Purchasers Real Estate Attorney (sales, mortgage, lawyers)

[katsmah]

My husband and I are planning to move to Suffolk County and have found a house we like. After submitting our offer which the seller has accepted, we had a home inspection this week. The inspector highlighted a few potential issues, including one which the we and the inspector considered a safety issue.

We contacted our attorney and sent a copy of the inspector's report. The attorney, who was recommended by our realtor, replied that we should contact the realtor with our concerns "and let him contact the sellers and we'll go from there."

Is this a normal response for a real estate attorney in Long Island? From previous real estate dealings in my state, the attorney handles inspection issues with the sellers attorney. So exactly what does a real estate attorney do for me on Long Island? This is a cash purchase, so I don't need for them to interact on my behalf with a mortgage company.

[kokonutty]

The real estate agent negotiates the terms of the sales agreement, that's what they get paid for. if you want the attorney to take over that part of the sales process be prepared to pay for that service. The attorney normally handles issues involving the contract and title and fees and taxes and also escrow if that becomes necessary.

[twingles]

Our attorney handled inspection issues because we didn't find out what the buyers wanted until we saw them in the contract. 3 we were willing to do and the 4th was a deal breaker - they wanted us to take down a village owned tree in front of our house, and since we didn't own it we couldn't do it. It was sort of annoying that their attorney did not know this. Our attorney called their attorney and worked it out there.

I think it can go either way - the RE agents or the attorney can handle it. In other areas of the country RE agents do all of this and a lot of times an attorney isn't even used at all.

If your RE agent recommended the attorney, then this must be how their relationship works.

[Joe461]

Originally Posted by katsmah

Is this a normal response for a real estate attorney in Long Island? From previous real estate dealings in my state, the attorney handles inspection issues with the sellers attorney..

In my experience, once the attorneys contact each other to start putting together the contract, all communication is through the attorneys. This has always made sense to me since things can get very complicated when the lawyers are discussing one thing and the buyer/seller/agents are discussing another. Multiple conversations only add confusion.

That said, sometimes it is quicker to discuss some things directly. Hard to say without knowing the exact safety issue in play.

Your attorney should be able to provide some guidance (what to ask for as compensation for the defect, have the seller correct it, put something in escrow to account for it, etc.). I have always discussed these things with my attorney, considered his advice and then had him negotiate it with the other party's attorney. Much cleaner. That's part of what I pay them for.

It's probably a simple matter of contacting the agent and telling them the issue needs to be fixed. If the seller responds with an "okay" let your attorney know so he can make sure the fix is included in the contract. Any other response I would hand over to the attorney to take care of.

If you don't want to re-negotiate the deal yourself with the agent or seller, you should probably consider a different attorney. Best to find someone your are comfortable with before you get too far along.

[katsmah]

Thank you. We sent a list of issues that were found to both the agent and attorney. As they have a previous working relationship together, I expect them to figure out who will do what, but will have to wait until Monday to find out.