In keeping with the theme of picking your real estate team let's talk about how you go about finding an attorney. To start with it's helpful to understand why you need an attorney in the first place and what exactly a real estate attorney does. Fisrt of all you should take a help of law firm Kanata .
Whether you are a buyer or a seller you need an attorney to represent you in the transaction in order to take care of the following matters:
- Review the sales contract and disclosures and propose modifications as necessary
- Provide official notice of issues covered under contract contingencies - e.g. inspection, attorney review, mortgage
- Deal with the attorney on the other side without getting outwitted
- Negotiate with the seller's lender in a short sale (seller's attorney)
- Ensure that all pre-closing steps are completed and documents prepared - e.g. condominium documents, water certificates, title checks, surveys, zoning and flood certificates
- Review your mortgage documents (not all attorneys do this)
- Help prepare the closing statement (HUD-1). This includes figuring out the allocation of taxes and ensuring that all bills are appropriately paid.
- Keep an eye on the fees being charged by various players - e.g. title companies - and get them removed or reduced
- Explain to you at closing what the documents you are signing mean
- Take care of recording of deed, mortgage, and releases