Be naive, don't hire a real estate attorney

A real estate player and a naive home buyer

They might tell you that “you don’t need a real estate attorney”.  They might tell you that “its a waste of money” to hire a real estate attorney because the home buying process uses standardized forms.   They might tell you that its not the practice to hire a real estate attorney in your town, city, area or state.  They might tell you that most people do not hire a real estate attorney.

One or more of the following parties may have a vested interested (they eat from the same trough) in a home buyer, buying a home, any home:

1. The home builder
2. The seller’s real estate agent
3. The buyer’s real estate agent
4. The home seller
5. The buyer’s real estate agent
6. The real estate broker
7. The lender
8. The mortgage broker
9. The home inspector
10. The home insurance business
11. The title company
12. The local home maintenance businesses

A wolf is necessary to keep the fox on the straight and narrow.  A detail oriented real estate attorney is the best deterrence to gray area practices and to represent a home buyer’s best interests.  If the real estate attorney happens to be from the same city in which the home is located and is knowledgeable about the current real estate conditions, even better.  A real estate attorney may explain to the client:

1. Why a quitclaim deed is inferior to the warranty deed
2. If you live in a recourse or an anti-deficiency/non-recourse state
3. The differences between the two party mortgage and the three party deed of trust
4. Whether your state uses mortgage or deed of trust mechanism.
5. The differences between a judicial and non-judicial foreclosure
6. Anti-deficiency clauses, if any, for your state.
7. Why it is disadvantageous for home buyers to use a “standard” Home Purchase Agreement Form

The lender knows the answers to the above issues and the borrower should too.  What could happen if you don’t hire a real estate attorney to face the real estate cartel?    As an example, read about Bonita Bay Group and Bonita Bay Residents-An Issue.  What do you think?  Hiring a real estate attorney is worth the few hundred dollars or not?

A fool and his money are soon parted-Thomas Tusser