18 Oct Real Estate Attorney: Why Do You Need One When Buying Property?
Real Estate Attorney: Why Do You Need One When Buying Property?
Purchasing property can be daunting, especially when you’re doing it on your own. After all, there are a lot of considerations you have to make—such as ensuring the legitimacy of the transaction and preventing hidden liabilities from putting you in debt. Here’s how a real estate attorney can help you navigate the world of property buying.
What Can a Real Estate Attorney Help You With?
A real estate attorney can help you in every step of the property buying process, whether you’re purchasing a home, condo, or commercial building. In particular, they can be a great help when dealing with complicated disputes or odd cases that are difficult to solve on your own. These can include dealing with neighbor disputes or helping you make amendments to the deed or title of the property.
Drafting Contracts
Anything you discuss with the landlord isn’t a sealed deal until it has been outlined in writing through a contract. While there are real estate contract templates online that you can fill out in some cases, there’s no way to determine if all the nuances of the terms adhere to state laws without a real estate attorney overseeing the process. Hiring one to handle all the contract work can save you time and prevent unwanted surprise issues from popping up in the future.
Making Negotiations
More often than not, real estate negotiations can be very messy. That’s because the buyer always wants to get the best deal possible, while the seller will do anything to lower their cost burden and sell for the highest price possible. Unfortunately, that can cause conflicts—and in a competitive housing market, you may lose a chance at buying your dream abode. As a result, hiring a real estate attorney to represent you in difficult negotiations may be in your best interest. They will consider all the legal nuances in the house buying process and make decisions that will benefit and protect you.
Filing the Deed
All real estate deeds need to be filed at the municipality or county of the property’s location. While you can do it yourself by picking up a form from the local county office, there’s a high chance of filling in the wrong information. To prevent such issues from escalating in the future, you may want to hire a real estate attorney to do the job more efficiently.
Additionally, a lawyer can ensure that the deed has been filed and is present in public records. Doing so will protect you from dealing with the consequences of owning an unrecorded title, such as future tax and ownership issues. Keep in mind that if you’re purchasing a commercial property, you may need to speak with someone who specializes in commercial real estate as the deed filing process is a little different.
Reviewing Documents
Real estate documents are incredibly complex and, more often than not, legally binding. This means that once you and the seller have signed a document, you’ll need a lawyer to make amendments. Additionally, this means that if there’s a clause in the document that you misinterpreted (and it’s against your favor), then you can find yourself in a tight spot.
A real estate attorney can review any relevant legal documents, from sales contracts to titles and deeds. They’ll watch out for any terms that may not align with state laws and additional burdens that may not be legally necessary. Afterwhich, they’ll explain all the technicalities to you and help you make amendments when necessary.
Aid with Closing
Some states require a real estate attorney to be present during the closing process. The attorney’s involvement varies from state to state, so it’s best to refer to your state laws to determine if hiring one is mandatory.
There are a lot of nuances that you need to go through, and some sellers may trick you into bypassing some procedures to sell you a defective property. In that case, a lawyer can also protect your best interest by enforcing all the legal requirements from negotiations to final closing.
Resolve Title Issues
Once you have become the official owner of your new home, the horizon may not completely be challenge-free. You may run into issues concerning the title of your home, such as finding the wrong property description or spotting an error in your title insurance. Resolving these requires an attorney to strengthen your case and ensure that you don’t mistakenly say anything against yourself. A lawyer can speak to all relevant parties—from the court to your insurance company—to resolve the issue in your best interest.
Real Estate Attorney: Why Do You Need One When Buying Property?
If you need someone to talk to, get in touch with the best real estate attorney in Los Angeles
Ultimately, a real estate attorney can help legally protect you in every step of the buying process. If you’re interested in working with a real estate attorney in Los Angeles, contact us through our online form, and a legal practitioner will get in touch with you right away.
