Congratulations! Your offer was accepted. You're just days (actually, months) away from owning your first home. Your first yard. Your first boiler. Your first real estate taxes. Wait, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Congratulations! Your offer was accepted. What no? Our suggestions: call a lawyer. Better yet, call a lawyer with real estate experience, like us.
We often hear a common refrain from first-time home buyer clients: "I have a simple matters; it's just a house purchase." Perhaps that's true, but the question remains- do you have the knowledge to examine a title policy, the experience to negotiate and interpret a contract of sale or the time to represent yourself? Assuming the answer is "no," another questions remains- do I need a lawyer? Well, in our view, if you have any questions, qualms or concerns about the transaction, then the answer is "yes".
In our experience, both as professionals and real estate owners, proper attorney representation is essential during the three phases of the transaction (the initial contracting process, the due diligence and the closing) to adequately protect your position, identity problems and present solutions. Each of these phases have unique characteristics and challenges (don't worry, we're going to tackle them in upcoming blogs) which can jeopardize or terminate a deal. An experienced, diligent attorney can quickly identify an issue and efficiently resolve the problem before it de-rails a deal. It's important that you work with someone who will take the time to explain the particulars of each challenge as they arise.
Too often, we take on clients who have a commenced a transaction with previous counsel. In all of those cases, the common theme is communication. We find the adage--a stick in time, saves nine--to be true. Many of the problems that we are called upon to resolve, could have been resolved in a more cost-efficient manner had counsel taken the time to identify the problem from the outset of the deal and coordinated communication with the parties to the deal.
For most people, a home is their most valuable asset, and represents their greatest debt. When the stakes are that high, it just makes sense to enlist a professional that you can trust to assist you in securing and protecting that asset. Please feel free to call us or email us if you would like us to represent you in any real estate transaction.