Letter Of Intent For The Purchase And Sale Of Property Template

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A Model Letter Of Intent For The Purchase
And Sale Of Property
Catherine T. Goldberg
Know the deal before you do the deal.
Parties contemPlating real estate transactions
have every reason to be careful. The investment is likely
Catherine T. Goldberg
to be a major one. A mistake can be devastating. There
is a director in the Albuquerque office of
always lurks the possibility of potential liabilities that may
Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin & Robb, PA, and a
be extraordinarily difficult to identify. To assuage the con-
member of the firm’s Executive Committee. She
practices in the areas of real estate financings,
cerns of all involved, a letter of intent will be an attractive
banking, foreclosures, commercial law, leases,
prospect.
contracts, and corporate law. Ms. Goldberg is a
Letters of intent can take many forms. They can be
frequent speaker at meetings of the American
straightforward and not bind the parties at all, or they can
College of Mortgage Attorneys, the American
be quite detailed and bind the parties to quite a few terms.
College of Real Estate Lawyers, the Real Property
Institute of the Real Property, Probate and Trust
In many (possibly most) cases, both parties at the letter of
Section of the New Mexico Bar Association,
intent stage have neither the intention nor the desire to be
and other professional organizations. She is a
bound — for such parties, binding terms would defeat the
member of the American College of Real Estate
purpose of a letter of intent altogether. However, in some
Lawyers, (ACREL) and the American College of
Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA) where she is the
circumstances the parties might, for a variety of reasons,
State Chair for New Mexico; she is a member
be willing to bind themselves to certain terms at this stage.
of the ACMA Opinions Committee and a past
The following Model Letter of Intent was drafted for a
regent. Ms. Goldberg has been included in
sophisticated purchaser client, a business with a real es-
The Best Lawyers in America in real estate and
banking continuously since 1995, and she has
tate department, that wanted to bind the seller to as many
been listed in Chambers USA America’s Leading
terms as possible from the very beginning. The purchaser
Business Lawyers in real estate continuously
wanted to start its due diligence immediately, without hav-
since its inception in 2003. She is listed in
ing to wait until the details of a purchase agreement were
Southwest Super Lawyers for 2007, 2008 and
ironed out. As with all form documents, it is intended only
2009 and in the 2007 and 2009 editions she is
recognized as one of the Top 25 Lawyers in New
as a starting point for consideration of the kinds of issues
Mexico. She can be reached at
cgoldberg@
that a letter of intent with binding terms for the purchase
.
and sale of property can address.
The Practical Real Estate Lawyer | 43

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