Posted on July 30, 2020 by Rudyard
Last updated: Jul 30, 2020 04:31

Real Estate Lawyer vs. Real Estate Agents – Understanding the Difference

When selling or buying a property, you might be torn in between hiring a real estate lawyer or a real estate agent. If you approach a real estate agent and ask them for advice, they’ll say that hiring an agent is better than hiring an attorney. When you consult a real estate attorney, you’ll still get the same kind of advice – an attorney is better than an agent.

However, it’s important to understand that every profession has its supporters. But, the best solution is not one of them, but hiring both of them. This is a bit confusing, right?

Not, if you want to buy or sell a property, you’ll need a real estate agent to connect you with your prospective seller or buyer. In this case, the buyer is the one who pays for the agent’s fees. Now, this brings another question—why do you still need to hire a real estate lawyer?

As a buyer or a seller, you will need legal advice and protection – and you can only get this from an experienced real estate lawyer.

Hiring a real estate agent vs. a real estate lawyer

Some real estate lawyers will advise you to let go of your real estate agent since they can offer both services. However, this has one big challenge—only a few attorneys have professional experience when it comes to real estate transactions. This is something they don’t do regularly.

Although experienced in real estate business, a real estate attorney might not know certain neighborhoods, or even conduct a comparative real estate market analysis. Besides, it can be a challenge for an attorney to know how to identify areas that need repairs, negotiate for these repairs, or handle any other task that an experienced real estate agent can perform.

Real estate agents, on the other hand, don’t have the license to give buyers or sellers legal advice. That means, they can’t answer your legal questions. Even if they know the answer, the agent will be breaking the law when doing that. A real estate agent risks losing their license if they try to practice law.

So, why do you need to hire a real estate agent?

A seasoned real estate agent will not have a challenge in finding potential buyers or sellers. Moreover, they have experience in determining the market price of properties similar to yours. Although hiring a reputable real estate agent can be costly, hiring one will be worth the cost. Here are the top reasons why you will need a real estate agent.

Experience and knowledge

Real estate agents are experienced in the property buying or selling processes, in addition to the paperwork involved. A good real estate agent should be able to guide you throughout the entire process, thus making everything stress-free.

Knowledge of the locality

Experienced real estate agents have an in-depth knowledge of the local real estate market. That means they have the much-needed information about the market, as well as the sellers or buyers in the market. They can analyze this information, and give it to you for your final decision making.

Give information about the prevailing market conditions

Real estate agents have a better understanding of the prevailing real estate market conditions. So, if you hire a real estate agent when selling or buying property, they will analyze these conditions, and then advise you on how you should proceed to get the best deal.

Price guidance

Reputable real estate agents will assist you to successfully buy a property at the right prices, as well as sell for the best price. By analyzing the market conditions, an agent will guide you to personally make the best choice—and they will not pressure you to accept a deal that you are not comfortable with.

Professional networks

Real estate agents rely on networking to succeed. So, a professional agent shouldn’t have an issue with giving you references, like accountants and lawyers, with whom they’ve worked with before.

Assist in negotiating

Real estate agents are well known for their exceptional negotiation skills. Thus, hiring one will ensure that you get the best possible deal.

Assist with the paperwork

All real estate transactions have tons of paperwork. This includes complicated contract documents, offers, requests, state- and federal-mandated disclosures, as well as many counteroffers. A reputable real estate agent handles the paperwork during your transaction, thus making the process easier for you.

The responsibilities of a real estate attorney

An experienced real estate attorney can perform all the above responsibilities, in addition to the following:

Answering your questions

Real estate transactions have a lot of complex legal documents, and you will need to read and understand them before closing the deal. A real estate attorney is in a good position to explain the technical language and legal terms used in real estate transactions. Moreover, the lawyer will review all the documents involved, and correct any unclear language before signing the documents. These reduce the chances of possible complications once you close the deal.

Giving legal advice

Yes, you might have hired a real estate lawyer for a certain real estate transaction. However, your lawyer will also give the necessary legal advice in case a legal issue arises in the course of your transaction.

Explain your different options

The decisions that you make when selling or buying a property can make you lose a lot of money. At times, you will get lots of offers from different buyers or sellers—and you will have a challenge in determining which is best for you. In this case, your attorney can review the different offers to check which offer is best for your situation.

Protect you when closing the deal

As a buyer or seller, you may want to go all the way to closing your deal without seeking the services of a real estate attorney. Then, you will only need their services to review the closing documents before you sign them.

This is very important because your attorney can easily identify any possible problems with your paperwork. Moreover, the attorney will ensure these issues are solved amicably before the deal is closed.

Taking over from your real estate agent

Real estate lawyer, Michele Diglio-Benkiran says that most of the real estate transactions start with enlisting the assistance of a real estate agent. A real estate attorney is, however, brought in when a legal problem arises during the transaction. As we said earlier, a real estate agent risks losing their license if they try practicing law in the course of any transaction. Such kind of limitations makes a real estate attorney the better person to protect your interests when buying or selling a property.

Bottom Line

Whether you opt to hire a real estate lawyer, a real estate agent, or both, don’t forget that you should be in charge of the entire process. These parties are there just to offer their assistance and expertise, not to make decisions on your behalf. Therefore, you should ensure that you communicate all your desires and needs and get all agreements put down in paper. Moreover, you shouldn’t forget to interview your lawyer or real estate agent.

Remember, these people will be representing your interests when selling or buying a property. Failing to do the due diligence can land you in lots of trouble. Therefore, you will need to consider their knowledge, network, and experience before hiring them.

Posted on November 27, 2019 by realtyWW
Last updated: Nov 27, 2019 15:20

Everything related to burglary and its repercussions on the guilty

When someone enters another’s house or property without consent with criminal intention, it qualifies as a case of burglary or aggravated burglary in Dayton, Ohio. Accused may have to spend a few years behind bars for the first-time offense. Plus, he or she has to face many challenges after this for his or her entire life. That’s why it becomes essential to protect yourself from such criminal charges and mitigate the risks that can affect the quality of your life. For that, you, however, need to get released from prison on bail. Once you post it, you can come out of jail and prepare your defense.

If you cannot arrange the bail amount, then consider getting in touch with Castle Bail Bonds – Dayton for assistance. They can guide you in these matters.

An overview of burglary charges and penalties

Many burglary cases don’t conclude. However, the punishment can be severe if the crime has been proved. An act of entering a house or a living unit to steal or commit some other offense is burglary. The charges could be severe if an accused possessed a weapon or there was someone at home. As per Ohio law, nobody can enter an occupied structure either by force, secretly, or deception. Trespassing with criminal intentions is punishable when another person is also there or expected to be there in the house.

It becomes a second-degree felony offense, which can incur a jail sentence of 2 to 8 years and up to $15,000 fine.

An incident of trespassing includes entering or staying on another’s property without any right. Occupied structures refer to both permanent and temporary homes for people. Plus, it can also be an aircraft, truck, car, railroad, trailer, tent, or shelter that serves as a habitat, dwelling, or overnight accommodation for people present there. However, at the time of trespassing, even if there are no people, the term occupied structure can still be relevant to use.

A quick overview of aggravated burglary

The first-degree felony charges form an aggravated burglary crime. It is the most acute type of property crime. In such cases, one must prove that a crime had occurred in an occupied structure when there was another person. If the suspect causes or threatens to cause physical harm to the other person, or possesses a weapon or deadly firearms, then it is an aggravated form of burglary.

When charged with any such criminal offense, you can defend yourself by proving that you had the proper permission to enter the property or that you were not present at the place where the crime took place. There can be many other ways also. Since getting convicted for a burglary crime can ruin your whole life, you must fight for your innocence. However, before that, you would need to release yourself from jail on bail. In these cases, the bail amount tends to be expensive. Hence, payment can be a problem. But you can solve this issue by hiring a bail bond agent in Dayton.

Posted on July 31, 2019 by realtyWW
Last updated: Jul 31, 2019 08:07

Why people need the service of a professional lawyer?

In today’s world, it doesn’t matter in which type of cases you are involved in if you are hiring a professional person to handle all the legal matters, and then it helps you to come out of all the problems or live respectfully in society. When you are hiring professionals and experienced person to handle your case, then chances of winning increases and prove all the things right for you.

He is only the one person who understands you and promises to help you. On that person, you can quickly build your trust. We suggest you hire a professional and experienced person in all cases. We are going to tell you about some of the reason why people need to hire professional lawyers? Continue reading →

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Evans Walsh
Last updated: Feb 26, 2019 18:21

How to select the right estate attorney for your estate planning requirements?

If you are dealing in real estate, it is ideal that you have a plan for it! There are a few vital things that you need to clear out right at the start and to get hold of an estate planning attorney is what you need to do before anything else. Continue reading →

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Rudyard
Last updated: Oct 22, 2018 05:23

14 Things you need to know before Renting Your First Apartment

Not making a mistake when choosing a new house is sometimes difficult. Because experienced owners know how to present their properties in such a way that even the ugliest houses start to look like mansions.

If you can’t afford Continue reading →

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Russell Crowe
Last updated: Jul 27, 2018 13:05

5 Reasons Why Real Estate Litigation Occur

Real Estate has become a large business that comprises many laws to follow. It deals with broad issues like boundary disputes, ownership and transaction disagreements, purchasing, selling properties and lot more is included.

Typically it focuses on buying and selling, also the arguments between proprietors and residents. Because of which sometimes, a civil lawsuit takes place between the two parties. This lawsuit is called litigation.

Most of the times, the conflict is settled through the steps like pleading, discovery trials, appeal, and negotiation. However, if not from these, the case goes for the trial and seek the help of Continue reading →

Posted on May 24, 2018 by realtyWW
Last updated: May 24, 2018 13:06

RealtyWW Info and GDPR compliance

With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance deadline fast approaching, we wanted to provide you an update so you can rest assured that we are prepared for May 25th, 2018. It’s the beginning of a new era of transparency and we’ve got you covered.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union and the European Economic Area. It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU and EEA. The GDPR aims primarily to give control to citizens and residents over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU. (https://en.wikipedia.org)

What is RealtyWW Info doing to become GDPR compliant?

Added information to our Privacy Policy about the types of data that we collect, the ways in which we use it, and the measures we take to keep your data safe;
Extended the uses account area so now all our users could see, change or delete any part of user data stored by RealtyWW Info;
From now all users that use our site should accept Privacy Policy and Terms of Use by clicking “Agree” button;
Added the ability to delete user account with all related stored data;
Added the ability for users to obtain their personal data by downloading it;
In addition, we’ve taken steps internally to ensure that all data sent to RealtyWW Info is stored securely. These steps include auditing the software we use for security vulnerabilities, ensuring we’re using up-to-date versions, improving network security in out datacenter, and ensuring we maintain and follow security best practices internally to ensure that we prevent unauthorized access to our servers.

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Heather Franko
Last updated: Mar 14, 2018 18:37

Landlords and Personal Injuries of Tenants

Owning investment real estate can be a great way for anyone to earn cash flow and build long-term personal wealth. While real estate can be a great and passive source of income, there is some work and risk that is involved with it. One of the risks that all landlords take on is the risk that their tenants or guests of the tenants will be injured while they are in the landlord’s property.

When it comes to tenant injuries, many people are confused about what the liability of the landlord is. While this can be a murky area that is hard to understand, a landlord can be found to be at fault and liable in these situations. While there is a chance that a landlord can be found to be at fault, there are many things that they can do to protect themselves and make sure they are properly covered. Continue reading →

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Heather Franko
Last updated: Mar 2, 2018 17:19

Personal Injury Claims? Does My Homeowner’s Insurance Cover That?

In most cases the homeowner’s insurance policy will cover personal injury. But not everything is covered by homeowner’s insurance and there will be situations with exclusions.

Scenario #1
Chad has some friends over for some fun. One of his friends brings another friend, who gets hurt on his property. He then files a claim. The liability provision kicks in because this is considered a Continue reading →

Posted on November 26, 2016 by Carla Bruni
Last updated: Nov 26, 2016 09:51

Reasons And Importance Of Having A Title Insurance

License: Image author owned

Insurance gives protection and the house that protects you should also be protected likewise. Your house may have changed many hands over the past years, irrespective of the fact that it is new or old. To ensure that the documents were not mishandled in any way you must check the insurance of the title to save all troubles. You may know some of the common problems that are associated with the title of a property like having errors in the record entry in the registers, boundary issues generated from improper surveys, undiscovered will and missing heirs but the problems are not limited only to these. Continue reading →

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