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How a real estate attorney can help you

How a lawyer can help ...

Do you need a real estate attorney? Whether you are buying, selling or remodeling residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural or investment property, or are dealing with disputes involving property, neighbors, land use or a landlord-tenant relationship, a good real estate attorney can help you sort through all the issues, plan to minimize your risk and represent your interests.

A real estate attorney can…

  1. Handle your real estate matters. There are two types of real estate attorneys: transactional attorneys (those dealing with contracts, agreements, leases, etc.) and litigation attorneys (those who handle lawsuits). When you look for a real estate lawyer, you will need to find out which of the two types you need. A real estate lawyer can help:
    • Represent your interests in the purchase or sale of real property (residential, commercial, investment, agricultural or industrial).
    • With remodeling or building agreements or to handle disputes respecting timelines, budgets, craftsmanship and materials.
    • With complicated terms in planned unit agreements or other complicated issues in purchase agreements, such as easements or rights of way.
    • Represent your interests when leasing real property, whether it is an apartment to live in, a space in which to operate a business or real estate held for investment.
    • Protect your rights if there is a dispute over a real estate deal, such as non-disclosure of defects or breach of a term of sale.
    • Represent you in a landlord-tenant dispute or advise you on your local landlord-tenant laws, compliance and appropriate rental agreements and eviction policies.
    • Handle dealings with government agencies, regulations and exhausting paperwork.
    • If you are threatened with the loss of your home.
  2. Provide legal coaching. If your real estate matter is relatively simple and you want to work on your own, you may still want to hire an attorney to act as your legal coach. As your advisor, your attorney can help (1) steer you to the most helpful legal resources to help you draft appropriate and legally valid and binding agreements for your particular situation; (2) review agreements you have drafted yourself; (3) advise you on the soundness of your legal position; (4) give you feedback on the laws applicable to your situation; (5) suggest non-litigation strategies for solving problems, such as arbitration or mediation; or (6) represent you if at some point you feel you can no longer go it alone.
  3. Negotiate. If your real estate matter involves negotiations, and negotiating is not your strong suit, get expert legal help to avoid giving away too many rights or agreeing to conditions that are unenforceable.
  4. Make a phone call or draft a lawyer’s letter. Your attorney can handle all communications with the other party, including phone calls. This reduces your exposure to the risks and unpleasantness of dealing with the other party on your own. Likewise, a simple letter from your lawyer on law firm letterhead may be all you need to resolve your dispute. At the very least it puts the other party on notice that you are taking the matter seriously and are represented by a professional.
  5. Represent you in court. If you cannot work out your legal issue informally, it will be necessary to file an action in the proper court within a specified time period (known as the statue of limitations). Because much of real estate law (i.e., adverse possession, mechanics liens, and condemnation) is complicated and technical, you require expert legal help.