In most of New Jersey and in many other states, attorneys handle many parts of the transaction. They fine tune the contract to both parties satisfaction, handle ordering title, title insurance, they also write the deed and file it with the county as well as reporting everything to the IRS. There are many other things that they're involved in during the transaction, too numerous to list here.
In fact, the first page of the Standard Real Estate Contract in New Jersey is
Opinion 26 which outlines and official opinion delivered by the NJ State Supreme Court, explaining some of the risks of working without an attorney. This page must be signed by both the buyer, the seller and the buyer's agent.This is the conversation we had with a buyer recently.
Buyer:
Do you really think I need an attorney? Everything that I've read says that the buyer in a short sale doesn't need an attorney. It only says to get one if the &%*# hits the fan. How difficult would this be to just do it myself? The truth is I really like these kind of things and want to have control over how fast things move. Let me know your thoughts.
TZ's reply:
Get an attorney! DO NOT try to do this yourself. The only person who shouldn't hire an attorney for a real estate deal is a real estate attorney, who knows how to handle everything. And ONLY if it's a very simple, conventional type of sale.
You're putting yourself and your future home in great risk by not covering all your legal bases. We ALWAYS recommend that our buyers and sellers use an attorney. We recently sold a home owned by two attorneys and they hired a real estate attorney to handle the transaction (they also hired one when we sold them the home 3 years ago.)
You're putting yourself and your future home in great risk by not covering all your legal bases. We ALWAYS recommend that our buyers and sellers use an attorney. We recently sold a home owned by two attorneys and they hired a real estate attorney to handle the transaction (they also hired one when we sold them the home 3 years ago.)
Even though we understand the documents and actions in a real estate transaction, we can NOT offer you legal advice. Why? Simple, we're not lawyers. This is probably the largest and most important purchase you will make in your entire life. That's why we think it's worth the small fee you'll pay to a real estate attorney to get the expert advice you may need.
We do NOT recommend that you do this on your own. In fact, we think that you'd be doing yourself a disservice.
Those are our thoughts.
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