Goldstein, Gellman, Melbostad, Harris & McSparran, LLP

I hired Mr. Melbostad to help with a problematic (My Aunt was resistive to distribute to me) Probate case in San Francisco. I can’t tell you the difficulty he had with him in the few words I’m going to write about the experience. It felt as though he were working for the other attorney (they both worked on a settlement agreement that would have forfeited my beneficiary rights, it was an unenforceable settlement agreement, if I signed I would have gotten nothing!).
Of course, I fired him. After that, both attorney’s worked together against me to stall/​stop the progress of the probating a sale. They submitted a special notice for Mr. Melbostad to require 30 days notice be given to him. You see, the opposing attorney let Mr. Melbostad know a sale was proceeding so he could file a special notice to stall/​kill the sale (This could have had the effect of nullifying a sale contract for the property if deadlines are missed). A Former attorney vindictively, in my opinion, tried to hurt my chances at a distribution.
Remember this, the longer the attorney’s are able to stall/​kill a sale the more they get paid. The probate process, especially in San Francisco, is not what people think it is. If no opposition to probate exists they file paperwork and get a percentage for doing very little work and showing up to a couple of hearings. If any opposition for any parties exist and more than 1 attorney is involved… They work together to stall the process and create work. A good attorney can complete probate in 120 days (the court has a backlog and it takes 3 months to schedule a hearing).
Simple process: They submit a Petition (asking to do something) with pleadings (Why we can do something). A hearing is set and if the attorney simply follows the procedure required, the court approves the procedure and you are done (problem is most these scammers leave stones unturned so they can have problems to solve and charge more fees). The amount of work they really do should only take a matter of hours to a couple days (at worst)…But watch out, they like to talk a lot on the phone and stall so you keep calling them to get information as to why it’s not done. Guess what? They get paid every time you call them.

I’ve been meaning to write this for a long time, but haven’t gotten around to it. We used Goldstein, Gellman, Melbostad, Harris & McSparran to condo convert back in 2009, and they were great. we used the cheapest/​no handholding package where they just provided us instructions and we ran the process. What was amazing though is that when questions came up, David Gellman and his paralegal were still extremely responsive to our needs even though there was no extra cost constraint. The reason that I remembered to write this review, is that I’m thinking about buying another TIC now (offer just accepted) and i emailed David out of the blue 5 years later asking some very technical detailed questions about the condo conversion process, and he responded within 1.5 hour, without asking for a fee (even though I offered to pay him one). If we end up condo converting, i will definitely choose David again.

We sold our Victorian condo in the Haight-​Ashbury district of San Francisco in July 2013. Several of the potential buyers wanted to potentially add amending the HOA’s CC&Rs as a contingency to their offers, which would have caused significant problems and potentially killed the deal. In only two short conversations with David Gellman, he helped me understand the details and implications of our CC&Rs, and explained how the changes the potential buyers wanted were unnecessary.
We were able to use the information from David to negotiate away any HOA CC&Rs amendments being a contingency with the offers!
David is very knowledgeable and easy to speak with. My wife and I highly recommend him.

Just spent 10 minutes on the phone with David Gellman. Best 10 minutes of my month. He took my call when other lawyers would have wanted to setup an appointment and charge me, he confirmed what my online research was telling me, showed me how to proceed, and demonstrated how the firm could add value when I was ready.

We’ve just completed the TIC to condo conversion process and G3MH is instrumental in facilitating/​supporting us on the whole process. The pricing was competitive, the service was professional and superb. They have always been on top of things and gave us fair and comprehensive legal advice. David, Boyd, and Brian are superbly helpful. If you are going to do a TIC to condo conversion, I highly recommend G3MH as they take the pain out of the process.

These guys took what seemed a seriously scary process-​condo conversion– and made it — to all outwards appearances– go without a hitch. I had one friend warn me that it took him seven years to convert their two unit building. Ours took less than half a year from the date we submitted our application to the City. They were very informed as to the nuances of the law and inner workings of San Francisco bureaucracy (ugh!). They were also very approachable and went above and beyond the call of duty to make themselves available to answer questions. I would recommend them without hesitation.

I had a great experience with G3mh. Boyd was super articulate and walked us through the steps in person. (Take notes!) Each time we met with them was 1 – 2 hours, and the checklist, although overwhelming, did in fact have instructions for every single step of the process. We were able to complete in 5 months flat, which is apparently something of a record. One thing that worked great was to check in regularly with the legal assistant, Brian. He was super helpful explaining the relationships between surveyor and title company, so I could reach out to folks at the right times. This was my first condo conversion, and it went really really well.

The process of converting our 2 unit TIC to condominiums started in early 2008 and completed before the end of 2008. Approximately 6 months! We chose GGMGH upon a recommendation from our real estate agent who has worked with other TIC buyers in San Francisco and are very glad we did. The process can be frustrating and complicated. David Gellman and his team [particularly, Neal Corkery] helped us overcome the obstacles as each arose. Their expertise and understanding of the labyrinth of San Francisco’s government, rules and regulations seemed limitless. If there were questions, they were able to obtain clarification quickly. Our condo conversion was fast tracked with their help.
There are so many facets to the conversion process and Gellman’s team has this down to a science. They were down-​to-​earth, easy to work with and always accessible. They were worth every penny, especially for the quality of service, expeditious responses and thoroughness of information and guidance.
We will be working with them in the future. We would highly recommend using David Gellman.

Our condo conversion went through so fast we could barely keep up. I was pleasantly surprised with the way the city handled everything (who knew?) and G3MH’s staff was fantastic in helping us get this done so quickly. The flat fee is fair and well worth it. I would highly recommend using this firm. Save yourself the trouble of doing it yourself and go with the pros.

We used GGMGH for our condo conversion process (completed May 2008). We were very, very satisfied by their work on our behalf. The condo conversion process is difficult and convoluted, requiring dozens of steps choreographed over months (or years). GGMGH provided excellent documentation of every step of the process — for a flat fee of less than $ 4000. Our two meetings with our attorney at GGMGH were helpful and they made sure we had every question answered.
No, the experience wasn’t flawless. I’d have preferred to be able to email things to GGMGH — but they don’t do email. But phone calls were promptly returned. Documents provided in a timely fashion. Excellent advice given at every stage. And I give them high marks for both the professionalism of the service we received and the clarity of their advice.
I’d use GGMGH again for sure (though I hope never to have to condo convert in SF again). And I’d strongly recommend GGMGH to my friends and neighbors going through the condo conversion process.
Our next door neighbors used another firm (not on a flat fee) and their experience was MUCH worse than ours with the other attorneys.
Condo converting is a very complex, often frustrating, process. Do yourself a favor and hire GGMGH. Among the thousands of dollars (yes: thousands) we spent converting our Walter Street condo, my 3 co-​owners agree: the few grand we spent on GGMGH were the wisest dollars we spent.

Another full disclosure: I also read the Chronicle article and am posting now because of that. Our experience with this firm has been extremely positive. We bought a condo recently without a real estate agent and Jeff Gibson and Neal were extremely professional and helpful. Our first attempt to purchase fell through and they continued to answer our questions and concerns on our second (succesful!) purchase offer and closing. We made our own decisions about issues related to the purchase (price, closing, etc) and they advised us about the process, what to expect, etc. We are not real estate rookies as we have bought and sold several homes, but we had never been involved with a condo purchase or property in California. They pointed out possible concerns in disclosure documents and generally kept us very well advised.
We are also doing wills and estate planning through the firm and have had very good advice from Paul Melbostad on estate and will issues.
I know, no one is supposed to like or trust lawyers, but we have had very good experiences with this firm and I would go back to them in any situation where I need a lawyer.

Full disclosure: I just saw the SF Chron article (7÷4÷08) about this firm’s positive reviews being removed from Unilocal due to filtering associated with a preponderance of first-​time reviews, which compelled me to write my own review — I should have written this months ago. I’m not a frequent reviewer, but I hope from my other reviews it’s clear that nothing funny is going on.
Anyway, my wife and I had a very positive experience with this firm, and David Gellman in particular, when we bought our new house in San Francisco last fall. For privacy reasons, I don’t want to go into details, but the purchase and closing entailed some thorny legal issues, and we were beginning to despair. Fearing the deal would collapse, we contacted Mr. Gellman on the recommendation of some friends and our real estate agent. His decisive and timely intervention led to an immediate resolution of the sticking points and closing and possession soon thereafter. HIs level of professionalism was outstanding, and in our limited interactions he also came across as a warm, funny, friendly person (yes, he’s a lawyer!).
And once again without going into details, the fee for this was *extremely* reasonable. Another lawyer we contacted wanted several thousand dollars upfront, and Mr. Gellman managed to handle the affair while keeping our costs to an absolute minimum. I should add that although we didn’t need to interact much with other staff at the firm, they also were responsive, effective, and warm.
Overall: David Gellman is a prince, and my wife and I would highly recommend him and his firm to family, close friends, or anybody.

Their guidance and help for a condo conversion process couldn’t have been better. Explained the process well. Provided check list for a very confusing and difficult process. Brian was to go-​to guy and he was very helpful. The early part of the process is all administrative and slow with lots of painstaiking detail. We were skillfully guided through it all. Like all things the squeeky wheel gets the grease and an occasional phone call to check in and see where things stand is recommended.
Also don’t think you can sit back and let things happen. There is much for you to do and look at it as a team project — you and Goldstein Gellman. You have lots of paperwork to do and a key to getting the project done in a timely manner is your attention to detail and getting things completed and turned into them as quick as possible.

We had a good experience with the firm in our conversion. Despite the big issues, like the City changing the rules for doc submission and causing bid delay for us right when we though everything was off to a right start, the team at G3MH gave us a timely heads up and helped us navigate the changing environment to a successful outcome. In my personal experience, every question presented was competently answered either by our primary contact Brian De Los Santos or, if it had to do with legal issues rather than the process, directly by David Gellman. The answers came back in a timely and professional manner, as well as reminders about the key steps in the process that we had to take.

I’m kind of shocked to see such awful reviews. While the condo conversion process is by no means fun or painless, GGMGH helped me along in the process.
Brian was great to work with… he was the person I interacted with the most, and he was very helpful with my questions, and the process in general. When it came time to work with an attorney on the CC&Rs, we worked with Boyd McSparran who was so cool. Great to work with, is sympathetic to the laws and inflexibility of the city. We were done with the entire process in about 1 ½ years
I know these guys are the only game in town, but I think they key is being well organized. I would never want their jobs with all of that paperwork to keep track of, so whatever I could do to make it easier for them, I did. And it paid off.

I have to admit, I had the same experience with G3MH for my condo conversion as the previous Unilocalers. One wonders how they do stay in business with such poor service. Our file was lost. When we were finally called back it was for another property (not mine). We had no idea where we were in the process. We never met the attorney until our final appointment (2 years after signing up/​paying in full) and he was only interested in getting our wills/​estate business. One crucial piece of information was not communicated to us regarding storage areas and it came back to haunt us when we sold. That is, the storage area should have been deeded. This was just a small portion of our abysmal experience.

So evidently, G3MH is THE condo conversion house in the city which is amazing because they have been no help whatsoever in my TIC conversion. All smiles and hand holding until they cash the check. Now I’m lucky to get someone to call me back and when I have questions, they respond by sending me the same checklist of activities that I asked questions about. I have enough to wallpaper a room in my house.
My personal favorite G3MH moment was when, after costing us about a month of useless wait time for no particular reason (they didn’t know it was their turn to do something), they sent us paperwork for the wrong building. Very secure.
Find someone else. Anyone else.