The transaction man
Barry Fish has been practicing real estate law in the Toronto area for more than 43 years, but he’ll always remember the 1980s and early 1990s for the greed — and later, the destroyed dreams. The stories that stand out are the ones who invested in real estate late with no time to recover financially. “In 42 years of law, I’ve seen my share of ups and downs, but I really remember 1987 for its dramatic escalation in prices. We had people buying with just raw speculation. What was memorable was just the way it crashed. By late 1989, it was taking a long time to firm up a transaction and by the 1990s it became dramatic. People couldn’t get financing. Mortgages you thought were firm didn’t lead to a closing because the down payment didn’t come. By 1995, any deal that came to me I wasn’t sure would close. It was that bad.
“I remember one lady came in for some independent legal advice. She came in clutching an envelope to her chest. She wanted to know what I charged. I said $ 75 and she asked if I could do better. It was very unusual that someone would be so concerned with the fee. I wanted to see the envelope.
“What she had in her hand was a superior court statement of claim, saying she would be booted out of the house. Her husband had secured his business to the house and she had consented to it. His business failed. There wasn’t money to pay the bank and the bank had sold the house. The only thing I could do is try to get the woman another 120 days so she could move out of the house in less chaotic manner.
“There were sellers who didn’t want to sell, when the market was going up. There was so much volatility. I had a client buying developer properties that had gone up by $ 50,000 per lot from the time the deal was signed and the time it was supposed to close. He had had three lots, so that’s $ 150,000. The seller’s lawyer had instructions at all costs to block the closing. And that led to a court case.
“A lawyer called to the bar in 2000, who got into real estate and has been in it until now, it hasn’t been too bad for them. Buyers want to buy, sellers want to sell. The market is rising, but it’s organized. The 1980s and 1990s were a roller coaster.”
THERE WAS SO MUCH VOLATILITY
Barry Fish