People often ask us when they're ready to upgrade or move out of their existing home, where should they go first - to the bank? real estate agent? or lawyer?
For most people, the last part of their real estate team they choose is the lawyer. While this seems to make sense to some, because the lawyer is the last person you see when you close the deal, you should not wait until the last minute to find a good lawyer.
With the change in the recent real estate market, such as unbundling of services, you may need a good lawyer sooner than you think. We actually had someone visit out office with a 2 page hand written agreement to purchase a property. While this is legally valid, it leaves a lot of opportunity for misunderstandings that can derail the real estate deal. For example, what comes with the property you're buying? Does it include the appliances, light fixtures? We actually had a client who bought a property and when they moved in most of the expensive light fixtures had been swapped out with much cheaper ones. Because the Purchase and Sale Agreement included the electronic light fixtures (ELF - no, not a house elf for those of you who are Harry Potter fans) we were able to have the buyer compensated for this. A hand written agreement normally does not include "specifics" so in the above scenario, the seller could get away with taking the light fixtures with them and anything else they wanted.
If you decide to go it alone, you should definitely contact a lawyer before signing a final agreement. This can save you a lot of money and heartache.
Even if you go the traditional route which is to call the banker to find out how much money you can borrow and then find a good real estate agent, you should find a lawyer at the same time. Your lawyer can give you legal advice on your real estate deal that a real estate agent or a banker cannot. For example, if you're buying a property with well water, can you get Title Insurance? This is a topic for another day....
When putting your real estate team together, don't leave finding a good lawyer until after the deal has been signed.
LarsenLaw & Associates
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