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The "One Voice" Rule

By Peter Olson, Esq.

Of course the originator of the "One Voice" Rule is the Big Tuna, Bill Parcells, of pro football fame. Wherever he's been head coach only he is allowed to communicate with the media. Other members of the coaching staff cannot. To some degree I suppose you can't argue with his success.

I think the Rule can be analogous to lawyers in residential real estate transactions or their lack of involvement depending on the situation. I represented a guy selling his home a couple weeks back and the buyers did not have an attorney. The day of closing did not sound pleasant for the buyers and it was mainly because they didn't have "One Voice" to listen to. The delays were fairly standard things...the lender was running behind. Closing had initially been set for 9am and around 4pm the day preceding I could see where things were headed so we pushed it back to 12pm. But even this turned out to be too early and I just kept in touch with the title company and lender regarding receipt of the loan package, ect., ect...worked on things at home. Unfortunately the buyers didn't know who to listen to. So all morning their frustration is growing because they don't know what was going on and one of them apparently was going to be leaving the area for a month and they had to close that particular day. I even communicated with them a bit trying to describe who they should be listening to but by that point they weren't really able to listen to anyone. I even offered to draft a property power of attorney for them if the wife indeed wouldn't be able to be present after the closing day. But they listed to the lender and got the closing shortly before noon.

Personally I ended up timing it just about right on...showed up about 1:45pm and was in and out in about an hour and got my checks the next day. The deal funded just before 5pm.

This probably isn't reason #1 to use a lawyer in a residential real estate transaction but it should be considered. Someone who knows what they're talking about and has only your best interests in mind. These guys wasted a day for what should have been one hour at a title company.

Full post as published by Closing Real Estate in Chicago on June 10, 2008 (boomark / email).