The services of a real estate lawyer when buying or selling a property are of utmost importance. Real estate is a big investment with a lot of money involved. It’s, therefore, crucial to have your legal help ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible.

Although a lot of you might think of a real estate transaction like any other, there’s a huge degree of risk involved, such as title fraud, loopholes in buying and selling agreements, claims and liens against property, prior unpaid property taxes, and more. It’s therefore important to hire a real estate lawyer when buying or selling a real estate property.

The process of buying or selling a property can be complex. There’s a huge list of things that need to be done to ensure you have the legal right over your new property. Here’s a list of things a real estate lawyer can do for you when buying or selling your property.

Buying Real Estate Property

Review Agreement of Purchase

A real estate lawyer will help review your agreement of purchase and other legal documents. It’s important to ensure that the purchase agreement is solid to avoid any legal trouble in the future. Your lawyer can go over your agreement of purchase point by point to make sure you know what’s in it before you sign it. Don’t sign anything until your lawyer has reviewed it.

Ensure the Property is Claims and Liens Free

Buying a property that has claims and liens against it can lead to lawsuits and financial loss later. A real estate lawyer will always check your property for claims and liens to ensure it’s safe to buy. Although having no liens is the safest, some liens are harmless. It’s therefore important to have legal help to guide you through the process.

Arrange for Title Insurance

Buying title insurance is very important for your property. Following are some of the risks title insurance protects you from

• Title defects
• Frauds
• Encroachments
• Zoning non-compliance
• People other than the homeowner having an interest

As there are different types of title insurances, it’s better to let your real estate lawyer arrange the right insurance for your property.

Ensure Property Taxes are Up-to-Date

Your real estate owner can also help check if the property’s taxes are up-to-date. Make sure the prior homeowner has already paid all the prior taxes before buying the property. Failing to do so might lead you to pay unpaid taxes.

Calculate Property Transfer Tax

Every buyer has to pay a property transfer tax when buying real estate. Your real estate lawyer will help you calculate the taxes and make sure they’re paid on time.

Draw Up Mortgage Documents

Your real estate lawyer can help you draw up your mortgage documents. They can also suggest you the right mortgage loans for you and help you with the process.

Close the Transaction

Once the agreements are signed, and the property’s title has been transferred, it’s time to close the transaction. Your lawyer will first check if all the legal and financial obligations have been met. Once that’s done, your lawyer will exchange the legal documents and keys from the seller or their lawyer.

Selling Real Estate Property

Review Agreement of Sale

Just like when buying property, it’s important to review the agreement of sale and all the other legal documentation when selling a property. The real estate lawyer will make sure that you’ve already disclosed all that you’re legally bound to disclose about the property to ensure there isn’t any legal action in the future.

Negotiate Terms of Sale

As real estate lawyers have closed a lot of real estate deals in the past, they have the experience and skills to negotiate the right terms and conditions for the sale. Trust your real estate lawyers to negotiate your deals for you. They might even help you get better prices for your properties.

Prepare Deed to Your Property

A property deed is a legal document that ensures the transfer of a real estate property from a seller to a buyer. Your lawyer can help prepare the deed and ensure all the other legalities have been well taken care of.

Deal with Title Issues

Various title issues may arise when selling your property. Real estate lawyers are experienced in handling these. They know the ways to deal with the issues and can quickly work on getting these problems resolved to ensure a smooth selling process.

Close the Transaction

Once all the legal and financial obligations have been taken care of, your real estate owner will help you seal the deal. They’ll exchange the legal papers and keys of the property with the buyer or the legal representation of the buyer, closing the transaction.

Conclusion

Although buying or selling a property may seem easy, it’s way more complicated than what’s mentioned above. Your lawyer will have to run various checks, take care of hundred of legalities, and review tons of documents before finally closing the deal.

Doing this yourself might be possible, but it has a lot of financial and legal risks, which can be bigger than the legal fee you’re trying to save. It’s always best to have legal help when involved in such a huge transaction.

About the Author

The author is a real estate lawyer associated with Nanda and Associate Lawyers Professional Corporation. He’s well versed in the legal process involved in buying and selling property in Canada. He works with a huge team of personal injury lawyers, divorce lawyers, and civil litigation lawyers, all of whom are very impressed with his work ethic and skills in handling real estate cases.

For any legal trouble, book a free consultation with Nanda and Associate Lawyers Professional Corporation.