Buying and selling in Texas: why having a real estate lawyer in San Antonio and the Hill Country is.
FSBO, NAR, MLS. These are only a few of the acronyms people buying or selling a home encounter, and for those who are first time transactors, the information has the potential to be overwhelming. Which is better: getting rid of the middle man or selling through a licensed brokerage? How should you negotiate closing costs, how do you know whether a property has passed inspection, and who does title searches? These questions are just a few of the questions that come up for first (or second, or third) time home buyers and sellers, and are why this article in The Globe and Mail outlines the benefits of having an attorney on your side. With the real estate opportunities expanding in San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country, hiring a real estate lawyer in San Antonio isn’t just for disputes or damages.
Hiring an attorney is especially critical for people who decide to cut out real estate agents in buying and selling transactions. In Texas, a lot of the mentality is “less is more,” especially when it comes to business and “interference.” So while agents and brokerages may be bothersome and seem unnecessary, caution is still warranted. Exchanging money in a multiple-hundred-thousand-dollar transaction can be harrowing, and even if residents have a personal or family lawyer they regularly work with, it’s highly recommended to consider using a real estate lawyer in San Antonio for transactions.
And not just for “the tail end of a deal;” experts across the industry agree that while the specific tasks of performing a title search or registering a deed can be more easily done by an attorney or other professional familiar with county documents, for example, buying local property means that a real estate lawyer in San Antonio can help throughout the process, from “reviewing paperwork to protecting clients’ interests as issues come up.” One Canadian market analyst and best-selling real estate author, Don Campbell, touts the benefits of finding an attorney “who’s working just for you, not both sides.”
Campbell is also adamant about hiring a local attorney not based strictly on affordability, but experience in number of transactions, amount of time the real estate lawyer in San Antonio and her firm spend on real estate law and the attorney’s or firm’s industry networking contacts. In general, he advises clients to take in the cost of the home into account—negotiating several thousand dollars on a property’s sale price makes haggling over $50 for an attorney’s fee seem inconsequential. Campbell does acknowledge that cost is important, and to find a local lawyer who discloses the total fees “to avoid surprises later.”
Homes in the San Antonio and Texas Hill Country area can range dramatically in price—from a few thousand to millions of dollars. Having an experienced real estate lawyer on your side can verify the license status of the agents and brokerages involved, protect individuals from undisclosed requirements and provide insight on recent changes in the law, like flood insurance requirements. All in all, it would seem that real estate attorneys are definitively worth a buyer and seller’s time.