Buying a new home in New York is a big investment that you should take into account all possible precautions. This is why aside from hiring a New York real estate agent to assist you in the negotiation process, it is also a good idea to get a New York real estate lawyer in guiding you through the legal process of buying your home. The role of the New York real estate lawyer is to specialize in matters that are related to property starting from the transactions to the handling of possible disputes between parties.
The Basic Responsibilities of a New York Real Estate Lawyer
Your New York real estate lawyer should be equipped with the preparation and review of all of the documents in connection with your purchase agreements, mortgage documents, title, and transfer documents.
In the process of purchasing your property, your real estate lawyer and their staff can also be in charge of preparing all of the documents including the writing of the insurance policies, completing title searches on the property being purchased, including the handling of the transfer of funds for the purchase of the property.
Should there be any dispute like a chain of title, problems in the lot line, or other issues that involve contracts, your real estate attorney should be the main proponent in helping you resolve this kind of problem.
Having a real estate lawyer can also give you the legal representation that you will need either as a buyer or as a seller whenever disputes will arise in the courtroom. The job of your real estate attorney is to get the facts from both sides and be able to arrive at a resolution for both parties.
Is Getting a Real Estate Lawyer Required Across All States in the US?
While there are states that do not require a real estate lawyer in supervising your real estate transactions and be there during the closing, there are other states that require such, and these states that are known as “attorney closing states”. There are also states that are known as “attorney title opinion states”, this title should be certified by a lawyer, and these are the states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Tips in Choosing a New York Real Estate Lawyer
Below are some of the things that you should take note of when choosing a real estate lawyer that you can work with:
- Make sure that you hire a lawyer that specializes in real estate
Of course, when choosing a lawyer for your real estate needs, you should make sure that such a lawyer specializes in real estate. This is because not every lawyer can provide the help that you may need when it comes to real estate matters. There are complexities in legislations relating to real estate and these laws are constantly changing, and it takes an experienced real estate lawyer to effectively handle real estate cases like yours.
- Make sure that your prospective real estate lawyer should possess the necessary experience
The experience that a lawyer has should always be put into factor whenever you plan to hire one. The lawyer should have had handled a number of transactions and already has several years of experience relating to real estate matters. This will give you the assurance that the lawyer that you hired has a good grasp on significant matters and will be able to give you the proper guidance and advice in the course of your transactions.
- See to it that you chose an honest real estate lawyer
There are a lot of lawyers who offer a free initial consultation, so make sure that you take advantage of this. You can use this initial meeting to know if the attorney not only honest but is also forthcoming. There are a number of people who have the ability to know the character of a person in just a few minutes of interaction with such a person. But, there are also traits that tip you off right away. These are some of the signals that you should observe during your initial meeting with your attorney. You should also ask for the lawyer’s assessment of the chance of success or failure of your case, and if the lawyer will sound too optimistic and not even giving weight on possible risks, then that lawyer might not be that straightforward with you.
- There are things that a real estate lawyer can do that real estate agents cannot
There are transactions wherein going to a lawyer is more preferable than to a real estate agent, the reason is that when giving legal advice, the lawyer can provide you more reliable advice than that of a real estate agent. There are also some real estate agents who do not possess the necessary legal training, and the contracts that they execute are going to be mostly in standard forms.
When you retain a real estate lawyer, you will have the choice to issue special clauses and thus allowing you to customize the sale-purchase contract, and this is something that a non-lawyer real estate agent cannot do.
- Make sure that you check on lawyer reviews
There are resources both online and offline for obtaining reviews from the lawyer that you plan to hire. Whether such a lawyer was hired to represent a non-real estate legal matter, you can still review the experiences of these people from that particular attorney.
- Get a real estate lawyer early on before it’s too late
More often than not, people are just contacting lawyers when the contract is already signed and it is only then that you found some clause that you do not like, or if you are already being sued for recovery of debt and now you are looking for a lawyer who will help you with your case.
Even in this scenario, prevention is still better than cure, so make sure that before entering into a contract as big as this, you have already referred the matter to an attorney so that you will be guided on the possible bumps and conflicts that you will encounter along the way. Hiring a lawyer may cost you, but the benefits of getting one early on are much greater.
