Poll- When you closed on your house, was a lawyer present to represent YOU! (not lender, or seller, YOU)

[dxkj]

Just curious...

Realtor says dont need one

Friends say do need one (but they are from Illinois)

Fatherin-law says DONT need one (and he has bought a house in WI)

etc... Really confused at this point

 

[iamwiz82]

Lola's uncle was our attorney, but I wouldn't have paid for one. This was in Michigan.

 

[anno]

I voted yes, but not wisconsin.. but.. now I'm not sure. it was our lawyer! but I don't think there were any other lawyers there.. I know there wasn't anyone there specifically representing the lender.. I'm not sure about the seller.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I'm in MN, and as far as I know I'll be the only attorney present at my closing (it's in about a month).

 

[K1052]

Yes, but I could not be at the closing so I had little choice.

 

[dxkj]

Yeah Im confused right now I would just say go ahead and get one, but now my father in law says there is no need... im going to call a lawyer in WI and ask them

 

[nakedfrog]

Why would there need to be a lawyer present at closing? I could see a lawyer's involvement up until then, but I would hope everything had been sorted out by closing.

 

[Jzero]

If you have an agent representing you under contract, you can probably forgo a lawyer. On the other hand, it will only cost you a couple hundred bucks to get someone to stand in, which is peanuts considering all the other costs. If you do not have an agent under contract, I would bring a lawyer just in case. If nothing else it says "Don't mess around with me."

 

[Kelemvor]

Lawyer? No. Realtor, Yes.

Your Realtor is representing you if he's acting as a Buyer's Agent and you're the buyer. You don't need a lawyer besides.... That'd be redunant.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Jzero
If you have an agent representing you under contract, you can probably forgo a lawyer. On the other hand, it will only cost you a couple hundred bucks to get someone to stand in, which is peanuts considering all the other costs. If you do not have an agent under contract, I would bring a lawyer just in case. If nothing else it says "Don't mess around with me."

I don't practice real estate law, but to get anyone in my firm to go somewhere and stay there for an hour would run a minimum of $500-800. I'm not sure I see the point - any show-stopper issues will have been resolved by closing anyway. If I were working without an agent, I'd have run the contract by a lawyer long before closing.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: Jzero
If you have an agent representing you under contract, you can probably forgo a lawyer. On the other hand, it will only cost you a couple hundred bucks to get someone to stand in, which is peanuts considering all the other costs. If you do not have an agent under contract, I would bring a lawyer just in case. If nothing else it says "Don't mess around with me."

I don't practice real estate law, but to get anyone in my firm to go somewhere and stay there for an hour would run a minimum of $500-800. I'm not sure I see the point - any show-stopper issues will have been resolved by closing anyway. If I were working without an agent, I'd have run the contract by a lawyer long before closing.

Maybe they were cutting me a deal b/c of friends referring me, or maybe it's my region but I was quoted $200-$300 by a couple different lawyers.

But there are lots of showstoppers at that point. I almost didn't close on my house because of such showstoppers. I didn't need a lawyer because that part of the contract is in plain English, but there's a lot that can go wrong.

 

[dxkj]

Originally posted by: Jzero
If you have an agent representing you under contract, you can probably forgo a lawyer. On the other hand, it will only cost you a couple hundred bucks to get someone to stand in, which is peanuts considering all the other costs. If you do not have an agent under contract, I would bring a lawyer just in case. If nothing else it says "Don't mess around with me."

I signed with the agent to represent me as the buyer. Ok so thats where I was getting confused.



Ok cool Thanks for the responses guys.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I live in Illinois.
A lawyer is NOT Nequired here, however, after talking it over with my realtor, I decided it was in my best interest to have one both during negotiations, and during the closing. If you understand ALL of the legalspeak, I imagine you would probably be OK, but I'd feel uncomfortable closing on a property without a lawyer.

 

[Kelemvor]

In WI, someone with a Real Estate License is the only professional other than a lawyer, where the person can legally advice you in matters dealing with contracts. Of course only contracts dealing with buying and selling a house.... And of course the whiny lawyers are fighting that because they'd rather get your money by forcing you to have a lawyer present...

But short answer is that Realtor knows the contracts and should known enough about them to advise you properly... More info in your PM.