Erwin L. Conrad

Extremely outdated and frustrating closing process — unnecessarily delayed a simple cash real estate transaction My experience with Erwin L. Conrad and Conrad & Conrad, PLLC has been extraordinarily frustrating. I was selling a commercial property in West Virginia and, because I was unfamiliar ...with the area and the local legal community, I agreed to use the buyer’s attorney in an effort to make the transaction simpler and more efficient. That decision accomplished exactly the opposite. This was a cash transaction — no lender, no financing contingency, and none of the complications normally associated with obtaining a commercial mortgage. Yet what should have been an extremely straightforward closing has been delayed by approximately 10–14 days, largely because this firm appears unwilling to use basic technology and modern closing procedures. In 2026, Conrad & Conrad would not accommodate electronic signatures for the legal documents involved in our transaction. Documents had to be physically mailed or sent by FedEx. Even more astonishing, the purchaser was apparently unable to simply wire the purchase funds to the attorney’s trust account. Instead, he had to physically deliver a cashier’s check to the attorney’s office, and we were then required to wait for those funds to clear. What happened next was even more frustrating. I had expected the closing attorney to send my proceeds by wire or, at the very least, by cashier’s check. Instead, I received what appears to be a regular business check drawn on the firm’s operating account. Because of the type of check that was issued, my bank has placed an extended hold on the funds, and I am now being told that it may take 12 calendar days for my proceeds to become available. So after already dealing with delays on the buyer’s side, I am now facing yet another lengthy delay before I can actually access the money from the sale of my property. Think about that for a moment: a cash purchaser, a commercial real estate closing, and potentially weeks of unnecessary delay because the transaction is being handled through physical checks, overnight deliveries, and extended bank holds instead of ordinary modern closing methods such as electronic signatures and wire transfers. I conduct business regularly, and I cannot remember the last time I encountered a professional closing process this antiquated or unnecessarily cumbersome. Technology exists specifically to make transactions like this faster, safer, easier to track, and more convenient for everyone involved. Electronic signatures and bank wires are routine parts of modern real estate and business transactions. The procedures used here turned what should have been a simple cash closing into an unnecessarily drawn-out ordeal. The most frustrating part is that none of these delays appear to have been caused by the buyer, financing, title issues, or anything complicated about the transaction itself. They were simply the result of the way the closing was handled. If you are accustomed to modern business practices, timely closings, electronic documents, wire transfers, and efficient handling of funds, I would strongly recommend asking very specific questions about Conrad & Conrad’s closing procedures before agreeing to use this firm. Had I understood beforehand how this closing would be handled, I absolutely would have retained my own attorney. Based on my experience, I would not use Conrad & Conrad, PLLC again.