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A real estate lawyer is one who specializes in real estate. Don't hire any attorney who happened to close a few property transactions at some point in his career. You want someone with experience, and preferably experience is in the right area. A lawyer who has worked on a dozen large commercial property transactions might be great at that, but he may be unprepared to help you get a non-paying tenant out of your rental house.
But do you even need a real estate lawyer? Maybe, and maybe not. It is true that most home-buying transactions close just fine without the help of an attorney. Realtors have standard forms that work okay, and title companies have lawyers on staff that may review the paperwork before a deal is closed. You may be fine, then, if you are buying a home and there are no complications.
Keep in mind, however, that the realtor works for the seller unless specifically contracted by you. And the lawyers at the title company may be helpful, but they ultimately work to keep the company safe - not you. If there is anything you do not feel right about, or anything in the paper work that you really don't understand, you may want to pay to have an attorney review everything.
When it comes to investment real estate, a lawyer is always a good idea. You will likely spend no more than a few hundred dollars to protect yourself from mistakes that could cost thousands of dollars. If, for example, you buy an apartment building, and find that the seller lied about the income or expenses, what can you do? It depends on what you have in writing. An attorney would be sure you were protected.
On the selling end, suppose you sell a property and provide some of the financing. Then you find that the buyer is not insuring the property well enough. If it burns down, he could walk away and you would be left with no way to collect all that he owes you. Can you force him to buy better insurance coverage? You can if the buy/sell agreement was properly written. Hopefully you had a real estate lawyer to watch for such a thing.
Will A Real Estate Lawyer Get
In The Way?
One thing you don't want to do, is let your real estate deals be decides by a lawyer. As it is, you'll probably close deals more slowly due to the cautiousness of your attorney. You don't want him to wreck a deal altogether. Lawyers have been known to make a lot of money finding problems rather than solutions.
There are couple ways to get real value from a good real estate lawyer without letting her get in the way. The first and simplest way - best for simple deals - is to bring in the lawyer after the deal is ready to be signed. Just have your attorney review everything for you and point out any corrections that need to be made.
The other way is to find an attorney that will listen to what you say. Explain exactly what you want to happen, and let him find the ways to make it happen safely. A good real estate lawyer should help you make things happen the way you want them to.
Houses Under Fifty Thousand | Do You Need A Real Estate Lawyer?