Aleksandr Volkov

Alex Volkov grew up in the Soviet Union, back when private real property ownership was a rarely used concept. When Alex moved to the United States, he was amazed with the way real property is treated there. In 2003, together with his partner, Alex Rabinovich, he started experimenting with the real estate, learning from own steps and missteps how the system works. It started with investing in bare land, later advancing into the residential arena, becoming a San Francisco landlord in 2004. By 2006 Alex faced the task of handling his first eviction of a non-paying tenant. It was a true "on-the-job-training," in learning the process and discovering how nuanced it is in San Francisco. The learning curve was neither short, nor strong, but it laid a foundation of Alex's experience of the subject, and the exploration had never stopped.

It helped a bit that Alex had a law degree he earned in Russia back in 1997, yet he still felt compelled to learn the real property law in the US jurisdiction. He did just that, graduating with L.L.M degree from the Golden State University, San Francisco, in 2010. In 2011 Alex joined the California bar.

As a practicing attorney, Alex gains an edge by complementing his legal skills with the practical approach of a landlord. This helps in assessing a given problem from more than one standpoint, highlighting unexpected solutions. In one case, it helped to resolve a seemingly standard partnership dispute by litigating it as an eviction; in another, it turned an ordinary co-ownership partition lawsuit into a successful recovery of property by quieting title through adverse possession action.

Alex shares his unorthodox perspective with his readers. It might sometimes mean reporting on solutions not widely recognized, or suggesting a practical approach over a legal theory, or informing about an inconsistency found in some of accepted theories--in every case Alex strives to deliver the message, leaving it up to the reader to choose what path to take.