Every year, there are millions of people who try to get around the legal system without any help from a lawyer or an attorney. Most people overestimate the cost of hiring an attorney, so they won’t hire a defense lawyer or even a real estate closing lawyer. However, the complicated gymnastics of buying a home should never be done without the help of a lawyer.
Here are four reasons for hiring a real estate lawyer when it’s time to close your deal.
1. Negotiating On Price
Like most things in life, the price of the house you’re looking at is completely negotiable. Some people think that there’s a limit to how low or how high one party can go in price, but there are few legal limits. The law of the free market is that something is worth as much as someone else is willing to pay.
Once you’ve gotten your home appraised, you’ll start comparing that appraisal price to the sticker price. If it’s been appraised as worth less than the sticker price, you’ll have a tough time getting the seller to budget. In a buyer’s market, the sticker price is less than that appraisal and you get the chance to start bidding.
When it comes time to sign off on a contract, not every homeowner is comfortable asking for a lower price even if they know the home is worth less than the asking price. However, with a lawyer on your side, you have someone you’re paying to do the dirty work.
Not only is your lawyer the ideal person to negotiate, but they’re also going to have a whole set of ideas on why the price should be lower. Your attorney is the one who’ll tell you if you’re making a good investment or not. You’ll know the quality of your purchase after talking to them.
2. Ensure You’re Protected
A real estate lawyer knows where to look for the common mistakes that homeowners make when buying a house. There’s a lot of excitement and emotion tied up with buying a home. If you buy a home based on emotion or with a lot of romantic thoughts behind the concept, you’re going to overlook a lot of potential issues.
At the end of the day, the person that you’re buying the house from isn’t your friend and doesn’t owe you anything. Most people selling their home are merely moving on to another home, taking another job, or building their family. However, there are plenty of homeowners who bit off more than they could chew with a home and are happy to let this problem home become someone else’s issue.
If you rushed through the inspection and bidding process, there’s a good chance you overlooked some major issues. When this is the case, it’s vital to pump the brakes to ensure that you don’t end up signing on for a home that will drive you crazy. A house that’s riddled with problems can upset an entire family.
Your closing lawyer ensures that you’re protected in your purchase and that if there are any issues that the seller tried to hide, they’ll be held responsible. If you end up with a house that has more problems than you can handle, there’s nothing to do if you didn’t hire a lawyer.
3. They’ll Look For Liens
One of the biggest ways to lose out on a property is when there are liens against it. That’s when the owner has taken out loans using the house as their backup or collateral. These liens will lower the value of the home as they’ll be attached to the value of the home, needing to be paid off before the house is yours.
A lawyer is trained to look for debt attached to a property. They’ll search the title and ensure there are no hidden debts with your new home.
An experienced lawyer will do more than just looking for any liens. They’ll write up a contract for you that ensures that you hold no responsibility for liens. If the former owner owes money to someone, that’s on them, not you.
The seller then becomes responsible for all of the hidden debt attached to the home, as they should be. There’s no reason for you to worry about the home you’re excited about being attached to debt and dragged down because of it.
4. They Can Leave You an Out
If you’ve been negotiating a home for weeks, you’ll have a lot of back and forth with the seller. After some time, it becomes too much of a headache for some buyers and they want out.
It doesn’t have to be that there’s something wrong with the property. It could just be that you’re sick of dealing with the seller and want to get away from them. Whether it’s because the inspector found a family of alligators living in the plumbing or that you’re sick of the seller, your attorney can get you out.
Your attorney serves a dual purpose in cases like this. First, your attorney handles all of the annoying conversations and does all the going back and forth for you. Second, they’ll protect you in case you’ve already made a bid, leaving you to go about your life and not have to deal with a frustrated seller.
A Real Estate Closing Lawyer Is Well Worth It
For the small cut that they’ll take at the end, hiring a real estate closing lawyer is worth what you get from them in the end.
A real estate lawyer can not only negotiate a higher price, but also save you from difficult lawsuits by nipping problems in the bud.
Continue to read more:Â 5 Essential Tasks Of A Real Estate Closing Attorney
