Real Estate Attorneys, why do I need them?

[JoeFerguson]

A few rhetorical questions, feel free to answer them if you are in the know:

 

1. What services does a real estate attorney provide?

 

2. If I have to pay a 3rd party for a search/survey, new title/deed, etc., then why do I even need an attorney?

 

3. Wouldn't it make a lot of sense for all public records/property surveys to be filed electronically and then searchable online for a fee?

 

4. Do you think it's a bad idea to not use a real estate attorney?

[Richmond_Bills]

A few rhetorical questions, feel free to answer them if you are in the know:

 

1. What services does a real estate attorney provide?

 

2. If I have to pay a 3rd party for a search/survey, new title/deed, etc., then why do I even need an attorney?

 

3. Wouldn't it make a lot of sense for all public records/property surveys to be filed electronically and then searchable online for a fee?

 

4. Do you think it's a bad idea to not use a real estate attorney?

 

Joe - why don't you try to find a Title Company that bundles their services. For example when I bought my first house, I did my closing through Lawyers Title (a subsidiary of a National Title Insurance U/W) and basically they bundled all of the services for one price. I think broken down, the actual "attorney fee" was something like $125.

[DC Tom]

My wife is a project manager at a settlement company; I forwarded the questions to her. Here's her response.

 

1.) A Real estate attorney will read the contract and should review the title binder report, survey and any documents the purchaser or seller must sign at closing. They may also go over loan documents. Reviewing the contract and title binder are the main items they should be used for, but if a person can read and has some common sense, they should read the contract themselves. Purchasers can ask the settlement comany for the title binder and survey in advance so that they can review them before signing the loan documents. A smart purchaser would have a clause in the contract that it is contingent on a survey and title abstract review in addition to the financing contingency.

(a) none really worth what they are paid. They are a PIA to settlement processors because they think they know what settlements entail.

 

2.) Real Estate Attorneys are paid to review the title search, survey, etc. to make sure there is nothing that will be an issue for the purchaser or seller.

(a) see 1a.

 

3.) Most public records are searchable online, IF you know what you are looking for and AT and if you have the legal understanding of what is recorded. What is on-line is not all that is recorded. There are Grantor and Grantee Indexes that are not all on record. DC documents are only online from Jan. 1973. Plus, a lot of documents get indexed wrong, so the title abstractor actually goes into the index books and looks at the property, grantor and grantee.

(a) As they say on Myth Busters, do NOT try this yourself.

 

4.) Depends on what a person can read and understand for themselves. Some people can read and understand a simple contract and what it entails. Others can't.

(a) I try not to think about Attorneys at all.

 

 

#3 is an important one. I've run title searches myself. You would not believe how screwed up the records can be. The cost of straightening them out to put them online would generally be prohibitive. Plus...there's more than just land records. Tax liens, mechanics' liens, and judgements aren't usually recorded with land records, for example (not in my county, at least).

[JoeFerguson]

My wife is a project manager at a settlement company; I forwarded the questions to her. Here's her response.

 

 

 

 

#3 is an important one. I've run title searches myself. You would not believe how screwed up the records can be. The cost of straightening them out to put them online would generally be prohibitive. Plus...there's more than just land records. Tax liens, mechanics' liens, and judgements aren't usually recorded with land records, for example (not in my county, at least).

 

Tom, thank your wife for me. I just did a search on the Erie county clerks website. My mom has an obscure first name. An old property transaction that my parents made in the 1980s has my mom's name misspelled into a man's first name.

 

Joe - why don't you try to find a Title Company that bundles their services. For example when I bought my first house, I did my closing through Lawyers Title (a subsidiary of a National Title Insurance U/W) and basically they bundled all of the services for one price. I think broken down, the actual "attorney fee" was something like $125.

 

That might be what I should do. I called an attorney and he told me he charges $500, and I don't even think that includes all the extra 3rd party services. Since this is going to be a cash deal, we're not going to have to deal with a bank, so maybe I can avoid dealing with an attorney.

[DC Tom]

Tom, thank your wife for me. I just did a search on the Erie county clerks website. My mom has an obscure first name. An old property transaction that my parents made in the 1980s has my mom's name misspelled into a man's first name.

 

That's small. My wife just had to fix a project where the original condo paperwork has a butchered legal description, then all the individual condo purchases had not only the wrong legal description but somehow the wrong tax lot numbers (DC assessor's office is seriously FUBAR).

 

Wife says "You're welcome". She really knows her sh--...attorneys hate her because she usually knows their job better than they do. Every Monday, she calls the guy who write some Saturday Q&A real estate column in the Washington Post and tells him what he got wrong. I keep telling her she should take over the column...she's certainly knowledgable enough.

 

That might be what I should do. I called an attorney and he told me he charges $500, and I don't even think that includes all the extra 3rd party services. Since this is going to be a cash deal, we're not going to have to deal with a bank, so maybe I can avoid dealing with an attorney.

 

On the subject of "usually knows their job better than they do"...if you have a good settlement processor you trust doing your closing, and you're confident in your own contract reading skills, I almost wouldn't worry about it. Another thing to consider...you might be able to get a paralegal with real estate knowledge to go over the contract for you much more cheaply. Call it insurance...when you're talking about six-figure deals, dropping a few extra hundred to have someone double-check you isn't a bad idea.

[bills44]

Joe, looks like you're from WNY. Real estate closings are done MUCH differently here than in other parts of the country. I do think that you're best off getting your own attorney, although $500 seems a bit steep. PM me if you have any questions - I think that I can steer you in the right direction.