Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Joint Tenancy Property Sale

Your question omits several important facts, so I can only give you some general advice and pointers.

First, is this a true joint tenancy (with right of survivorship) or a tenancy in common? With unrelated parties co-investing for business purposes, the latter is much more appropriate and thus more common. (The distinction is more important upon the death of one of the co-owners that upon a sale, however.)

Second, you do not say whether the person offering free advice is a real-estate agent or an attorney. In either case, a professional should be compensated for services rendered beyond, say, an initial free consultation whose purpose is to evaluate the case rather than to provide final answers. Providing services "pro bono" is a decision made by the professional and not dictated by law, except that a judge can order an attorney to provide services at low or no cost in certain circumstances.

In any transaction involving as much value as sale and purchase of a half-interest in real estate, it is very unwise for either party not to obtain independent professional advice. In California, routine real-estate transactions are usually handled by agents/brokers and escrow companies without attorney involvement.As the transaction becomes more unusual, the desirability of legal counsel increases.

I can't be sure, but I get just enough sense of potential conflicts in your proposed deal to make me believe that having the deal reviewed by a real-estate attorney before you sign anything would be a darn good idea; for the few hundred bucks it would cost it could save you a lot of grief later on.