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Daniel Gershburg Esq., P.C. version 2.0

Monday, December 19th, 2011

For several weeks now, I thought about writing a Bankruptcy blog that dealt with holiday spending. Specifically, the propensity of people to spend money they don’t have on their credit cards around this time of year and then be unable to pay for any of it in January. But, realistically, been there done that. Every Bankruptcy attorney in town does that and I think the advice isn’t necessarily earth shattering (stop spending money though, seriously). So, instead, before everyone goes off on vacation (like my associate), I wanted to take some time and discuss what I have planned for Daniel Gershburg, Esq., P.C. in the coming New Year.

A few months ago, we began to sit down and figure out what the direction of the Firm would be, moving forward, as we’ve grown since 2010. And we began to realize a few things:

1. The area of Bankruptcy law is getting more crowded in New York City as more and more attorneys are coming into the practice and each website slowly begins to look almost identical to one another.

2. Many people were (are) coming to us and complaining about problems with receiving a loan modification even when their lender told them to stop making payments (thus ruining their credit). Now these same people face foreclosure in New York.

3. We like doing work for the most underprivileged in our New York City area but realized we could do more.

4. I like donating money to charity.

So, over the next year, here’s our plan:

While I’ve no doubt that you like reading the blog (except the emails I receive that say ”I don’t like reading your blog.”) I overwhelmingly hear about how much you prefer our videos. So, we’re going to give you more of that. In early 2012, we’ll roll out a video page that, I think, is unlike anything you’ve seen before on a law firm’s website. As always, we’ll ensure that the videos are clear and understandable. But we also realize there is not a “one size fits all” approach to either Bankruptcy or Real Estate, and so our videos will be more tailored to you. Personalized. They’ll answer questions directly. Why? Because there is so much out there on the internet, and the last thing you want is to research for hours and fail to find anything that address your particular situation. In other words, I think we can do it in a different way that will be more easier, more direct, and more appealing for you.

Another issue we’ve identified is how many people across New York City have been victimized by their own lenders when it comes to loan modifications. I say victimized sincerely. Client after client complains about listening to their own lenders advice on not making future payments, to their detriment. We hope to change that. In 2012, we’re going to substantially expand our presence in Foreclosure Defense in New York City. It’s one thing if “Loan Mod USA “(fictional name) tricks someone into believing they can reduce their principal and payments. It becomes quite another when the very bank that financed your home is telling you to take steps that hurt your credit score, and then foreclose on that home. We hope to change that, and we believe we will. Look for a Gershburg Foreclosure Defense site in January 2012.

I’m perhaps most excited to address #3 and #4 above. Ever since I established this practice five years ago, I believed it was imperative that I give back to the community in the form of Pro Bono work. The reason? I basically learned the practice of Bankruptcy through doing volunteer work at the Brooklyn Bar Association. Each time I did a pro bono case I felt as if I was doing something good for the Brooklyn community. Is it cliche and cheesy? Maybe, but it was and continues to be, quite important for me. Having said that, at the time of this blog, the Brooklyn Bar Association has 30 open Pro Bono Bankruptcy cases waiting to be filed. I’ve called them and said that my firm would personally take on each one of them in 2012. We hope to bring the open case load down to 0 by December of 2012. Why? Because it’s important for us and it’s the right thing to do.

This year, we’ve been able to donate money to the Wounded Warrior Project, an amazing organization that helps develop programs for severely wounded Vets come back home. Also, in conjunction with the Street Academy for Financial Literacy and an absolutely amazing organization, Pencil.org, we’ve been able to bring Financial Literacy programs to a middle school in Brooklyn, and we are eager to expand this, with Pencil’s help, to several schools across Brooklyn in the coming year. We’re teaching kids the value of a dollar and how to save it. We’re teaching them about credit and debt and the relationship they have. And we’re teaching kids good money habits that can transform their lives as they grow older.

In addition, the communities where our offices are located (one in TriBeCa and one in Sheepshead Bay) are incredibly important to me. I’ve lived and worked in both areas and they are close to my heart. In 2012, we ‘ve pledge to donate up to 10% of the profits of Daniel Gershburg, Esq., P.C. to various charities working in both areas (email us if you know of worthwhile charities in either community). Beyond that, we’re putting even more of an emphasis on doing volunteer work . In fact, starting in 2012, our staff they will receive paid days off for doing volunteer work at the charity of their choice.

So, why am I telling you all of this? First, because I think it’s time we did this. I’m incredibly happy with our website, but it’s time we do something different…again. I think that law firms and social media and tech are a great combination. In fact they’re so great that everyone is doing it. In fact so many people are doing it that you can’t tell the difference anymore. Everyone is on Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIN and that’s fine. But this blog has never been here to scream “Look at us, we’re great!”; That’s unethical. This blog and site were designed to serve a purpose, which was to make finding the information you need easier for you while you search at work. We hope to do that with our new video page. We hope to do that with our new Foreclosure Defense Page. And, most importantly, we hope to do that by doing things you can’t possibly do online. We hope to do our part in changing our communities.

I wish you the very best in this holiday season and the New Year.

-Daniel

Posted in Business Bankruptcy, Credit Cards, Debt Settlement, FHA, Gersh Blog, Homes in Bankruptcy, Mortgages, New Jersey Bankruptcy, New York City Real Estate | No Comments »

The latest White House Plan to fix Housing falls ridiculously short

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

In the latest of what seem to be increasingly ineffective solutions to stem the tide of foreclosures in this Country, the Obama Administration announced a new housing plan that could ultimately help an additional 1 million homeowners across the Country. The plan would allow banks to refinance loans that are underwater. In other words, Bob, who has a house that’s worth less than what he owes on the mortgage, now has the pleasure of possibly paying 4% on that loan instead of 6%. With the extra savings (The White House says around $2500/year will be saved while other studies show the number to be closer to$300), Bob will no doubt support the economy. Or he will buy stuff he couldn’t afford before….like food.

The first and most important step in stopping foreclosures across the Country is to deal with unemployment crisis. Nothing else matters unless this changes (or Oprah says “You get a house for free and YOU get a house for free, and YOU…). This sounds pretty simple, but for some reason, we can’t seem to grasp it. My clients want to pay for their stuff. They never come to me to file because they don’t want to pay for their stuff or they want to take advantage of the system. To the contrary, they’ve likely paid idiotic debt collectors for years (at exorbitant interest rates) because they feel they have a responsibility to try and pay their debts. The problem isn’t that their mortgage interest rate is too high. That’s just absurd. The problem is that many of them are now unemployed or underemployed. We’re not at 9.1% in this Country. Thats a mytth. When you count the number of unemployed and “underemployed people” I would guess we’re likely closer to 17-20%. You don’t fix housing until you fix that. You can’t bring the interest rate of a mortgage down by 1% and expect it to change anything at all. These people need decent paying jobs. They need money. Not disposable cash. But a consistent paycheck, so that they can pay their mortgages. If you ask someone if they want to pay $2400 for their home or $2516, they’ll obviously pick the former. But if you ask them if they want to pay $2516 but also have a job that pays them, I’m pretty sure they could care less about the $100 difference. You cannot put bandaids on someone’s arm when they’re internally bleeding. You’re wasting time (and band-aids).

To effectively deal with the Housing Crisis, we also have to take definitive steps at addressing our emotions and move forward. What we’re doing now is a little Waltz. Dancing around the issue. Sprinkle some mortgage relief here, maybe some there, and that’s it. And everything still stays the same. As I mentioned, we have two camps; they have to make peace or learn to move on. Unless the guys in the room who think that the people who paid for homes they couldn’t afford deserve relief, we’ll get nowhere. I understand the mentality. I get it. I think it’s much more complicated, but I get it. But we need someone to reach across and say “Yes, a lot of people messed up and got caught up in the craze, but we need to move beyond this, otherwise nothing gets better.” Half the Country bought into the notion that Real Estate prices will always go up. But this Housing crisis has played a tremendous role in the surge of Bankruptcies, and the inability of a family to right their lives. If you’re stuck paying for a home you can’t afford, you have two choices. You keep paying and hope you’ll find more money (horrible idea) or you walk away and threaten the property values of your neighbors (horrible idea). We just have to say “bad idea” and move on and forgive a ton of mortgage principle and fix this thing. Otherwise we’re going to be pointing fingers at each other while we watch property values continue to drop or stay stagnant.

Unless this Administration, or Congress, or even the private sector, figures out a way to refinance these homes and reduce the principal owed on them, nothing changes. These interest rate reductions will help close to no one. It’s a joke. If we want to effectively deal with the problem, then let’s deal with it. But if you’re going to tell me that reducing already historically low interest rates for people who barely make enough to keep the lights on, will do anything long term, then I have something to sell you.

Posted in FHA, Gersh Blog, Home in Bankruptcy, Homes in Bankruptcy, Jobs and Bankruptcy, Mortgages, New York City Real Estate | No Comments »

Question Closing Costs-Advice from a NYC Real Estate Lawyer

Monday, January 31st, 2011

I was perusing the Sunday Times this weekeend when I came upon a great article, which I am linking here. The just of the article is that you should always question the closing costs when purchasing Real Estate in New York. Further, it goes on to give great advice about negotiating many of these closing costs. This is really practical and helpful advice that we use for basically every deal where we represent a purchaser.

I can tell you that many of my real estate clients are first time home/apt/condo buyers. They have tons of questions, and thats normal. I can also tell you that many of these clients are not aware of just how much closing costs can run on an average purchase. Say, for example, you, like tons of of people out there, have just had an offer accepted on a new construction condominium in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. You’re purchasing for $500,000. The closing costs can literally add anywhere from 3-6% on top of that price. But heres the thing. MANY of these costs are completely negotiable. In a new construction, typically the developer will try and make you, the purchaser, pay the New York City and New York State transfer taxes, which could be thousands of dollars. You can negotiate that. The Seller can have you try and pay THEIR own attorneys fees. You can negotiate that out. The Seller can try and have you pay for a re-imbursement fee for filing the Offering Plan (a document thats required to be filed with the New York State Attorney General when building new construction). You can negotiate that out. You can literally cut your closing costs by 50% if we just take charge and attempt to get many of these fees reduced.

Furthermore your lender charges all types of fees (many of which seem to be redundant, and many of which they cant even explain). Some of my best clients have been able to call their lenders and negotiate these fees down, or even eliminate them altogether.

Sometimes, attorneys will say that they like clients who just “sign” and purchase, without the hassles of discussing every single fee. I completely disagree. I love clients who want every fee explained. That sounds somewhat crazy, but it means the client is an informed consumer. That actually makes it easier for us, because we know that were on the same page. Our whole mantra is “No Surprises”. The last thing we ever want is to come to the closing table and have our clients say “What in the world is this fee???” With some negotiating skills and tactics, you can make sure that doesnt happen.

Any questions, as always, feel free to call.

Posted in FHA, Gersh Blog, New Construction Condominiums, New York City Real Estate | 4 Comments »