A good real estate attorney is an important and necessary person to have on your team when you’re thinking about buying or selling property. Closing attorneys work with lenders and the buyers and sellers to account for all of the funds involved, manage the title insurance and title search process, and provide general guidance throughout the transaction.
Sellers typically understand the importance of closing attorneys because they’ve worked with real estate attorneys in the past when they purchased their home. But I’m finding more often that I have a hard time convincing buyers that they should hire an attorney sooner, rather than later, during the purchase process.
For some reason, buyers tend to think that getting an attorney involved in the transaction will become costly. They believe the attorney is going to charge by the hour and don’t want to start the meter ticking by engaging them early on. Fortunately, most real estate attorneys that you could work with just charge a flat fee for their work in closing your purchase. The sooner you hire them, the sooner you’ll have an additional resource available to you that can provide advice.
While we do use a standard purchase and sale contract in the Greater Hartford area, it may be a good idea to have your attorney review all of the terms and conditions before it becomes a finalized document. There may be additional clauses that should be added specifically related to your purchase. Or your attorney may recommend that specific language be removed related to your situation. You may also look for guidance during the inspection phase of your purchase or related to a host of any other issues that could arise.
Buyers often come to me during a transaction and have questions where they are actually seeking legal advice. These questions range anywhere from “What verbiage should we add to the contract when requesting that the sellers have an in-ground oil tank removed” to “I’ve decided I don’t want to buy this house anymore, how do I get out of this contract…”
These are legal issues and unless your real estate agent is also an attorney, they should not be providing you with legal advice. What I’ll typically request in these situations is that my client and I have a conference call with their attorney so we can understand the best way to proceed given their specific situation.
Without involving legal representation, clients can potentially expose themselves to higher levels of risk in their transaction. This can best be avoided by hiring your real estate closing attorney prior to even writing a contract or putting your house on the market. Your real estate agent should be able to give you several recommendations on closing attorneys. Friends and colleagues may also be a good source for attorney referrals. Just make sure the attorney specializes in real estate though, as they’ll be current on that area of law in order to best represent you.