Affairs of the law, and real estate law in particular, are date-intensive. Calculating limitations periods, responding to opposing party demands and discovery requests, and setting a court date or closing date, are all calendar-driven.
However, many parties to real estate proceedings are surprised to learn just how quickly important dates get postponed, and how unpredictable the schedule for any real estate transaction or litigation can be.
Buyers and Sellers of real estate and Plaintiffs and Defendants in lawsuits are frequently looking for a discernible endpoint to their legal matter. Whether that point comes in the form of settlement or trial of a lawsuit or closing on a sale or lease, deadlines generally bring about predictability because they tell parties when they might expect their lives to return to “normal.”
When deadlines are moved, or simply pass without consummation, clients get understandably frustrated. However, it is a sad fact that dates associated with real estate proceedings might as well be written in sand because they frequently get “washed” or “blown” away. Examples of real estate deadlines that frequently get postponed include the following:
- Response Dates for Purchase Offers or Counteroffers
- Inspection Periods or Due Diligence Periods
- Closing Dates
- Deadlines to respond to written demands
- Deadlines to complete discovery
- Deadlines to Complete Mediations
- Trial dates
It has been my experience that lawyers, real estate brokers, escrow officers, and judges get so accustomed to the fleeting character of deadlines, that they are often not phased by postponements, extensions, and continuances — all of which are fancy names for DELAY. By contrast, parties to real estate transactions or real estate litigation, usually find delays frustrating and purposeless.
While many delays are unavoidable or result from unforeseeable events, others are simply the product of nonchalance. We Texas real estate professionals would better serve their clients, if we expended our best efforts to avoid unnecessary delay.
