Real Estate
Now more than ever, having a competent real estate lawyer representing you is essential. Just look at some of the problems you will see in the headlines:
- Lenders not funding loans
- Builders filing bankruptcy
- Foreclosures on the rise
Why would you want to go into the largest financial transaction of your lifetime without having an attorney looking out for you?
I have completed thousands of real estate closings. There are not too many things I haven't seen before. My approach helps prevent problems before they have a chance to screw up your transaction.
Mark The Lawyer's Approach-
Buying or selling a home can be a very stressful process. Educating the client is key. The more you know about the process of buying or selling the less stress and fewer problems you will have.
Most people will talk to an attorney only after they have signed a contract to buy or sell a home. I believe that meeting with a client before they buy or sell leads to smoother, more "head-ache free" transactions. At no additional charge, I offer a free 30 minute planning meeting about your sale and/or purchase.
By investing 30 minutes with me, I will help you be a more knowledgeable and more powerful home buyer or seller. As an additional bonus, you will receive as part of your free consultation, my exclusive real estate reports:
- Terrible Trends in Mortgage Lending and How to Avoid Being Taken to the Cleaners!
- Things You Need to Know About Special Service Areas or SSA's
- Discover 6 Areas You Must Know About Buying or Selling Vacant Land
- 6 Ways Not To Let Your Real Estate Transaction Fall Apart
Buyer Services By Mark The Lawyer-
Hiring a lawyer is one thing, but knowing what services they provide is another. Not every lawyer provides the same type or same quality of services! Upon hiring me, we will send you our exclusive Buyer's Information Package. This package is designed to give you information your can use and an overview of the buying process. Also, included, are these services:
- Contract Review and Changes- I look carefully at the entire contract. Typical areas I look to modify involve:
- Personal Property
- Tax Prorations
- Home Owner's Association Documentation
- Mortgage Contingency & Deadlines
- Appraisal Contingency
- Flood Insurance
- Seller Representations
- Notification Requirements under the contract
- Home Sale Contingency Notification Requirements
- Home Sale Contingency Right to Continue to Market
- Well and Septic Inspections
- Closing Cost Credits
- Dates of Offer/Acceptance
2. Home Inspection Issues- The results of a home inspection
and/or radon test will often decide whether you buy the home or not. Most Buyer's do not know what legal obligations both the Buyer and Seller have under the contract. When I explain to them what they agreed to when they signed the contract, they are often shocked.
Upon receipt of the home inspection and/or radon test results, I will discuss with you what areas we would like the Seller to address. Deadlines are important. It is absolutely critical that not only the home inspection is completed as required in the contract, but that proper notification has been given to the Seller.
I will send the required notice to the Seller and wait for a response. In Illinois, the negotiation of most of the home inspection issues has fallen to the respective attorneys. This can take a significant amount of time going back and forth until agreement is reached. With most transactions, the Parties will reach agreement and the transaction will continue to move towards closing. If they can't reach agreement, usually a cancellation agreement is signed and the Buyer will get their earnest money back.
3. Monitor All Contingency Deadlines- Most contracts will have one or more contingency deadlines that must be monitored. Examples include: attorney approval, home inspection, radon inspection, mortgage approval, and home sale contingencies. If the requirements are not met under these contingencies, the Buyer could end up in breach of contract resulting in lost earnest money and a lawsuit for damages.
My office carefully monitors these deadlines. We have a double backup calendaring system so that we do not miss any deadline. It is equally important that the Buyer understand these deadlines and know what they should be doing to meet all the requirements under the contract.
4. Review of Mortgage Approval- Your contract will likely have a contingency for you to obtain approval for your loan (commonly known as a mortgage or finance contingency). I am amazed how many loan officers will not give this deadline the respect it deserves. If the deadline isn't met, the deal could fall apart. Buyers will mistakenly believe that they are either "approved" or "not approved" for the loan. The reality of it is that most approvals are "conditional" in nature. In other words, you must meet certain conditions or else the lender does not have to close the loan.
Prior to "waiving" this contingency, I obtain and review your mortgage approval. If there are unusual conditions, I will discuss them with you and take the appropriate action.
A Word Of Caution: Do not get to excited about being "pre-approved". Most "pre-approvals" have more holes in them than swiss cheese. Read the conditions on the pre-approval. Are you willing to risk your earnest money and a possible lawsuit if you can't satisfy one of the lender's conditions?
5. Scheduling of Closing- Scheduling a closing is not as easy as you may think. In order to schedule a closing, you need: a Buyer, a Seller, 2 Attorneys, a Lender and a Title Company all agree on the same date, same time and same location. If one of those 6 parties cannot do it then, you re-shuffle the deck and start over.
My staff has to spend a lot of time scheduling and un-scheduling closings. Scheduling a closing can have a big impact on you. Time off of work, mover's and deliveries can all be affected by the closing time and location. We will try our best to schedule at a time and location that is convenient for you.
6. Attendance At Closing- I am with you every step of the way until you walk out of the closing with keys in hand. The closing itself will take on average, about 1 1/2 hours. During the closing I will be reviewing with you:
- Review and clearing of title
- Explaining the advantages and disadvantages of how you can hold title to the real estate
- Reconciling all financial aspects of the transaction so that you are not paying one penny more than you should
- Resolving any possession, home inspection or property condition issues
- Reviewing and explaining the ramifications of all the lender documents
A Big Word Of Caution: If you are told by your real estate agent, lender or builder's representative that you don't need a lawyer to buy (or sell) real estate they are doing you a huge disservice. This should raise a major red flag! It should tell you that they are looking out for their best interest, not yours. All of those individuals cannot give you legal advice. If they do, they are committing the unauthorized practice of law.
Seller Services By Mark The Lawyer-
The things needed to sell a house often seem invisible to the Seller. They show up at closing, sign some papers and wait for a check. Seems simple. Not so. Not every lawyer provides the same service or same quality of service!
The system I have developed to process the sale of your home is designed to minimize your stress level and allow you to start packing with peace of mind that all details are being handled.
Upon hiring me, we will send you our exclusive "Seller's Information Package" which will give you an overview of the selling process. It will also give you the specific information that we need from you in order to meet all requirements under the contract. Also included are these services:
1. Contract Review and Changes- I look carefully at all aspects of the contract. When representing a seller typical modifications will involve:
- Personal Property
- Earnest Money
- Closing Date
- Possession Date
- Tax prorations
- Mortgage Contingency
- Seller Representations
- Sale of Buyer's Home
- Date of Offer/Acceptance
As an additional service, I will gladly review any listing agreement you have with a real estate company.
2. Home Inspection Issues- I will review with you all requests made upon you by the Buyer. I can make recommendations and point out areas that are legitimate issues and tell you the areas that fall outside the intent of home inspections.
After you decide how you want to proceed, I will do a detailed letter to the Buyer's attorney stating specifically what you are or are not willing to do.
A Word Of Caution: I deal with many, many attorneys. I see too many Seller's attorneys taking my home inspection letter, writing "yes", "no" or crossing out things, faxing it back and consider that a proper response. I do not do that. The more detailed information you can provide a buyer about what you are willing to do and why you are responding the way you are, the more likely they will be happy with your response. With me, they will be given a detailed response to all home inspection and contract modification requests. Copies of any of my letters will also be sent to both real estate agents to help expedite communication.
3. Seller Requirements- Your contract with the Buyer requires many things to be delivered to them at or before closing. My office will handle those requirements. Typically, we will have to:
- Order Title Examination
- Review Title Search Package and Have Commitment Prepared
- Order Survey
- Obtain home owner's association letter of clearance
- Obtain certificate of insurance
- Clear All Outstanding Title Exceptions
- Obtain Payoff Statements on Mortgages
- Provide a Title Commitment to Buyer's Lender
- Obtain a well and/or septic evaluation
- Obtaining any local transfer tax requirements
- Obtaining any required final water/sewer bills
- Certificate of Occupancy Requirements
- Zoning Certificate Requirements
4. Document Preparation- In order to sell a piece of real estate, many documents are required to be prepared and signed by Sellers. We will be preparing:
- Warranty Deed (or other type of deed)
- Bill of Sale for personal property items
- Affidavit of Title
- ALTA Statement
- Closing Statement detailing all costs of sale
- State Transfer Tax Declaration
- County or Local Transfer Tax Declaration
5. Scheduling of Closing- We will coordinate a closing time and location mutually agreeable to all Parties. As an additional free service, you do not have to attend the closing unless you want to. If you do not wish to attend, we will meet with you to pre-sign all necessary documentation and to review how much money you are going to receive at closing.
6. Attendance At Closing- I will be attending your closing and:
- Deliver all required documentation to Buyer
- Deliver all necessary documentation to Title Company
- Reconcile all financial aspects of your sale and make sure you are not paying one penny more than you should
- Handing you your check when it is all done
Cost Factor-
Hiring me to represent you in the purchase or sale of your home in my opinion is a no-brainer. It is a bargain!!! Besides the services I outline above you get:
- Free Planning Meeting
- An Attorney with extensive experience
- Free Real Estate Reports
- Educational process of buying and selling
- More services than most attorneys can tell you about
All of this is available at a reasonable, pre-determined flat fee. You won't have to worry about hourly billing or over-billing. I have seen many attorneys charge much more than me and deliver far less in services. I have often showed clients ways to save more money in the purchase or sale of real estate than it cost them to hire me!
The cost of hiring a quality real estate attorney should never be a barrier in the purchase or sale of real estate. When compared to other services you are paying for when buying or selling, you will get value and more "bang for your buck".
A Word Of Caution: Be wary of "low cost" attorneys. In the end, you won't be saving anything and you will get what you pay for.