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Real Estate Closings - Do you need a lawyer?

Whether you are buying or selling a home, of course you need a lawyer, and not just because a lawyer says so. The lawyers for both the buyer and the seller are there to make sure that both sides get what they bargained for and that they don't meet down the line in a court of law. Consider these numbers:

  1. The average sale price of a home in this area is between $175,000 and $225,000.
  2. The cost of a lawyer for real estate litigation is generally $200 per hour or more.
  3. In a usual sale of an existing home, lawyers for each side charge less than $500.
So what do you get for that money? If you are the seller, your attorney makes sure that you transfer to your buyer "clear title", arranges for a survey and title insurance, reviews the original contract, fields questions raised by the buyer's inspection of the home, prepares the right documents for the sale and a few dozen other things. If you are the buyer, your attorney is making sure that there are no problems with the survey or the state of the title, also reviews the original purchase contract for any problems, may help with issues with your lender, communicates problems regarding the home inspection and proposes solutions and yes, a few dozen other things. And both lawyers make sure that everybody who is supposed to get paid from the proceeds of closing get their money and go away, including mortgage holders, the county (property and transfer taxes), the state (property tax), surveyors, inspectors, even lawyers.

In short, having a lawyer at the closing is the way to make sure it gets done right and thus gets done, period. You can save a few hundred dollars at closing without a lawyer at closing, but there a good chance it will cost you thousands later on.

Next Column - "Bankruptcy Reform" - what will it mean for the consumer?

Ken Runes
July, 2002

The material presented on the wbsite of Runes Law Offices, P.C. is intended for information purposes only; people who have specific legal problems or issues should rely on legal advice only if provided by an attorney after in-person consultation.



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