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5 Tips for Choosing the Best Real Estate Attorney

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with HOMESGOFAST

If you’ve decided you need a real estate lawyer to help you with selling or buying a property or you live in a state that requires you to hire one, the next step is to find the best one for your needs. However, you may not even know where to start when it comes to choosing a real estate attorney. These tips will help you hire a qualified, experienced, and capable real estate attorney.

Make Sure They Specialize in Real Estate

This tip may sound obvious, but believe it or not, many people will hire a general attorney to handle real estate affairs, which isn’t the best idea. An ethical attorney will not accept a case that they have no experience with, so if you approach an attorney to represent you in a real estate matter and they say no, accept that answer and ask for a recommendation for an attorney who has experience in real estate. This will ensure you get the best representation possible.

Make Sure They Are Experienced

This is another tip that might seem like common sense, but since real estate transactions involve complex terms and complicated contingencies, you need an attorney that has successfully negotiated hundreds, if not thousands, of real estate transactions. Once they’ve handled this many deals, they’ve seen just about everything and will be able to handle your situation without any issues. Plus, if an unexpected problem arises, you’ll be assured that they have the right resources to take care of the issue as quickly as possible.

Contact Your State Bar Association

You may not even know where to start to find a lawyer who specializes in real estate. A great resource to begin your search is your state bar association. You can obtain a list of attorneys in your area that deal strictly with real estate transactions, which allows you to conduct a deeper search to find the one that can best handle your needs. The bar association will not provide you with any information that can help you determine an attorney’s effectiveness, so you will need to spend more time researching some on the list before choosing one.

Interview the Attorneys on Your Short List

Once you narrow down your attorney choices to three or four, ask for a consultation appointment with each one. Most attorneys will offer a free initial meeting so that you can get to know each other a little bit before entering into a partnership. Take this opportunity to interview the prospective attorneys. They should want to gain your business by answering any questions you have, especially regarding their experience, track record, and specialties.

Go With Your Instinct

After your interviews, you should have an idea of which attorney is going to provide you with the representation you need for your real estate transaction. Your instinct will likely tell you which one you’re going to get along with best and which one you would probably not work well with. Listen to your instinct and hire the attorney you feel is the ideal one for your needs.

Conclusion

Even though not all real estate transactions require a real estate attorney, it’s almost always a good idea to have one available just in case you need them, especially if you’re new to buying or selling real estate property. Take your time in choosing the right one, though, because your success as a buyer or seller could depend on it.

Comments (1)

Kristin Johnston - REALTOR®
RE/MAX Platinum - Waukesha, WI
Giving Back With Each Home Sold!

Great information.  Thanks for sharing and enjoy your weekend!

Dec 10, 2021 07:04 AM