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The initial contract and phone call could easily cost this much. You are lucky he is not charging the flat fee.
Spoken like an attorney! Are you one! I don't think it is reasonable to expect to be charged a full amount for one half or even less than that work done when the understanding is to be charged that much for a fully done work.
Why do folks get upset with paying an attorney $1,000 for legal advise on a real estate deal but have no problem paying a realtor/chauffeur 3% commission on the purchase of the same home?
You need to look to your retainer agreement for this answer.
Typically if a deal falls through, you are charged a minimum amount or hourly for work completed.
Simple discovery of an undergound oil tank isn't the responsibility of the lawyer. It's the job of the Seller to disclose, and your inspector to confirm.
Honestly, If the deal died at my office during attorney review, it would cost you a few hundred.
There is a lot of hysteria surrounding tanks, some of it well deserved, and some of it just plain hysteria.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KayK
Hi everyone,
I arranged for an attorney to represent me on a house deal in New Jersey for a flat fee of $1000. We never got out of attorney review due to the discovery of an underground oil tank. The attorney did not flag this as a potential liability- I canceled the deal after researching the risk. He wants to charge me $750. He did not do he title search etc, only initial contract and a few calls. Didn't say "boo" regarding the tank issue. Does this seem right? Or am I lucky he's not charging the entire flat fee? Much obliged for any information.
I arranged for an attorney to represent me on a house deal in New Jersey for a flat fee of $1000. We never got out of attorney review due to the discovery of an underground oil tank. The attorney did not flag this as a potential liability- I canceled the deal after researching the risk. He wants to charge me $750. He did not do he title search etc, only initial contract and a few calls. Didn't say "boo" regarding the tank issue. Does this seem right? Or am I lucky he's not charging the entire flat fee? Much obliged for any information.
I've never paid anything more than $800.
Looking over a standard contract and making a few phone calls is not worth $750.
If you want, I'll give you the # of the best real estate lawyer I have ever dealt with in the state of NJ. He doesn't charge for "answering the phone". He knows his stuff inside and out. He dots all of his i's and crosses all of his t's and is very accessible. Not a "holier than thou" type. He's a pure gem who will go out of his way.
I've referred several friends and family members of mine to him and they have been nothing but happy with their experience.
1) if you are not looking to use this attorney any further then you probably will have to pay a few hundred to him, but definitely not the amount he asks. Explain to him like you did to us, that he really didnt do much at all.
2) if you still plan to use this attorney, then you shouldnt pay him a dime until the deal closes.
In all my past deals, i was under attorney review multiple times but had to back out for various reasons and there is never any extra fee, the attorney didnt even bring it up it was well understood. Of course i did finally close then she charged me the previous agreed amount which is also $1000.
Also your attorney is not expected to advise you that you should not buy the house because there is an oil tank, they should however tell you the legal liabilities you will inherit by having an oil tank.
And yes i agree i dont know why people get crazy over $1000 attorney fee vs say $700. It's plain ridiculus, the difference between a good vs bad attorney is very significant especially in today's market. There are many places on the HUD you should review carefully for overcharges, but attorney fees is not the place to save a few hundred bucks, get the best attorny you can find...
Spoken like an attorney! Are you one! I don't think it is reasonable to expect to be charged a full amount for one half or even less than that work done when the understanding is to be charged that much for a fully done work.
Tell him if he can't come up with something more reasonable you'll simply use a different attorney on your next offer which I'm guessing isn't far off if this one fell through. Frankly, all they're doing is forwarding standard forms. From what I've heard, most of it (minus the phone calls) is done by the secretaries. How lawyers got themselves ingrained in this process I'll never understand!
We have bought and sold several homes over the years and never used an attorney. We did not have any complications and the Title companies do most of the work and with a HUD and standard contracts we were comfortable doing it this way. I do understand this is considered a bit risky but as I said we have never had an issue. Maybe we were fortunate to have good fair buyers and sellers to deal witn each time, or maybe lawyers like to make mountains out of mole hills to look like they are being a service to you.
You should try to work it out. If the deal never went through he has no legal right to ask you to pay full amount. I am sure he will work something out with you. Ofcourse if you'll buy another house shortly then you just get the amount adjusted at that point.
kashyshi
Quote:
Originally Posted by KayK
Hi everyone,
I arranged for an attorney to represent me on a house deal in New Jersey for a flat fee of $1000. We never got out of attorney review due to the discovery of an underground oil tank. The attorney did not flag this as a potential liability- I canceled the deal after researching the risk. He wants to charge me $750. He did not do he title search etc, only initial contract and a few calls. Didn't say "boo" regarding the tank issue. Does this seem right? Or am I lucky he's not charging the entire flat fee? Much obliged for any information.
I do understand this is considered a bit risky but as I said we have never had an issue. Maybe we were fortunate to have good fair buyers and sellers to deal witn each time, or maybe lawyers like to make mountains out of mole hills to look like they are being a service to you.
You have been very very very lucky.
I've been doing this for a long time and have seen people be financially ruined by something that an attorney would have immediately picked up on because they didn't want to pay for for a lawyer to represent them.
One example that comes to mind is a man who bought a rather nice condo. The realtor told him he could just "evict the tenants and move in himself" or "flip the condo for a lot of cash". So he buys it, sans attorney. Turns out the condo had protected tenants (the same tenants at the time of the conversion who were never served with the three year notice of conversion and a zillion other things, but the disabled elderly tenants had applied for and been granted protected tenancy and could potentially remain protected for 40 years) who were also under rent control. Oh and they had a lease that didn't mention anything about the unit being a condo (very important in Hudson County). The short version is that their rent was around $400, and his mortgage, taxes and condo fees were well over $2,000.
A lawyer would have seen a potential issue from a mile away, looked into it further and gotten him out of the contract. He didn't want to pay a lawyer.
He literally has to wait until those two tenants die before he can sell the unit.
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Re: Attorney Fees
