Why Hire an Attorney for Home Buying in NYC?
In the fast-paced world of real estate transactions, real estate attorneys provide paramount services to both buyers and seller to ensure a smooth and successful home buying process. When it comes to legal issues in real property law, such as negotiating real estate contracts, the closing process, and title issues in between, having an attorney that you have confidence in to protect your interests can be the key to safeguarding your investment. In this article, we’ll explore the role of a home buying attorney, and explore why they are essential for a seamless real estate experience when it comes to one of the largest purchases many people make – buying their home.
The Role of a Real Estate Attorneys
Home buying can be a complex endeavor that involves numerous legal aspects and parties. There are real estate agents, the title company, and the mortgage lender. In the transaction, there is a purchase agreement, there are title defects to review and cure, and closing documents at the closing table. Closing attorneys serve as your legal representative, advocating for your interests throughout the process. Here are a few of the steps in the purchase process, and how your real estate attorney is invovled.
Purchase Contract Review and Negotiation
In the real estate deal, your real estate closing attorney will likely get involved after an offer has been accepted and a contract is ready to be sent out. In New York, the contract plays a very critical role in the purchase transaction because New York law incorporate the statute of frauds with respect to real estate contractual issues. That is, if it’s not in the written contract of sale agreements, it’s not part of the transaction. Informal agreements between buyer and seller (or between the real estate brokers and the parties) is not enforceable. As a result, real estate contracts have to be thorough, clear and specific about all possible issues. Not being clear and specific can have dramatic legal consequences when something goes sideways. A real estate attorney is well-versed in reading and understanding the contract of sale, as well as conditions that are possible to negotiate in the sale process, ensuring your rights are protected and you get a clean legal transfer of title to the house at closing.
Title and Property Due Diligence
As part of the home buying process, your attorney will likely order a title report. The title report is done by a title insurance company, and they will run searches on the buyer, the seller, and the property to look for any possible issues that may prevent the buyer from receiving a clean title at closing. These possible issues will be listed as title exceptions in the title report.
The title report is also critical if you’re applying for a mortgage, since your lending institution will require a title insurance policy to protect them. Essentially, your bank wants to make sure that their mortgage loan is the first thing payable the property gets sold at auction, and that there is no other lien ahead of theirs. Upon completion of the title search, the buyer attorney and seller attorney will work together to address any issues that may impact title for the property in question, and cure any potential defects before the closing.
Navigating the Mortgage Process
While generally a purchaser will work directly and intimately with their loan officer to obtain a mortgage loan commitment letter and final approval of your mortgage loan, your real estate attorney can provide helpful insights and clarity into the loan process, helping you understand the terms, interest rates, and repayment schedules. Moreover, your real estate attorney will often need to have a good, working relationship with your loan officer in case any documents, such as title documents or amendments, can be provided quickly and without issue.
Clarity at the Closing
By the time a home buyer gets to the closing, they probably feel like they just want the whole thing to be over with. Notwithstanding, there are a few important pieces that occur during the final stages of a real estate transaction.
First, once there is final approval of the loan, the buyers’ attorney is generally the party that is tasked with coordinating the closing, and that means coordinating between the buyer-side, the seller side, and the bank’s attorney at closing.
Second, the buyers’ attorney will have to sort out the closing costs with the bank’s attorney. This will generally include calculating adjustments between the buyers and sellers, as well as obtaining a closing title invoice so that the lender’s attorney can prepare a closing disclosure – a standardized form that lists out all of the costs involved in the real estate transaction. To get to closing, the closing disclosure must be signed by the purchasers at least 3 business days before the closing date.
Finally, at the closing, the buyers’ attorney will walk the purchasers through all of the mortgage documents that must be signed at closing. The attorney will ensure that if there are any issues that need to be addressed after the closing, that an escrow agreement is created by the parties.
Selecting the Best Attorney for You for Home Buying
Choosing the right attorney can make a significant difference in the success of your home buying journey. It’s my opinion that, more than anything else – more than the claims of “Best American law firms,” “Best attorney in New York,” and “Best law firm in New York City”, what you really want in your attorney is someone you feel you can communicate with, and you find easy to work with. There’s a lot going on in even the simplest of real estate transactions, so being able to communicate and understand your attorney is paramount.
Conclusion
In the realm of real estate transactions, having the best attorney for you for home buying by your side is invaluable. There are lots of legal documents flowing throughout the real estate transaction – contract, abstract of title, survey, amendments – and having someone that can help you understand what’s going on at any particular time during the transaction is important. Moreover, you, the potential buyer, should want someone safeguarding your interests during the entire process, and can explain the legal implications of things being negotiated and purchased.
As you embark on your home buying journey, remember that when deciding on buyer representation, you’re not only investing in someone to read and review a contract, but also someone that can bring clarity to any legal question you have, so that you are confident in the security and success of your real estate buying purchase.
If you’re just starting your home buying process, I highly encourage you to check out the Home Buying Course to answer many of the most common questions a first-time home buyer may have. If you would like to discuss your home buying and want to work with the Law Office of Richard Kistnen for legal representation, get in touch with the Law Office of Richard Kistnen today by calling (718) 738-2324, or book your no obligation consultation by clicking here.