After hearing a story recently of someone who was trying to sell their home and purchase a new home in New Jersey and the deal fell through the day before the closing was scheduled for I was quickly reminded of the reasons you need a real estate lawyer to represent you throughout your real estate transactions whether you are purchasing a home or selling a home.

What happened to the individual could have easily been avoided by hiring a real estate attorney.  When you hire a real estate attorney you are letting someone who is experienced in the real estate law for that specific state.  While the process of purchasing or selling a home may seem like a process that is simple and can be handled on your own it is actually very far from simple – especially in New York.

Using a real estate attorney for your real estate transactions can not only help guide you throughout the real estate process but will also help ensure that you are protected from any dangers that are virtually unforeseeable to a buyer or seller.

So just to recap a real estate attorney will help you throughout the real estate transaction process.  They will review your contract, deal with the bank (if the buyer is getting a mortgage), order a title report for you to make sure there are no violations against you, the other party and the house, will cut the checks for you and attend your closing.  All things that will help you avoid problems now and with your home in the future.  So if a real estate lawyer does so many things how much do they cost? Real estate attorneys can range from around $750 to $2000 depending on what you need done.  Some cases such as the involvment of an estate or if a lot of extra services are needed for a special transaction the cost of the closing may be on the higher end of that amount.  If an attorney is offering too low of a price for their services be leary of them and make sure you do your homework to check them out.  Remember you get what you pay for.  You want to hire an experienced real estate attorney.

So why do some people chose not to get a real estate lawyer? The answer is usally that they do not want to spend the extra money on a lawyer or feel as if they don’t have enough money for a real estate lawyer.  You spend money on a real estate agent and many other services while you are purchasing or selling a house and the one thing that you do not want to be cheap about is hiring a real estate lawyer – in fact for most situations are avoided by hiring a real estate lawyer that may have not been recognized, avoided or confronted if you had not hired a real estate lawyer saving you thousands to hundreds or thousand dollars.

For some they do not hire a real estate lawyer not because they don’t want to pay the money for a real estate attorney but rather because they do not know if they can afford a real estate lawyer for their transaction.  This reason for not hiring a lawyer can be very misleading if you do not understand the purchasing or selling process.  It is as simple as this if you are purchasing a home you can have the cost of the real estate lawyers fee added onto your mortgage if you are getting one.  A real estate lawyers fee added onto your mortgage if you do not want to pay the money out of your own pocket will not add much of a difference in your monthly payments.  If you are selling your house you can have the real estate attorneys fee taken out of the sale proceeds (what you are receiving from from the buyer for selling your home).  As you can see you do not even have to have money saved up for the cost of a real estate attorney unless you want to.

For more information on hiring a New York real estate lawyer you can contact Steven Decker at 718-979-4300 or fill out our contact form and our Staten Island real estate law office will try to assist.