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Miracle Lawyering, Strategizing and a Bit of Luck Allows Client To Buy Dream Home While Being Sued

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Hi, my name is Adrian Bartos, though professionally I’m known as Stretch Armstrong. I’m a DJ based in New York City, with a long history of working in nightclubs and on the radio. I’ve been part of the music scene since the late 1980s, starting as a die-hard music fan before becoming a DJ in 1989.

I began DJing in nightclubs in 1990 and had the good fortune of landing a radio slot on Columbia University’s WKCR, the first FM station in the world. I started a radio show there that became a cult favorite throughout the 1990s. The show played a pivotal role in showcasing emerging hip-hop artists from New York City, including Jay-Z, Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Busta Rhymes, Mobb Deep, Big L, and Biggie Smalls, among many others.

I first met Adam when an ex of mine was battling the president of her co-op board in a small co-op in Midtown Manhattan, just off Fifth Avenue. The president was a well-known comedian who was running the co-op like her personal fiefdom. My ex brought Adam in to shake things up, and they were largely successful.

Less than two years ago, I owned a brownstone in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, and we found out just before beginning renovations that there was an off-market brownstone across the street. It was wider, on the sunnier side, and very appealing. On a whim, I checked it out, found that I knew the broker handling the estate sale, and made an offer. It was accepted.

This was during the middle of the pandemic, near Thanksgiving, and we wanted to make the purchase without overcomplicating the situation. To do so, we quickly found a buyer for our current brownstone and signed contracts to sell and to buy on consecutive days.

Three weeks later, however, we still hadn’t received the signed contract for the purchase. We discovered that the seller—a woman whose parents had owned the property—had passed away before signing the contract. This sent the entire process into a spiral of uncertainty and anxiety.

To make matters worse, my attorney at the time had failed to include a contingency clause in the sale of our property. As a result, I was under pressure from the buyers of my brownstone to allow appraisers and inspectors into the property so they could complete their financing. Meanwhile, my wife was seven months pregnant, and we had planned a home birth. Leaving our home felt emotionally impossible, especially since we had no guarantee that we’d be able to purchase the property across the street.

At that point, I called Adam to discuss our options.

The first thing Adam asked me was, “What do you want to do?” I told him that ideally, we wanted to get out of the contract to sell our home, find another buyer, and reassess whether we could move forward with the purchase across the street.

Adam was very straightforward and told me, “I can keep you in your home for as long as you want. It’s just a question of how much financial pain you’re willing to endure.” He explained that litigation could become costly if it came to that but assured me that we had options.

Following Adam’s advice, we decided to shut the process down and “kick the can down the road.” Through his guidance, we were able to stay in our home for over a year and a half. Eventually, we completed the purchase of the property across the street, stayed in our home until we were ready, and ultimately got everything we wanted.

Adam’s availability and accessibility were exceptional throughout the process. He’s a great communicator—direct, friendly, and fun to talk to. More importantly, everything he predicted would happen, happened, which gave me confidence and peace of mind.

I always felt protected and in good hands, knowing that Adam had our best interests in mind. He and his firm helped us navigate a challenging and emotionally charged situation with professionalism and care.

I have no complaints about Adam or his firm. They got the job done, and we’re very happy with the outcome.

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