When buying a home, there are an overwhelming amount of points to consider.
You may be asking yourself, “Do I need a real estate attorney?”
As we pointed out in our last article, a residential real estate lawyer can be very helpful. Today we’ll share a few more real estate tips and explore how a qualified real estate attorney can help.
Picking an Inspector
One simple suggestion to make your assessment of the home easier is to pick a great inspector. We always recommend that our clients hire a home inspector that is a certified mechanical and structural engineer and has a lot of experience inspecting residential homes.
Inspectors typically charge about $500-$700 to inspect homes. The home inspector will provide you with a report that you can use to ensure that the seller makes all of the necessary repairs before your closing. It is very important that you do not close on your dream home until you have ensured that the seller has completed all of the repairs and your home inspector has checked and verified completion to your satisfaction.
Contingencies
Your purchase agreement needs to include contingencies that adequately protect you and provide you with flexibility to terminate the contract when the contingencies are not met. You need to include a contingency that confirms that your deposit is fully refundable. Your offer to purchase needs to be contingent upon all appliances, equipment, fixtures and intangible assets transferring at closing to the buyer and providing absolute full title free and clear of all liens.
Your offer needs to be contingent upon seller ensuring that the home is properly functioning and is safe from any defects or repairs to the buyer’s complete satisfaction as determined in the buyer’s sole and absolute discretion.
Your offer should be contingent upon review, acceptance and confirmation of all of the deed and zoning requirements, land surveys, survey maps, deed restrictions and plats and easements to the buyer’s complete satisfaction as determined in the buyer’s sole and absolute discretion.
Finally, any offer to purchase should also be contingent upon you being able to obtain financing within a desired time period to your complete satisfaction as determined in the buyer’s sole and absolute discretion.
You need to add a contingency in writing that will notify the seller within a desired time frame after signing the purchase agreement that if any of the contingencies are not met, that you will have the sole and absolute discretion to terminate the real estate purchase agreement if you are not satisfied with any of the contingencies recommended above.
Title
Once the parties have agreed to and signed a fully executed purchase agreement, it is important that you hire a title insurance company to complete the title search and prepare the title insurance necessary. They will also obtain all of the finance agreements from your lender.
We also review all of the closing documents with our clients to ensure that there are no encroachments or title defects on your property and that the seller is providing you with a full general warranty deed when transferring title to you. We also ensure that our clients have checked that all of the utilities have been paid. We also negotiate appraisal and review fees, post processing, and settling and settlement fees which sometimes are high.
Questions?
If you are transitioning through buying or selling a property, we are available to walk you through any questions you have. Contact our office to ask your questions.
