All of the do-it-yourself real estate sales companies on the Internet make it feel like anyone could buy or sell a home without any professional assistance. But when you actually get into a real estate transaction, you will find a lot of good reasons why you should always hire a real estate attorney.
The DIY websites present you with pages of real estate sales contracts and then tell you that you can do them yourself if you can read them. But once you start reading these contracts, you realize that you have no idea what they are telling you. Real estate contracts vary from state to state, and you need an experienced attorney to be able to understand each part and know what is expected of you. If you use the wrong forms in a real estate transaction or put in the wrong information, the entire transaction could be void.
Even if you could read and understand real estate sales contracts, you would not know what to do if something happened that caused the contracts to change. If the buyer insisted that a provision be made for the old water line that runs from the city water supply to the house, it would take an experienced attorney to make a change like that. Any real estate transaction can suddenly become a customized process, and that requires the skills of an experienced attorney.
A real estate transaction includes lenders, a title company, a survey company, and insurance companies who are all going to require different types of attention to be part of your deal. If you have never gone through a real estate transaction before, then you probably have no idea what a title company does. An attorney knows how all of these moving parts work and can keep everything organized and make sure the transaction is completed properly.
Contrary to what a DIY real estate sales website may tell you, the title company does not take care of the details of a closing. On your side, you need to make sure that all of your paperwork has been properly processed and submitted and any checks you need to bring at closing are ready to go. You also need someone to review the final sales agreement to make sure nothing was added that could be detrimental to your side of the transaction. An experienced attorney will make sure that your side of a real estate transaction is done right and that there are no surprises at closing.
When you buy or sell a home, you need an experienced attorney on your side to protect your interests. Even if you decide to try to go about selling or buying a home without a real estate agent, you still need a real estate attorney to protect your interests.
