Real Estate Lawyer in Albany
The Lawyer’s Role In A Home Purchase
When a person is purchasing a house the role of a real estate lawyer in Albany is to represent the buyer as well as his interests. Any individual who is considering buying a house should locate a lawyer who specializes in the local area’s real estate and is knowledgeable about local real estate statutes, by-laws and local zoning.
A property lawyer’s first step should be advising the client on the various procedures involved in buying the home. Before deciding on a home you are interested in it is best to meet a real estate lawyer in Albany beforehand.
After you have found a house to purchase the lawyer needs to review the purchase contract prior to you signing it. That is critical. After the contract has been signed, you are completely bound by it. That is why you should first obtain good legal advice.
Assuming that everything is fine with your contract your next step is to obtain financing. The usual method is a mortgage. After you have obtained a mortgage agreement, your lawyer can work with the real estate agent, seller’s lawyer and mortgage loan office in order to complete the purchase. The lawyer will also get in touch with the local council to check on planning approval, building regulations and contact any other parties that are associated with the transaction.
The lawyer also supervises the handling of significant documents such as the mortgage documents, legal property descriptions, title search, the deed and numerous other legal situations that might exist or arise during the course of a home purchase transaction process.
Paying Close Attention To The Detail
Reputable lawyers pay attention to all of the very special details involved with a contract. They may include easements, compliances, local codes and other issues that a lawyer handles that are associated with purchasing the property. The deed should be received by the lawyer prior to settlement so it can be reviewed. Basic things such as names being misspelled or any errors in the property’s legal description might be expensive to correct after the property is settled.
For example, a counted wanted to the sell the 10-acre lot that their house was located on. They planned to subdivide it into two lots. Their plan was to refinance the lot their house was on and sell the vacant lot. At the sale it was discovered that the legal descriptions of the vacant lot and house lot had been mixed up by the lender.
That made it impossible to sell at that late date or refinance it. It the documents had been gone over by a real estate lawyer in Albany before the settlement, a lot of financial heart break most likely could have been avoided.
After all of the documents are checked and agreed up and financing is in place, the transfer of funds and title deeds can be arranged by the lawyer with the seller’s lawyer and mortgage company.
A Modern Issue for Real Estate Buyers
When purchasing a home, an increasingly critical issue is to make sure that the previous usage is checked, particularly in relation to the manufacture and distribution of drugs. There are an increasing number of situations that have become disastrous for homeowners when they find out that the dream house they bought used to belong to someone who used the home as a methamphetamine lab.
Any information regarding methamphetamine contamination should be disclosed by the real estate agent. However, having your lawyer check on this also is a good idea. A lawyer can do a thorough background check and has access to court records regarding the house.
Local laws might require a new owner to have the house decontaminated, and can cost the homeowner thousands of dollars. If a lawyer was retained by the buyer, a background check would have saved the buyer the clean-up costs. If handled prior to settlement, the seller can be required to pay for the cost of decontamination by the buyer.
When purchasing a home there are hundreds of different details that must be attended to, and many of them are legal matters. Just a simple misspelling of something in a legal description can tie up an entire sale, and it can be very expensive to correct later on. The average person will tend to not notice these kinds of things, and that is why they need to retain a lawyer to assist them.