A real estate transaction is a legally binding agreement that should be reviewed by professional attorneys for both side. The problem is that some people, buyers and sellers alike, think they can save money on their closing costs by not having an attorney represent them. Many lenders require attorneys for buyers if they want to be approved for financing, but that is not always the case.
Why should you invest in a good attorney for your real estate transaction? If something were to occur during your transaction that affects the deal, then you could find yourself in the middle of a legal tangle that would have to be solved quickly and properly. What could go wrong during your real estate transaction? Let's take a look at the top four things that can happen when you are in the middle of a real estate transaction.
When you buy a house, you expect certain fixtures to be in place when you get the keys to move in. When you do move in and see that all of the wall lighting fixtures have been removed, you have a problem on your hands. Someone has to put those fixtures back, and you think it should be the seller. You would be surprised at how often this happens, and this is a situation that should be handled by a professional attorney.
Older properties, especially in neighborhoods where homes are close together, can be havens for surveying errors. The property lines that were drawn 100 years ago when there was no precise digital equipment to do surveys can look very different when that digital equipment is used in modern times. It is actually common to have property lines that put your home five feet into the neighbor's property, and it is a problem a good attorney can fix with the help of a title insurance company.
As a seller, you sit at the table in the title insurance company's office waiting to close on your new property in the anticipation of moving into your new home. Your belongings are packed and the moving trucks are ready to roll. Then, as you are waiting for the seller to show up, your lawyer gets a phone call saying that the seller has changed their mind and will not sell. This does happen, and the buyer is entitled to recover their costs. But it takes an attorney to make sure that all of the buyer's costs are recovered.
You put your home on the market and there was a healthy bidding war that resulted in you making a nice profit on the sale of your home. The prospective buyer went through all of the necessary steps, and even signed the sales agreement. Then the buyer gets cold feet and wants to call the deal off. This is when a seller needs a good attorney to pick up the pieces and determine what the next step will be.
Heading into a real estate transaction without a lawyer, whether you are a buyer or a seller, is a really bad idea. If you want to protect yourself in the event that something goes very wrong with your transaction, then you need to make sure that you have a good lawyer on your side.
