NEVADAN AT WORK: As economy shudders, lawyer helps real estate owners stand tall - Business

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Sep. 13, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NEVADAN AT WORK: As economy shudders, lawyer helps real estate owners stand tall

By JOHN G. EDWARDS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

VITAL STATISTICS

Name: Tisha Black-Chernine.

Position: Managing partner of Black & LoBello.

Age: 37.

Quotable: "Mr. Lender you may think that you want to move my client, Mr. Borrower, either out of his residential or commercial property, but let me give you the comps (comparable property sales) on this property. Let me tell you how long these properties usually sit on the market."

Family: Husband, Michael Chernine; children, Ava, Carson and Vivian.

Education: Graduate of Bonanza High School; Bachelor of Arts from Boston University; juris doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School of Lansing, Mich.

Work history: Associate attorney at Marquis & Aurbach; managing partner at Black & LoBello.

Hobbies: Marathons and triathlons.

Hometown: Las Vegas.

Black & LoBello law firm is at 10777 W. Twain Ave. on the third floor and can be reached at 869-8801.

Tisha Black-Chernine, managing partner of Black & LoBello, helps property owners deal with the area's declining rents and falling prices.
Photo by John Locher.

Tisha Black-Chernine helped developers and business owners secure financing for real estate deals during the boom years of Las Vegas.

Over the last few years, she's been helping homeowners and commercial property owners restructure their debt.

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As managing partner of law firm Black & LoBello, she helps real estate owners deal with the area's imploding economy, declining rents and collapsing prices.

She and partner Michele LoBello formed the firm seven years ago.

Black-Chernine acknowledges that she benefits from being the daughter of Randy Black Sr., a real estate developer and the majority owner of Black Gaming.

"I was given a lot of opportunity and I exploited it," she said. "I ran with any gain I had."

When clients started complaining that residential mortgage loan modification firms charged thousands and did nothing, she formed Nevada Home Savers.

After Nevada's Legislature passed a bill authorizing gay couples to form domestic partnerships, the firm decided to help couples file the forms and to help with prenuptial agreements for those with high incomes or high net worths.

Question: What made you and partner Michele LoBello want to establish a law firm?

Answer: We both wanted to get married and have kids. Figured we could run a practice, pay our bills, have a little more freedom, service our clients to the degree we did (at Marquis & Aurbach) or better, make as much money and do it much cheaper if we went out on our own.

Our bills are 50 percent to 60 percent of what the other firms are. I pay all my people well and I have a 401(k). We just pay less to the people at the top.

Question: How did you help clients with real estate transactions during Las Vegas' boom days?

Answer: Sometimes, it would just be a construction loan and you would have to go find permanent financing.

We help a developer purchase an assemblage of land, title it and then sell it to a national homebuilder.

Or the firm would represent a business owner that would come in and purchase a small shopping center or a small commercial building.

Question: How has your practice changed with the real estate slump?

Answer: Now, with the change in the market, we're helping restructure loans, helping landlords and tenants renegotiate their leases.

Question: You established Nevada Home Savers to help homeowners negotiate loan modifications. How did you get into that field?

Answer: Some of our clients on the residential side were paying ... upwards of $4,000 to companies that were supposed to be helping them, nonlawyers that were supposed to be helping them with restructuring their loans. These people wanted to stay in their house, but, at the end of the day, they gave away lots of money and they weren't helped at all and they weren't able to maintain their home.

Nevada Home Savers basically sets up seminars for Black & Lobello attorneys to conduct on loan residential restructuring, whether it's commercial real estate offices, residential real estate offices or neighborhood parks. Then, if somebody wants to pursue legal help for restructuring, the homeowner or business owner becomes a Black & Lobello client.

Question: What do you tell lenders to persuade them to modify loans?

Answer: I say, "Mr. Lender you may think that you want to move my client, Mr. Borrower, either out of his residential or commercial property, but let me give you the comps (comparable property sales) on this property. Let me tell you how long these properties usually sit on the market.

"Let me give you an analysis of what your carrying costs are going to be. You run the risk of dilapidation and vandalism."

Question: How is the real estate downturn affecting commercial property owners?

Answer: A lot of people built a property assuming they were going to get $3 a square foot for commercial (leases). Now, the properties aren't (producing enough income to make debt payments).

Since there is more space available, supply is greater than demand.

The tenant's sales are down, and he wants to negotiate, and the landlord wants to keep occupancy in the building.

Question: What's your outlook for local economy?

Answer: Getting out of this connotes getting back to where we were in the heyday. I don't think that will happen.

I have to say we are, if not at the bottom, very close to the bottom. We've just got to get our employment back up. We've got to root for our gaming.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Dr. Chang Wong wrote on October 19, 2009 12:07 PM: Dear Sir/Madam, i am Dr. Chang Wong The Chief Financial Officer for Cnooc Limited, China. i am currently looking to buy a house in any nice neighborhood i am currently looking to buy a four (4) to six bed rooms house with the price ranging from $500,000.00USD to $900,000.00USD and i would want to retain your law Firm and also i would want you to help me look for a real estate agent in all the process buying the property e.g. documentation and payment. Please if you accept to represent me in buying this property please contact me as soon as possible so that we can make arrangement for the payment and all paper work. Please give full price of each property including tax if applicable. i am willing to make a full payment of any choosing property. Please contact me at my email: changwong_cnooclimited@asia.com Regards, Dr. Chang Wong Chief Financial Officer Website: www.cnoocltd.com Telephone: 010-845-2101/ 010-845-3198 Upside Down wrote on September 13, 2009 09:53 PM: M- I will as long as discounts are not given to those who default. Those who default should move, go rent, and let foreclosure happen. Barbara Buckley suggests discounts for those who mediate after defaulting. I met a guy who received a rate discount (saving money) after defaulting. These discount stories frustrate those who pay. m wrote on September 13, 2009 06:17 PM: Upside Down: Of course you keep paying. It's the ethical thing to do. I'm always amazed that investors had no problem jacking up rent when rentals were scarce or taking out risky loans when times were good. Don't blame the banks!!!They may have been shady, but no one forced you to buy or refinance. If you bail on your commitment, you are now part of the problem. Get a second or third job if you have to, but show a little integrity, please. Things will get better, eventually. DB wrote on September 13, 2009 03:45 PM: Yup - You forgot to mention what top tier law school you graduated from...if it isn't Ivy League, or the University of Michigan, you must be in private practice... delray wrote on September 13, 2009 01:54 PM: Get real,cooley is the joke among all law students. It is the toilet of law schools. UNLV is full of wacko soccer moms, no real lawyers come from UNLV.. Yup wrote on September 13, 2009 01:44 PM: DB- what are you smoking? UNLV is ranked #75 out of 100. Cooley is not even ranked. I went to a top tier law school and I have people like you wash my car. I even feel bad for you and give you a dollar every now and then...fool. http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/rankings Guru wrote on September 13, 2009 12:29 PM: DB just blew up Yup and Delray? Nevertheless, it is not the school that matters, it is what one does afterward. Amazing how some look backward (in past) to try find anything to smear someone who is trying to grow in Life. Freaks. DB wrote on September 13, 2009 12:05 PM: Just to be fair: Thomas M. Cooley Law School was ranked 12 out of 50 best law schools in 2008. Oh, and Boyd School of Law at UNLV isn't listed in that top 50 list. However, Yale was only three slots above Cooley at 9. The main campus is located in Lansing, Michigan, not Detroit. Those who graduate from this law school are generally well-prepared to pass the state bar exam on their first try. This law school has evolved into several campus locations, and is recognized worldwide. Too bad for UNLV - - it has the potential for the same success... www.cooley.edu/rankings/overall2008.htm#rank Chris wrote on September 13, 2009 10:42 AM: I will give Tisha credit. She went to school, got a law degree and got a real job. Now she has her own successful company. In contract, how many rich, spoiled kids in the town do nothing more than "work" for their Dad and ride the Daddy gravy train? At least Tisha did somethig with her life. Cudo's to you Tisha. discosis wrote on September 13, 2009 09:24 AM: To the poster who said UNLV is on the same level as Cooley School of law: Laughable, if it weren't completely stupid to say that. You must have been denied admission to both schools. Good luck parking cars for the rest of your life. Read All Comments