A real estate lawyer is involved day to day with the legal aspects of acquiring and selling real property. These attorneys do a lot more than average person thinks. This article will go through some of their essential tasks. It will hopefully shed some light and answer some of the questions on the legal side of real estate.
The legal representative you choose will give you a letter listing what sort of paperwork and documents they will need from you. You can expect to pay somewhere around $1000 in fees so it is crucial that you understand where this money is going. Make sure you find an attorney you can trust that will guide you all the way from the deposit to the closing stage.
Here are the most common expenses you are likely to incur in order to close on your property:
- Property tax
- Disbursements
- Land transfer tax
- Legal fees
If you it so happens that you are having a new construction home built, you can ask your real estate lawyer to provide you with an estimate of the costs along with common hidden charges that the builder could bill you with. Samples of such would include:
- Fencing charges
- Meter installation fees
- New home warranty fees
- several others, depending on your builder
Once everything checks out and all the agreements are met, the lawyer begins closely examining property in greater detail to make sure everything is clean before moving onto closing. What exactly does the lawyer need to look into?
- Property tax history
- Applicable zoning permissions
- Registered title searches
- Utility search
All types of letters will now need to be sent out by your attorney. Example: a letter addressed to municipal and regional departments ensuring that the property doesn’t have any pending problems. Problems like:
- Easements
- Conditional sales contracts
- Liens
- Unregistered agreements
- Several other things that may affect the buyer of the property
One of the most common problems at this stage are easements. There are many reports of people building fences not realizing they aren’t legally allowed to or parking their cars in areas they shouldn’t. A real estate lawyer will make sure you know about all these things before the deal is finalized. In addition, your lawyer will also inform the utility departments of the closing date of the sale and have a final meter reading done so that the last bills will be delivered to the seller of the property.
Along with the utility departments, your lawyer will also contact the local zoning departments and give you the details of all zoning laws, restrictions, and permissions granted you. This way, you will know if you are allowed to put a pool, build a large deck, change fencing, etc.
As mentioned, one of the essential tasks of your real estate lawyer includes a search of the title in the land registry office to prove that the seller is indeed the real owner of the property and is legally allowed to sell it. This is arguably the most important task of the attorney so it is wise for one to be on top of his attorney regarding the matter. There are countless scams and cons nowadays that are related to the title.
These are some of the key tasks of a real estate lawyer. Purchasing a home is usually the biggest commitment a person will make. Make sure to do it right and find a lawyer you can put your trust in.
Robert Aronov & Associates, PC 88-02 136th St, Jamaica, NY 11418 (718) 206-1555 http://www.realestatelawyernys.com
