Excerpt from Owners.com including comments from Rick Davis regarding some of the questions you should ask before hiring an attorney for your FSBO transaction.
Selling your own home puts more of the sale price in your pocket, but you don’t want to scrimp when finding a professional to handle the property transfer. Choosing the right real estate attorney can turn a complex situation into a smooth transaction.
Instead of hiring the person who appears at the top of your real estate attorney internet search, take the time to interview a few attorneys in person and ask them these five questions:
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3. WHAT VALUE DO YOU OFFER?
You can find standard forms online, and attorney Rick Davis, based in Leawood, Kansas, suggests asking what the attorney offers above and beyond what is readily available. “If the attorney is simply filling in blanks on the standard real estate forms, they’re not providing much value to the homeowner, as they could do the same thing or have it done by a title company, assuming there is one,” he says. “The problem with standard forms is they’re written for standard transactions, and for-sale-by-owner sales generally aren’t standard transactions.”
Special situations, such as seller financing or unique terms, aren’t always included. “Irrelevant terms increase the likelihood of ambiguity in the contract, which can result in later issues,” Davis says. “An experienced real estate attorney should have their own forms and language for the unique characteristics of an individual sale. If the sale is routine enough for a standard form, the homeowner likely doesn’t need to hire an attorney for the transaction.”
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To view the remainder of this article regarding questions you should ask before hiring an attorney for your FSBO transaction, please visit https://www.owners.com/advice/5-qestions-to-ask-your-real-estate-attorney/. To learn more about the services I provide to FSBO buyers and sellers, please visit this page on our website.
