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Old 04-22-2010, 09:21 PM
 
Location: California Central Coast
746 posts, read 1,325,098 times
Reputation: 1434

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A friend of mine who is selling a house in Allegheny County, NY and lives in Potter County, PA would like to know the process to sell a house there.

I am in the western U.S. and not familiar with PA. Here we use escrow/title companies for handling and closing the escrows.

Is it the same way there? Thanks
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Old 04-23-2010, 03:55 PM
 
Location: Hooterville PA
712 posts, read 1,971,673 times
Reputation: 304
In Pennsylvania, sales of houses and property is done at a lawyers office.

The lawyer has to do a title search and has to guarantee that there is a free and clear title before the sale.

The person buying the property also has to hire a lawyer to represent him / her. If the sale was done through a real estate agent, they usually have lawyers on tender that can do it for them for a fee.

A lawyer in the state and county that the property also has to be involved because the paper work and the title has to be done in the court house in the home county of the property which is being sold.

In Pennsylvania, a lawyer can only practice law in the county which he pays a fee to - to be able to practice law there - join that county's Bar Association. He / she can practice law in a different county on a one time basis, but that usually involves a lawyer in the other county sponsoring him / her and the two lawyers has to attend any hearings or conferences. It's all just a big racket.

Bottom line is - a lawyer has to be involved at some point in time. One person cannot just give or sell land to another person and then walk into the court house and file a deed.
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Old 04-23-2010, 08:59 PM
 
Location: SouthEastern PeeAye
889 posts, read 2,575,277 times
Reputation: 407
Yikes, the previous post is full of incorrect information.

A lawyer does not 'have to be' involved in any of the tasks mentioned above. But it is usually prudent to have one working for you, such as to review any sales contract the other party or your agent offers to you (have reviewed before signing, of course).

Settlement does not have to happen in a lawyer's office. The title insurance agent or title insurance company used does not have to be owned by or associated with a lawyer, but sometimes they are.

Anyone can file a deed. You do not need to be a lawyer to do so. And anyone can review deeds, they are public records. As the buyer, you typically do not file the deed yourself, someone does if for you, but that person does not have to be a lawyer.

The only thing in the previous post that is fully accurate is the comment about it being a big racket.
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