Irwin M Rosen

As a first time homebuyer, my knowledge of the process was extremely limited. On the recommendation of my realtor I went with Mr. Rosen. As this was a short sell, Mr. Rosen advised his fee would be $1250, due to him having to do much more work(which I came to find out the “buyers attorney” does al...l the work). Also he advised he would want a retainer fee (which my mortgage company advised that this was not common, and attorneys normally are paid at the end of the deal). I was a little skeptical, so I did some searching and found he was “investigated” for fraud while as a Judge (charges were dropped). With this information I was even more apprehensive, however I met with him in his office and he was very charming and said all the right things, even advising he would not charge the retainer fee upfront. After I agreed to let him represent me, we entered into the short sale contract. During this 7 month process, he gave me an update twice on the status. Both of those updates were after I sent a request to cancel the contract. Other than that the realtor gave me updates. I sent emails to him without any response. Finally after 8 months the seller’s bank approved the short sale; however I obtained FHA financing and the condo I was in contract for lost its FHA condo approval the prior week, therefore making this building ineligible for FHA financing. Needless to say the sale did not go through. Upon canceling the contract I requested to have my deposit returned to me that I had sent Mr. Rosen (Fed ex), who in turn sent to the sellers attorney. When I made the request, Mr. Rosen sent me an email that the seller’s attorney sent him, stating that they received NO deposit and it must be with the realtor. He did not say he would research this because he has a record of me sending the deposit to him (HE DID NOTHING). Thank God I kept my records and sent the copy of the cancelled checks to him, cc’ing the seller’s attorney. After 2 weeks without any response I contacted the seller’s attorney directly to get the status of my deposit, Mr. Rosen did respond to say I should not contact the seller’s attorney directly, as it is inappropriate, however holding up the deposit of a first time home buyer is appropriate???? Finally I received the deposit check with a $350 deduction for services rendered (Including retrieval of the deposit)!!!! I never really read the blogs. I will be reading reviews from now on. It should have been a red flag when I saw he was “investigated” as there has to be “some” reason there was even a reason to investigate. Please beware of this attorney, he even has a stray dog in his office that he rescued, to up the “charming” factor.