Video Summary
Do you need a lawyer to sell your house? Well, that’s sort of a loaded question whenever you ask a lawyer whether you need a lawyer. The big thing with selling a house is that if you’re doing it on your own, well, you probably really do need to come see a lawyer to get things started because it starts with a contract. The contract is a roadmap to the sale of your property, and the lawyer can prepare that for you and if you’re doing it on your own can explain it to you and the terms of it.
Now, if you have a realtor, realtors are authorized to complete simple contracts. There are several forms out there, some of which have been approved by the Florida Bar and the Florida Realtors Association. And so those are usually completed. So why would you need a lawyer? Well, number one is you probably don’t really know anything other than what’s in the blanks, like the purchase price, the closing date. So show-me-the-money type situation.
Well, there’s a lot more in those contracts and so you’d probably want – you may want to confer with an attorney about the what-ifs. What if they don’t close? Well, what if, you know, they don’t get their mortgage? How much of the deposit will I get if they don’t close? Do I have to move out before closing?
So that is why you may want to confer with an attorney, to have him review the contract to discuss with you what you want to do after the closing, whether or not you should make arrangements to move out and acquire another place to live, whether it’s vacant property, and what your rights are under this particular contract. So whether you need a lawyer or not depends on your circumstances and how comfortable you are with it.
Unfortunately, I see a lot of folks that come to see me after they sign the contract and after they have a huge problem, and then we start reading the provisions of the contract as to what, if any, rights they may have.
So if you have a real estate contract and you’d like for me to review it, give me a call at (727) 847-2288. If you’re selling your own house, we’ll handle the transaction from contract to closing. I’m a title agent and can write the title insurance for you.
And so give us a call at (727) 847-2288.