When will you need a real estate lawyer? While you’ll find attorneys who say you need a real estate attorney for every real estate transaction, there are a few situations where everyone involved needs a real estate lawyer. Let’s look at some of the most common situations.
For Sale by Owner Property Deals
Whether you’re selling your own home or buying a property for sale by the owner, you need a real estate lawyer. A house is the most expensive purchase most of us will ever make. You can’t afford to have a contract that doesn’t protect you. This is true for buyers who need clauses that let them walk away if major structural problems are found with the property or the sale of their current home doesn’t complete in time. This is true for sellers who want to have their rights to earnest money protected and prevent home buyers from demanding extra money after completing the transaction.
If you’re going to offer seller financing, you must have an attorney involved. You can’t take the risk of getting less than you agreed upon for the home because the new occupant didn’t make all the payments. And home buyers want to make sure they don’t get evicted because they were late a week on a house payment, potentially even losing all their equity.
Trusts Are Involved
We’re not talking about trust fund babies buying their first home. A surprising number of people end up with cash settlements held in trust. Compensation settlement information includes how much money you’ll receive and when. The money may be held in reserve until there is a qualifying transaction such as requesting compensation for medical bills. Or you may need to buy a new home that supports your limited mobility. You may have to title the house in the name of the trust to protect your benefits or protect you from lawsuits. Work with an attorney to understand the rules involved when you’re buying property with cash from a settlement. If you’re facing a settlement, take future housing costs into account. It may be cheaper or easier to move into an existing handicap accessible home than modify your current one.
There Are Problems with the Title
How can a home end up with a clouded title? Imagine Grandma passing away and leaving the property to her two surviving children. Her two surviving children put the house up for sale. Problems arise if the descendants of her deceased children have a claim on the home. Now the title is clouded, because the property may have been sold by two people who didn’t have exclusive rights to the home. Another common situation involves mechanic’s liens and other types of liens. These liens need to be paid off as part of the property sale. That’s exactly why these liens were attached to the home. Who is responsible for paying the liens? Where do you send the money? How do you get the title cleaned up to remove the liens? If you bought a home from a scammer pretending to be the home owner or a spouse who sold the house during a divorce without the other person’s permission, you’re facing serious trouble. Only an attorney can handle these issues.
You’re Getting Divorced
Work with a real estate attorney so that you don’t shoot yourself in the foot. For example, divorcing spouses shouldn’t sign a quit claim deed to mollify their ex while their name is on the mortgage. Now you’ve given up your rights to the property while you’re still obligated to pay the mortgage. On the other hand, an attorney can force the sale of the family home and distribute the equity in it so that each person is free to start over.