Teams
Forum List
Toggle sidebar

Attorney and Realtor?

runbikeswim

runbikeswim

Well-Known Member
Oct 23, 2014
2,079
1,472
83
Just wondering if anyone out there has hired an attorney on their own in addition to a realtor, and what the value of that is. Sellers of our new house have and makes me wonder if we should, but am honestly trying to figure out what the value is other than slowing down the process. Shouldn't an experienced realtor/agent/broker be enough? But we are being told most people in our new area use both. All the paperwork is being done by the attorney, and I'm wondering what the heck their agent is doing other than being the ability to get on MLS.
 
runbikeswim said:
Just wondering if anyone out there has hired an attorney on their own in addition to a realtor, and what the value of that is. Sellers of our new house have and makes me wonder if we should, but am honestly trying to figure out what the value is other than slowing down the process. Shouldn't an experienced realtor/agent/broker be enough? But we are being told most people in our new area use both. All the paperwork is being done by the attorney, and I'm wondering what the heck their agent is doing other than being the ability to get on MLS.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that most realtor's have an in-house or and outside attorney arrangement to handle the legalties. I have heard of people having their Attorney look over everything before but I have never done it when buying a house through a realtor.

However, we bought our current house from a private seller and we had our Attorney look over everything, but if it wasn't for the private seller aspect we wouldn't have had the Attorney look at it.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Clones1414, wxman1 and Cyclonepride
Talk radio legend Bruce Williams, who I used to listen to with my dad, used to insist on hiring an attorney. His argument was, even if you have a realtor representing you as the buyer, he or she ONLY gets paid if the house sells and, therefore, they technically are working for the seller.

Now, your lender should be having their attorney do a lien search and review things on their end. But again, they're looking out for the lender's interests.

If you're buying a very expensive property, a few hundred bucks to have an attorney review everything is a small price to pay.
 
  • Agree
  • Winner
Reactions: CyclonePigskin, usedcarguy and ArgentCy
ruxCYtable said:
Talk radio legend Bruce Williams, who I used to listen to with my dad, used to insist on hiring an attorney. His argument was, even if you have a realtor representing you as the buyer, he or she ONLY gets paid if the house sells and, therefore, they technically are working for the seller.

Now, your lender should be having their attorney do a lien search and review things on their end. But again, they're looking out for the lender's interests.

If you're buying a very expensive property, a few hundred bucks to have an attorney review everything is a small price to pay.
Click to expand...

When's the last time you hired a real estate attorney? A few hundred?
 
  • Agree
Reactions: wxman1 and isufbcurt
Real estate agent's aren't going to know jack about law. And even if they did they aren't allowed to give any legal advice. Read the contracts and they will encourage you to hire professionals for everything, pest inspections, survey's, legal, etc.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: CyclonePigskin and usedcarguy
Full disclosure-- I am an attorney who does quite a bit of real estate work.

Realtors are experts in assessing the market, determining price and most are very good at understanding the steps taken in a real estate transaction. With that said, I have seen some horribly drafted Purchase Agreements come from realtors. These are legally binding documents regarding the sale of most people's most valuable asset, and the exact words of each and every clause can be subject to interpretation. As a Buyer, I would absolutely have an attorney, at a minimum, look over the Purchase Agreement before you sign it. Realtors are very good at what they do, but at the end of the day they are not attorneys trained in the enforcement and interpretation of contracts.
 
  • Agree
  • Winner
Reactions: ruxCYtable, usedcarguy and CloneLawman
Clonefan32 said:
Full disclosure-- I am an attorney who does quite a bit of real estate work.

Realtors are experts in assessing the market, determining price and most are very good at understanding the steps taken in a real estate transaction. With that said, I have seen some horribly drafted Purchase Agreements come from realtors. These are legally binding documents regarding the sale of most people's most valuable asset, and the exact words of each and every clause can be subject to interpretation. As a Buyer, I would absolutely have an attorney, at a minimum, look over the Purchase Agreement before you sign it. Realtors are very good at what they do, but at the end of the day they are not attorneys trained in the enforcement and interpretation of contracts.
Click to expand...

So what mistakes are they making? From my experience the purchase agreements are more or less forms that they fill in the blanks on for the property with whatever clauses.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: isufbcurt
Clonefan32 said:
Full disclosure-- I am an attorney who does quite a bit of real estate work.

Realtors are experts in assessing the market, determining price and most are very good at understanding the steps taken in a real estate transaction. With that said, I have seen some horribly drafted Purchase Agreements come from realtors. These are legally binding documents regarding the sale of most people's most valuable asset, and the exact words of each and every clause can be subject to interpretation. As a Buyer, I would absolutely have an attorney, at a minimum, look over the Purchase Agreement before you sign it. Realtors are very good at what they do, but at the end of the day they are not attorneys trained in the enforcement and interpretation of contracts.
Click to expand...

I love the purchase agreements that I've seen that are like two sentences with FSBO transactions. Yikes. Probably not even legal but it's not like I can say.
 
wxman1 said:
So what mistakes are they making? From my experience the purchase agreements are more or less forms that they fill in the blanks on for the property with whatever clauses.
Click to expand...

usually they are originally drawn up by an Attorney
 
  • Agree
Reactions: wxman1
This is the first I've heard of needing a realtor and an attorney. One or the other, but not both.
 
In the past, I would not have always agreed with your advise. I didn’t have the first four real estate transactions that I made reviewed by an attorney. I had a real estate agent that I trusted and everything went smooth with no problems. I learned the hard way the value of involving an attorney on the fifth deal. It took several years of court cases and over 25 grand in fees to clean up some title issues that arose 10 years later. The standard closing documents ended up protecting the seller, the agent, the lender, the title company, but not the buyer. It’s even more important these days to have a legal review with some of the identity theft scams going on with real estate closings.
Clonefan32 said:
Full disclosure-- I am an attorney who does quite a bit of real estate work.

Realtors are experts in assessing the market, determining price and most are very good at understanding the steps taken in a real estate transaction. With that said, I have seen some horribly drafted Purchase Agreements come from realtors. These are legally binding documents regarding the sale of most people's most valuable asset, and the exact words of each and every clause can be subject to interpretation. As a Buyer, I would absolutely have an attorney, at a minimum, look over the Purchase Agreement before you sign it. Realtors are very good at what they do, but at the end of the day they are not attorneys trained in the enforcement and interpretation of contracts.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
wxman1 said:
So what mistakes are they making? From my experience the purchase agreements are more or less forms that they fill in the blanks on for the property with whatever clauses.
Click to expand...

It's usually contingencies that they attempt to build in to a Purchase Agreement. Financing contingencies, subject to sales, inspections, etc. Often times these Agreements are created under time restraints, so these provisions are just handwritten in. I will see stuff like "subject to sale of Buyer's property" written in all the time. Well what's that mean? How long do they have to sell? Can the Seller continue to take Offers? What if they receive another Offer?

I also have seen it mentioned the inherent conflict of interest created by realtors only being paid by commissions. I think it's an absurd system that leads to absurd results. You have people dumping hours of professional time in for which they can only be paid if a deal goes through. I think that is another thing to keep in mind as a Buyer/Seller. A realtor has a vested interest in the deal going through that your attorney does not.

Like I said before, most times it works out just fine, and most people hire either a realtor or an attorney, not both. But for a few hundred bucks on the sale of someone's most substantial asset, if you're asking me it's worth it to have someone look at the document from a strictly legal point of view.
 
  • Agree
  • Informative
Reactions: ruxCYtable and wxman1
wxman1 said:
So what mistakes are they making? From my experience the purchase agreements are more or less forms that they fill in the blanks on for the property with whatever clauses.
Click to expand...

There is a thing called contract bias. What it means is that whomever drafts the contract has language inserted into it which is beneficial to them. Your standard Realtor contract is no exception because there is a significant amount of language that protects them in the event they screw up. There is also language that tends to push things towards arbitration rather than unwinding a deal. Again, something that benefits the realtor first and foremost.

As others have said, the realtor's interests are not necessarily the same as yours. And while the lender shares your interests in regards to making sure there is clear title and valuation, they don't share all of your interests.

Some people who buy a lot of property refuse to use the contracts realtors provide and instead use their own. It stumps many realtors who barely know the law or how handle such a contract.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: wxman1
Full disclosure- I'm also an attorney who handles a lot of real estate work.

I can't see how you do a real estate deal as the buyer without an attorney and/or without the bank requiring you to have one (not just saying this to get business). As a buyer of an expensive property, it is imperative that you ensure that you not only have a sound purchase agreement that protects your interest (most of the time the realtor works for the seller), but also you and/or your bank would always want a title opinion completed by an attorney. This is to (1) ensure you get clear title to the property to avoid any messes down the road when it is much harder to clean up and (2) your bank will typically require a title opinion before they'll even think about lending any money to ensure their mortgage is superior.
 
  • Winner
Reactions: CloneLawman
Schfinkter said:
Full disclosure- I'm also an attorney who handles a lot of real estate work.

I can't see how you do a real estate deal as the buyer without an attorney and/or without the bank requiring you to have one (not just saying this to get business). As a buyer of an expensive property, it is imperative that you ensure that you not only have a sound purchase agreement that protects your interest (most of the time the realtor works for the seller), but also you and/or your bank would always want a title opinion completed by an attorney. This is to (1) ensure you get clear title to the property to avoid any messes down the road when it is much harder to clean up and (2) your bank will typically require a title opinion before they'll even think about lending any money to ensure their mortgage is superior.
Click to expand...
so our agent's broker's office has an attorney on staff that handles all closings, would that be good enough in your opinion?
 
  • Agree
Reactions: wxman1
runbikeswim said:
so our agent's broker's office has an attorney on staff that handles all closings, would that be good enough in your opinion?
Click to expand...

From what I have picked up on this thread every realtor and their company are going to do nothing but drive you to a sale so you can't trust them and must hire your own people to look over everything for you.
 
  • Funny
Reactions: isufbcurt
You must log in or register to reply here.

Help Support Us

Become a patron
Top Bottom
Back