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Introduction to Real Estate Attorney
When you are buying or selling a property, there are many legal terms included in the transaction that a buyer or a seller might not be aware of.
A home purchase is a legal transaction where the title of the home is transferred from one person to another.
A home purchase is a complex process in which you may need help to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted process.
Hence, having a real estate attorney would help you to get through the purchase transaction smoothly. In this post, we will learn more about real estate attorneys in detail.
What is a Real Estate Attorney?
A real estate attorney is an individual who has the experience and is certified to practice real estate law in a specific area.
A buyer or a seller can hire a real estate lawyer when they are getting a purchase agreement signed.
It is advised to have a real estate attorney by your side to ensure you have a person available to give you solutions in case of any legal discrepancy.
What does a Real Estate Layer do?
Real estate attorneys do a variety of things when it comes to real estate. From handling money exchange to registering mortgages.
Title transfers, change of parcels of land, etc. are some of the things that a real estate lawyer takes care of.
A property attorney’s job could be broad, or it could be narrowly focused on one area.
The primary responsibility of a real estate lawyer is to conduct title searches and other related searches relating to your property.
If often happens is that there would be a mortgage of the seller which is sitting on the title, so your property attorney will prepare a letter, putting a condition on the seller’s lawyer to make sure that all those mortgages liens and encumbrances are removed so that you can get a clear title of the property.
Other responsibilities of a real estate lawyer are applying to your first-time homebuyer’s rebate, calculating your land transfer tax, preparing all documents for your transfer, preparing all the documents related to the mortgage if you are taking one, and the most important task of the real estate attorney would be to collect the funds from you and collect the funds from the lender and securely transfer them to the seller’s account.
The attorney would also register the transfer and the mortgage under your name and provide you with the report saying these are your title documents, here it shows that you are the buyer and provide you with the statement of adjustments and financial documents.
If you are a seller and hiring a real estate attorney for the same, the key responsibilities of the attorney would be, presuming that you have a mortgage, your attorney will request a payout statement.
In the case of a HELOC, the attorney will request for the payout of HELOC that is registered against the property.
If you have used a realtor, your lawyer is going to reach out to your realtor and request a Commission Statement.
Your lawyer is also going to prepare sales documents related to the transaction. On the date of closing your lawyer will receive the funds, pay off the mortgage or any liens, payout the realtor prepare, the check for the balance sale proceeds for you as a seller to collect.
How to find a good Real Estate Attorney?
The best way to find the best real estate attorney in your area is to speak to your family and friends as they are a great resource, and ask them if they have dealt with a real estate attorney before and whether or not they would recommend them to you and why. Your real estate agent is also a great resource.
Realtors deal with real estate lawyers all the time. Ask your realtor if he/she has any recommendations. Ask the realtor why he/she would or would not recommend a specific lawyer to you.
You can also cross-check the information that you got from your family and friends and realtor by doing your research online.
Visit the attorney’s profile on Google, LinkedIn, BBB, and other online portals to understand if the attorney deals with the type of transaction that pertains to yours and what the clients have to say about their service.
You can also call the lawyers to understand things like fees, years of experience in the real estate field and also confirm if they are doing this practice full time or part-time.
If you do not get any leads, don’t worry. You can start your search from BAR Association Directory.
Every state has a BAR association website where all the attorneys are registered with their specialization. This would help you to kick start your search for the right property attorney.
Conclusion
Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial decisions that an individual has to take.
Considering the legal factors that are included in a property sale transaction, you would need to ensure that you have the right team to assist you in the legal difficulties throughout the process.
A real estate lawyer is the person who helps you to make your transaction hassle-free and also gives you peace of mind by having a professional legal advisor by your side.
Thanks for also talking about how the complexity of the transaction could also help determine if it’s going to be necessary to work with a real estate attorney. I plan to look for one soon because I’d like to invest on a luxury home soon. As such a large sum of money will be involved in that purchase.
It’s great to learn that hiring a lawyer for your real estate purchase makes sure that there are no legal issues that might arise after the purchase. I have no plans of purchasing a house in the future, but I did see a couple of ads that feature attorney recruitment services. I believe it would be best to consult these companies for a sure match for your legal needs.
It’s nice that you pointed out how the primary responsibility of a real estate lawyer is to conduct title searches and other related searches relating to your property. We are planning to buy a new house and we want to make sure that there are no issues with it. With that in mind, we should definitely hire a real estate attorney.