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| Secure your interests with professional Real Estate advice and representation |
REAL ESTATE
WHY DO I NEED A REAL ESTATE LAWYER?
Real estate transactions can be a complicated thicket of forms, provisions, title documents and conditions to be met. While a real estate agent can be helpful to the buyer, the agent's loyalty is first and foremost to the seller who retained them to sell their property at the best price and under terms most favorable to them. Occasionally, agents will represent both parties and refer to themselves as dual agents. In such cases, they are bound to look after the interests of both the buyer and the seller, difficult as that often is.
PURCHASE AGREEMENTS
Agents most frequently use the Minnesota Association of Realtors purchase agreement form. This is a ten to twelve page document, including several addendums, that contains a variety of terms and conditions with which the buyer is asked to agree; some of the terms are negotiable and some are not. Many of the provisions contain blanks to be filled in by the parties; practically speaking, however, they are most often completed by the real estate agent on behalf of the seller. The buyer may make changes in any provision in the agreement, including the filled-in blanks. Such changes may or may not become a point of contention with the seller.
In addition to the agreement itself and addendums, several disclosure statements of the seller are appended to the document that both parties are asked to sign. Because of the complexity of the purchase agreement and addendums and disclosure statements, it is beneficial to have the advice of an experienced real estate attorney to guide buyers through the process.
TITLE WORK
Another aspect of purchasing real property is the title work. Title to real property is recorded as either abstract property or torrens (registered) property. Abstract property is the usual way of reflecting the title and provides a history of transactions affecting title to the property summarized in a bound document referred to as an abstract. This document is updated every time a sale of property occurs and the updated abstract is reviewed either by an attorney for the buyer or by a title company to determine the validity of the title. The torrens or registration process is another way of ascertaining the title. Rather than the entire history of title transactions being reflected in the abstract document, in the torrens process only those transactions arising since the time a court formally registered the title are reflected. This is stated in a registered property abstract which is updated and reviewed either by an attorney for the buyer or by a title company.
If an attorney reviews the title to property, he or she will provide a title opinion that can be relied upon by the client. If a title company does the title work, it will provide title insurance to the client. Where a bank or other financing institution is providing some of the financing for the purchase, a title company will be involved who will provide title insurance to the financing institution and will offer it to the buyer for an additional fee. It is seldom necessary to have both an attorney and a title company do the title work, although there are instances where title disputes arise that might warrant obtaining an independent title opinion from an attorney as well as title insurance.
OTHER ISSUES
In addition to reviewing the purchase agreement, it is often beneficial to seek the help of a real estate attorney throughout the process- from purchase agreement signing to closing- where issues arise with which the buyer feels uncomfortable or would simply prefer the help of a skilled negotiator.
Miscellaneous issues may also arise from time to time involving real property that merit the help of an experienced real estate attorney. For example, there may be problems relating to easements, rights of way, encroachments, trespass, prescription (adverse possession), breach of purchase agreements or disclosures, etc.
Contact Bill to learn more.
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