Carl S. Chu

Dear Ms. X. Z., I am sorry that you are disappointed with my representation. I wish that you had contacted me directly to address the issues rather than choosing to use an online forum in an attempt to intentionally create a negative impact on my business. In addition, provided that you have chosen AVVO as the place to voice your concerns, please allow me to address your concerns via this same forum in turn. 1. “I did not see the HUD numbers until the very last moment of closing.” “Found a mistake later on about $200, who knows where that money go.” This is an incorrect statement as you received the financial figures via email 2 days prior to closing. My office also went over the closing figures with you over the telephone several times prior to closing and kept you updated throughout the actual closing. We also reviewed the HUD numbers after closing and you raised no objections so I am confused as to your statement regarding a mistake about $200.00. In addition the HUD is reviewed for errors by several attorneys prior to and at closing. In reference to your statement about the mistaken $200.00 fee, I reviewed this with you immediately after closing. This fee was for the drafting of the power of attorney per your instructions as you chose to not attend the closing. You were insistent about having the power of attorney in place from our initial meeting. As the seller’s attorney, I do not prepare the HUD, and I do not receive the final HUD until I am actually at the closing table. 2. “Charge $500 for avoid disclosure, even though I told him I will fully disclose property information, he still charge that fee at closing.” You are referring to the Property Condition Disclosure Statement. I did not charge you that fee at closing. That is credit that you as the Seller chose to give to the purchaser at closing rather than providing the Property Condition Disclosure Statement, which had to be given before contracts were drafted. We discussed this before contracts were sent out and you chose to give the credit rather than providing the disclosure. 3. I would also like to remind you that your property was burglarized and vandalized with racial epithets 24 hours prior to closing and we were still able to close the deal as scheduled on August 28, 2013. As you will recall, the purchasers wanted to hold back $5,000.00 in Escrow, and through extensive negotiations with the purchaser’s attorney including into the late night hours before closing day, I was able to avoid any money being held back in escrow. 4. As you may also recall, you signed a retainer agreement that specified that I could charge you at a rate of $300.00 an hour in addition to my normal fee if any problems arose at or prior to closing. As mentioned above there were several unusual occurrences including a burglary, and vandalism indicating hate crime and I did not charge you one cent extra. As I told you after the closing, this was an unusual closing, which took three hours to complete and I also did not charge you anything extra despite the additional time spent. In closing, I would like to address the crux of the matter, which was that you were unhappy with the charge for the Power of Attorney that you insisted on, and which we discussed prior to and after closing. It is unfortunate that you have to malign me on this forum in an attempt to damage my reputation.