Do I Need a Real Estate Agent or an Attorney?

You may question whether you need both a real estate agent and a lawyer involved in your real estate transaction, or whether you need to retain the services of either a real estate agent or lawyer in order to successfully close your real estate transaction.

What an Agent Can Do For Your

While you are not required to engage a real estate agent in your real estate transaction, it is quite common for people to do so, and, depending on your state’s real estate laws, a real estate agent may be able to handle most or all of the different aspects of your real estate transaction.  Real estate agents assume may assume responsibility for a number of tasks involved in your real estate transaction, including:

• Arranging for you to view homes that you might be interested in purchasing, or holding shows of your home that you wish to sell
• Handling the advertising for and inquiries about the home that you have placed on the market, both from prospective buyers and other real estate professionals
• Completing offer and acceptance forms as the parties negotiate a real estate sale
• Giving information and referrals about retaining home inspectors, mortgage brokers, and lenders.
• Making any sales disclosures required by your state’s laws
• Negotiating points of conflict between the parties, such as who will pay for necessary repairs

What an Attorney Can Do For Your

When particular legal issues or difficulties arise in the context of your real estate transaction that are beyond your real estate agent’s capabilities, a real estate lawyer is the appropriate professional to handle your situation.  The most common tasks that a lawyer can perform in a real estate transaction include:

• Reviewing purchase agreements, contracts, and mortgage documents for compliance with applicable laws
• Giving advice about unusual legal situations presented by a real estate transaction, such as when a residence has building code violations or disputed property boundaries
• Identifying any potential legal problems presented by the real estate transaction documents
• Ensuring that your real estate transaction meets with all state and federal law requirements
• Researching the title of the property that is subject to the real estate transaction, and executing a property deed so as to ensure that you take clean title to the property

Advantages of Using a Lawyer for Real Estate Transactions

The biggest advantage of using a lawyer in a real estate transaction is that the lawyer, unlike the real estate agent, has no financial incentive for the real estate transaction to be successful.  Additionally, since the real estate agent represents the other party, there is an inherent conflict of interest in the real estate agent also representing you.  A real estate lawyer, on the other hand, is loyal to a single party to the transaction, and thus must always act in your best interest, thereby better protecting you from any disadvantages to the transaction.