Buyer Tips | Know Your Rights - Select Your OWN Attorney
I’d be willing to bet there are 250 real estate attorneys here in town! Ask 250 agents who their preferred real estate attorney is and you’ll likely get at least 200 different answers!
From the onset of agents handling short sales in our area, there are consistently, the handful who INSIST that the buyers use the seller’s attorney. I’m not going to debate the RESPA issues with that but, I am going to share what recently happened to a client of mine who was purchasing a luxury short sale.
After much ado about my buyers selecting their own attorney, we finally ignored the tenacious agent’s demands that we "ARE REQUIRED TO use the seller's attorney" and pursued our clients’ choice of Closing attorneys. Upon final approval of both the first and second liens on the property, the Buyers’ attorney performed the Title search, only to discover that there was a THIRD lien on the home that was completely overlooked by the Seller’s attorney.
Delay after delay had been endured by these buyers but, during the conversations of the discovery of that third lien, the listing agent found that the SELLER was aware of this and assumed that this lien had been discovered by his attorney!
As it happened, we were able to get the lovely home Closed but, what a close call! Had our buyers used the seller’s attorney, they would have inherited quite a substantial lien on the property. When would they have discovered this?
- Possibly weeks or months after Closing with someone knocking on the door, letting the buyer/homeowner know that the home is now in foreclosure.
- Could have been a year or two down the road when the buyer/homeowner were refinancing.
- Or, it could have been when they decided to sell their home.
Imagine the shock and horror of finding out that you used someone else’s attorney who made a CRITICAL oversight when buying your home - regardless of the price you’re paying - that YOU are now responsible for. You cannot sell this property until this lien is satisfied!
It pays DIVIDENDS to hire your OWN attorney for the job (or Title Company, depending upon the state that the property is in)!
© Debe Maxwell | The Maxwell House Group | SavvyBroker@me.com | Buyer Tips | Know Your Rights - Select Your OWN Attorney
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