5 Reasons Why You Need a Real Estate Attorney

True Story: Jim and Susan Jones were selling their home in Florida and relocating to Pennsylvania. They had entered into an agreement of sale with a buyer for their home simultaneous to signing an agreement of sale to buy a new home in Pennsylvania. After packing all of their belongings and getting ready to board a plane for Pennsylvania, the Jones’ found out on the day of closing that the buyer was backing out of the deal to buy their home. Without the proceeds from the sale of their home in Florida, Jim and Susan could not follow through with the purchase of their new home in Pennsylvania–they had to back out of the deal. With no other options, they moved in with Jim’s parents, had to place their furniture in storage for several months and were forced to re-list their property in Florida; not to mention Jim and Susan were not able to buy the Pennsylvania home that they fell in love with.

Buying or selling a home is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT business transaction that occurs for many people in their lifetime. Whether you are a buyer or seller, it pays to spend a little extra money to hire a real estate attorney before signing that Agreement of Sale, and here is why:

1. Your real estate agent is not licensed to advise you on legal issues such as zoning problems, environmental concerns, easements, township ordinances, and other restrictions that may affect the ownership and use of the property.
2. A real estate attorney can assist you and your realtor in transactions involving boundary disputes, survey issues, estate sales and other factors that may complicate your particular transaction.
3. A real estate attorney can review all of the loan documents to make sure you understand your obligations, and most importantly, to confirm that the lender did not alter the originally agreed upon interest rate and payment terms.
4. Problems always arise in new construction purchases! You will have taken great steps toward protecting yourself and your investment by hiring competent legal counsel to guide you throughout the transaction.
5. Something will happen in the purchase or sale of your home that you will not anticipate! Your real estate attorney can plan for and protect you from unexpected pitfalls that could jeopardize the transaction.

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.