Carefully Consider A Real Estate Attorney If You’re Buying a Home

A real estate attorney can help you with the purchase of a home. In fact, the money you spend on legal assistance prior to a home sale could save you thousands of dollars later.

Buying a home is one of the most expensive things people do in their lifetimes, which is why hiring a real estate attorney is important. In addition to the cost, the purchase of a home can become one of the more complicated legal transactions people ever encounter. You'll find there are contracts galore that involve a number of parties like bankers, tax assessors, insurance companies and other legal entities.

In a way, it's a bit ironic. When faced with a divorce, something that could impact someone's life for years to come, people immediately hire a lawyer to protect their assets. However, when it comes to purchasing one of the most expensive assets of all - a home - some people never even consider it.  That's unfortunate because the relatively small amount of money saved by hiring an attorney prior to a home sale could save thousands of dollars later on.

How Does a Real Estate Attorney Save You Money? 

One obvious reason is they double-check all of the terms and documents of the transaction to ensure everything is legal and proper.  Things like zoning ordinances or whether a home or fence encroaches on that of a neighbor isn't in the forefront of most homebuyer's mind.  A real estate attorney, however, can check these things, along with tax issues, or any number of things many buyers never consider until it's too late. It's important to note though that, in addition to experience, you also need a real estate attorney you feel comfortable with and who takes the time to explain any issues to you so you fully understand them.

A real estate attorney can also act in your best interest when dealing with less than scrupulous lenders. Today restrictions are much tighter on home lending than in the recent past. A qualified real estate lawyer will explain, in detail, the contracts that you are signing (such as a fixed rate mortgage verses an adjustable rate mortgage). They also can check for some items like loan documents that contained a number of blank areas, which some sellers fill in after closing that can result in a higher mortgage payment for the buyer.

Buying a home is agreeing to an obligation. It's not any different than other important life events like a marriage, a divorce or composing a Last Will and Testament.  Like many of these other obligations it can tie up your finances for decades.  It seems only logical that if you are going to spend thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, on a place to live, you go the extra step of hiring a real estate lawyer.  Just remember... a house is an investment in your future, so protect it with a real estate attorney.

Comment Notification

Subscribe to this post's comments using RSS