to people like me people like you just really quick before we go I want to touch so you normally hash tag number 42 on a lot of things that you do I think it's on your files or you talk about it a lot tell me a little bit about that cuz I find it so interesting about you and I think people would want to know I'm glad you asked me so I'm a sports fan I played baseball I played basketball I played a little bit of football but after I got hit really hard you know my freshman year and a game against Elizabeth I was like this is not for me I don't like getting hit so what I I love baseball and I'm a die-hard Mets fan but there's this one guy at the end Leon the Yankees his name is Mariano Rivera I'm sure everyone knows him just a class act and he was the absolute greatest closer which is the guy who comes in at the end of the game and stops all the runs from scoring and he just shuts the game down and he gets to win or he gets to save for his team so he was just the greatest closer and his number was 42 so years ago as when I got on Instagram I I was not on social media for a very long time when I decided to go on Instagram I started understanding what hashtags were and stuff like that so I started to hashtag number 42 because I hope to be the greatest closer in the game just like Mariano so I hashtag 42 I have a couple of good friends that actually bought me their Realtors they bought me a gift and it was a 42 of Mariano Rivera and it was bittersweet because I'm a Mets fan but I had I didn't find the place where to hang it up yet but it's in my office it's up people can see it I appreciate you guys Steven Randi for that one but I'm also gonna hashtag 24 for the next eight closings and the reason why I decided to do that was because Kobe was number 24 he also was one of the greatest closers in basketball and for eight closings because he wore number eight as well he wore number 24 anymore number eight so look out for those hashtags that's right so a great conversation today thank you for sharing everything I know a lot of people are gonna call you for to represent them and in real estate transactions you show stuff absolutely thank you for being here today they got to know you I love it thank you you too again this is Vanessa LA and this is showcase Sunday [Music]