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I've been struggling with the same issue. We are buying new construction and I was wondering if we needed an attorney. (I'm in IL) A friend of mine is a legal assistant and we used the attorney she works for to close on our previous home, so I asked her for her advice. She told me we don't need one, but its always beneficial to have an attorney representing your interests. She said since we are trying to save money, we can probably get away without one and new home builder contracts are usually pretty iron clad anyway, so I think we are going to risk it and go without.
If it's new construction, you might get by quite well without one.
However, on an older house, especially one that has been around a good while, you really need to have a title search, make sure there aren't any liens on it, and that the boundaries that are written on the deed are correct with no variences. You don't want to find that a previous owner owned IRS a lot of money or there had been a dispute with a neighbor about who owned the back 10ft of land. Lawyers are used to looking for that sort of thing.
You can also talk to a title company about finding out from a 'Pre Lim' what all the liens are and the title search. Title companies do that all the time. Depending on the personnel there, they will do it for nothing or for the expectation of business. Some will perhaps charge a fee, which could come to less than the price of a notary or sometimes more. They should be able to provide the last assessors map. You can go to the city or county for the actual last survey, that should cost you nothing, and you can learn a lot from looking at maps and dimensions and so forth.
It's the agents job to make sure you are covered and have little risk, that's what they do. As a buyer you are not paying anything for the use of an agent, unless its a buyer agent with a special agreement. It's considered the sellers money to pay all the commissions. If you had used a good realtor, you would have less to worry about and save you the aggravations. I did not know this until i became one.
If you can you should still do a due diligence and hire an independent home inspector to go through the home, even if it appears in tip top shape. Make sure you have a home warranty, paid by the seller, with a value of up to 350 bucks that should cover it.
Use the findings of the home inspector in any negotiation with the builder. Generally it is a buyer's market right now and they will bend over backwards to get you into the house and they can move on. One of the problems with dealing directly with a builder is if they notice you are really naive they can easily take advantage of you.
all the best and good luck!
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