In Rem Podcast

In Rem is a legal podcast for real estate investors. Attorneys @AndyFowler7 and @seanpstclair interview industry leaders and analyze industry trends.

[In Rem Podcast @InRemPodcast]

How to Remedy Violations of the Due on Sale Clause https://t.co/Uyg47UWt7W

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

To young lawyers:

In the age of social media, self-promotion is easier than ever. And that’s awesome. Promote yourself early and often, I say. However, when the music stops playing on your career and you are ready to hang it up, what are you left with? Your savings? Your retirement account? Social Security?

Do you have a law firm that has value apart from you? Will your law firm continue to be a revenue source to you when you retire? Can your firm keep its clients without you? Can your firm generate clients without you? Will third parties find value in your firm such that they would purchase it from you?

A lasting law firm is built like any other business. It must have its own identity, brand and spirit. It must be able to scale and have a value proposition separate and apart from any one lawyer. If it doesn’t, the firm dies with you.

[In Rem Podcast @InRemPodcast]

Falling in Love with Fix & Flips https://t.co/DxH4qagLlE

[In Rem Podcast @InRemPodcast]

Watch the IN REM podcast in 1 hour!

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

You'll have to pry my < 5% mortgage from my cold dead hands.

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

A law firm should mind its overhead and do what it can to keep costs down. But unfettered devotion to chasing pennies can choke and kill your business.

Cash flow is king and the pathway that money travels between the client and your firm must be wide and seamless.

If you are fighting merchant fees by staying cash only, you are narrowing that pathway and reducing the volume of possible clients.

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

Have you ever had a law partner whose receivables were always high and their financials always in the red?

That same partner never hesitated to use firm resources, like associates and paralegals, to work on his/her bad files.

This problem is usually a biproduct of a failure to view the firm as a separate party/stakeholder in the business (by firm here I mean the collective assets and resources shared by the partners).

The firm originates files, earns income, pays expenses, and fronts client costs, among other things. Done properly, the firm is a profit center.

The firm is not a bottomless trough for partners to draw from to prop up bad files.

When firm resources are used, the firm must be compensated. Yes, the firm must be compensated and allocated its due both when the client pays their invoice and when the client is not paying.

Planning for this when forming your firm is vital to the firm’s health, sets partner expectations at the forefront and reduces the likelihood of partner disputes.

[In Rem Podcast @InRemPodcast]

#75 | Creative Finance Collective https://t.co/dm55nd9AWP

[In Rem Podcast @InRemPodcast]

Must Have Disclosures in Creative Finance Transactions https://t.co/cTZ5sqcWVA

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

A law firm is a business. Like most businesses, there is safety in the tried and true. Be careful chasing fads and do not allocate too much capital to transitory marketplaces.

During the Great Financial Crisis, I watched lawyers start law firms devoted to loan modifications for borrowers. Those law firms were short lived and no longer exist.

[In Rem Podcast @InRemPodcast]

WE'RE LIVE IN ONE HOUR!

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

Me navigating whether an incoming call to my office is from a cold caller or a client which they claim to be.

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

Imagine being the one high performing employee in the office that gets the "What did you get done this week?" email and you know it’s going to take you two hours to complete.

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

There is a difference between what you are obligated to do and what you should do.

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

So many lawyers decide to leave the big law firm and go out on their own. But they make one BIG MISTAKE. They recreate the model that they're leaving.

Instead of leveraging technology to make their practice efficient to do more with less, they commit to high cost overhead because that's how they've always done it.

They reason:

"I had a secretary and personal assistant take my calls and schedule my appointments at my old firm. I've never done it another way. I better higher those positions on day one at my new firm."

"I had a high-capacity copy machine and other equipment at my old firm." So, they enter into an expensive equipment lease.

"I had a beautiful office with a large conference room." So, they enter into an expensive office lease.

"My old firm had a large file room filled with filing cabinets." So, they lease office space with added square footage to accommodate large filing cabinets.

The result: on day one the lawyer is working through crushing overhead, and they are working more hours than they were at the big firm to accommodate the overhead.

[In Rem Podcast @InRemPodcast]

@AndyFowler7 Tale as old as time

[In Rem Podcast @InRemPodcast]

@AndyFowler7 You make money on the cases you don’t take

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

My local state bar provides an ethics hotline for lawyers. It is poorly run and in some cases the phone operator has a week grasp of the ethical rules. Given that local ethics rules and opinions are published online, would you trust AI to analyze and provide ethics guidance?

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

Law firm marketing is fraught with local ethical considerations and rules. Would you trust AI to generate law firm marketing material?

[Andy Fowler @AndyMFowler]

Living online dulls the senses because we’re engaging in a manufactured reality . Last night I was reminded just how different we are in the real world. It was refreshing .