If you’re one of the many individuals looking to purchase or sell a property anytime soon, chances are you’ve come across a real estate attorney or lawyer. However, after a long and tedious process of learning upon the best lawyers in town, many people find themselves in the unfortunate conundrum of prices and financing.

For the most part, as far as real estate attorney costs are concerned, the most compelling force driving the total expenses usually revolves around the complexities concerning your case. As a general rule of thumb, the more complicated your real estate matter is, the higher you’ll have to pay.

However, in an attempt to aid our readers in making an effective financial choice when a real estate attorney lawyer is concerned, we’ve compiled an article that delves into the charges usually brought forth, along with some tips to keep in mind while selecting a real estate lawyer to do your bidding.

What factors are at play behind the pricing of a real estate lawyer?

Before you can start asking around for an estimate of the total cost, you’ll be expected to pay, and you’ve got several important decisions to make. As soon as you set your mind on selling or buying property, it would help if you choose between hiring a real estate agent or an attorney.

For this article, however, we won’t be straying too far from real estate lawyers and focus primarily on their pricing. When you’ve finally shortlisted a couple of real estate lawyers in your area, you’re finally ready to compare prices and services. When doing so, you might want to acknowledge the factors that come in to play, which are as follows:

• Experience: Simply put, perhaps the most valuable resource a real estate lawyer could have is the experience. The saying “practice makes you perfect,” holds up to high regard wherever a real estate attorney is concerned, since they’ve acquired an arsenal of skills over the years.
• Specialization: Another critical factor that comes into play while setting up attorney costs is specialization. As a general rule of thumb, remember that a specialized lawyer is more likely to charge higher than your standard run-off-the-mill attorney. For example, a real estate attorney Arlington Tx might charge higher in that particular area since they’ve specialized in the laws of that state.
• The number of hours invested: Usually, real estate lawyers charge for their services by the hour. According to thumbtack, the amount they charge ends up falling somewhere between $150- $350. Several real estate lawyers have different financial perks to offer, and any potential clients need to do their due research.
• Additional closing costs: Another essential factor to keep in mind while hiring an attorney is the additional closing charges, which are to be paid by the seller. As a general rule, the closing costs would vary somewhere from 3-5% of the sales price, excluding any commissions. (If you’ve hired a third-party agent, that is)
• Loan costs: Additionally, if you’ve hired a real estate attorney, chances are you’ll end up covering loan charges too. Loan costs include several charges consisting of loan origination fee, application fee, and appraisal fee, to name a few.

Is a real estate lawyer necessary?

If you’ve reached this part of the article, you might be wondering, “Why do I need to drain my bank account for selling or repurchasing my house, can’t I just do it without an attorney?” Well if we are, to be honest with you, there have been several cases where people have successfully sold or bought property without a real estate attorney insight.

However, the risk of losing your property to some shady ‘legal’ contract nearly always outweighs the expenses. To illustrate the point better, we’ve brought forth some reasons why the high costs of a real estate lawyer are justified, which include:

• Understanding contracts: To the common man, a legal agreement holds no more meaning than their latest grocery receipt. To have to negotiate with another party with terms in your self-interest proves itself to be a considerable challenge, which is where real estate attorneys come in to save the day.
• Title Searches: To briefly explain the term, a title search is done by the real estate lawyer to ensure that the property being sold is free from any judgments, liens, or other encumbrances. The result of the title search reveals whether or not the seller has the right to sell the property and is an essential part of the property transaction.
• Filing: Another important task that falls into the hands of real estate lawyers is filing real estate transactions at both country and state levels. If you’ve found yourself with a complicated case, the attorney has the job of navigating any challenges faced.
• Handling property transfers: Real estate lawyers have a lot resting on their shoulders, as a vast portion of their job is to overlook property transactions between two parties, and make sure that things run smoothly.
• Avoiding icky legal situations: Last, but certainly not least, the primary reason you need a real estate attorney is to help you prevent any shady situation. You can never be too sure while buying or selling property, and not doing your research could result in a striking financial loss for you.

Is there any way you can save money while hiring a real estate attorney?

Hopefully, at this point, you’ve come to realize the importance of a real estate attorney. However, with that being said, $150-$300 for an hour is an enormous and burdening amount of money to spend, and we completely understand why people might be interested in saving a couple of bucks.

Well, as a client, the first and foremost thing you need to do to save some cash is to limit the number of hours your attorney spends on your case. Explicitly state or write, the number of hours you expect your real estate attorney to work, so you can easily avoid paying for an infinite number of hours.

Additionally, while you’re scouting for real estate attorneys, try to be on the lookout for those lawyers that offer a discounted or free consultation beforehand.

Summation:

As we’ve approached the end of the article, we hope that we’ve brought you in the loop regarding real estate attorney prices, along with the services that you can expect from them. Moreover, hopefully going through this article has also demonstrated the importance of real estate attorneys to you as well.