Buying or selling a home can be a dream come true that turns into a nightmare. Problems can arise before, during and after the sale. Families become stressed and just don’t know where to turn. Scheduling movers and registering the kids in schools gets put on hold.
An experienced estate planning lawyer in Davenport, IA can be extremely helpful even before any contracts are signed. Difficult problems become much easier to handle when explained correctly. One of the responsibilities of a real estate attorney is to alert his/her client to potential problems. The real estate attorney is the only person in the entire transaction who is completely on the side of his client. Anyone involved in real estate can testify that very few transactions complete without unexpected problems. Assessing the risks leads to the solutions.
Time Pressure. Each piece of property is unique and some buyers may think that they have to sign a contract immediately. The contract may have provisions that are not fully understood. Contracts should always be reviewed immediately by an attorney.
Short Sales. There are far too many of these lately and the process is extremely complicated. If the price is not in the appropriate range or the forms are not filled out correctly, the transaction will probably be rejected or sit in limbo. The seller’s representative needs to have thorough knowledge and experience with local foreclosure laws.
Title Problems. A property may have been bought and sold several times, but that does not mean that a title defect won’t be found. For example, one sale was held up for months because a title search found that the affected military member had not signed a release mandated by the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act of 1940. His wife had not obtained one when their home was sold during World War II. A living family member had to be found and paid to sign a release before the sale could proceed.
Post-Sale Problems. Determining who is responsible for property defects discovered after the closing can be difficult. The real estate agents and mortgage holder won’t be much help.
