Three Reasons Why You Would Want To Involve A Real Estate Attorney In Property Negotiations

22 March 2015
 Categories: Law, Blog

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Many first-time home buyers rarely involve a real estate attorney in their purchase. Sellers often involve a real estate attorney, and with good reason. Whichever side of the fence you are on, there is definitely a good cause to involve a lawyer.

Attorneys and Buyers

The biggest and most important reason to involve a real estate lawyer in the purchase of a home is that you want to be sure everything is legal. There are a lot of scam artists out there who will try to sell you a property that is not theirs to sell. If you tell a seller that you want to involve a lawyer and he or she decides to back out of selling the house, you might have been tricked. You could have lost your entire savings to someone who did not actually have a house to sell to you!

Attorneys and Sellers

Involving a real estate attorney is an excellent idea when you sell your home, especially if you are moving out of state. The attorney can take care of all the legal documents, make offers and counteroffers (with your permission), and notify you when the house has been sold. The attorney can also handle the financial transactions involved, depositing the money directly into your account.

Attorneys and Contract Explanations and Clarifications

A third and final reason for hiring a real estate attorney is that some states and real estate agencies do not require or have attorneys present in the agency offices. There is no one to verify the legitimacy and soundness of the documents, and you have to read through them yourself. Few buyers and sellers are willing to sit and wade through legal jargon and actually read contracts. Instead, they just sign them assuming the real estate agency has done or will do right by them. For the most part, this is true, but if there is anything in the documents that the buyer or seller missed and then is surprised by later, it is often too late to hire an attorney then. 

Ask Your Realtor and Research Your State

Ask your realtor if there is a real estate attorney working in his or her office. This attorney will be present at the final signing and transfer of property. If a real estate agency does not have a lawyer in their office, find out why. It may be that you live in a state where you will have to hire your own real estate attorney to attend to these affairs. It could also be because the agency cannot afford to have a lawyer on their payroll. Either way, it is important to research your state and the agency to find out why, and then secure your own attorney during the buying and selling of your home. One such attorney who specializes in real estate law is Saba Richard D. Attorney.