Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

If you are going to use the "Uniform Statutory Form Power of Attorney" as described in California's Probate Code, sections 4400 - 4409, note that it contains a checklist where the principal chooses, by initialing a blank, each power he or she is delegating to the attorney in fact (you). Your friends should observe all the rules applicable to executing the Power of Attorney, including witnesses or notarization, and should think over carefully which of the items to initial on the checklist.

Each of your friends will need to execute and deliver a power of attorney to you, or you will not have the power to act on behalf of that friend.

The less your friends deviate from the standard language, the more likely to Power of Attorney will be recognized by those with whom you deal. The last thing a bank, contractor, realtor, etc. wants to see is a P/A form that has been extensively customized. Plain vanilla is much more readily accepted in the business world.