Selling
The seller’s counsel representation entails providing you with all of the legal advice, knowledge, and advocacy that you need for a smooth and successful transaction when selling your single family residence, multi family residence, or condominium unit.
The process of selling your home or investment property begins with a discussion regarding the best marketing strategy. In the vast majority of cases, the best approach is to engage a reputable real estate broker, who will advise you regarding price, staging of the home, handling open houses, fielding offers to purchase, and a host of other details large and small. Most commonly, my clients wait to engage my services after they have recieved, and accepted, a qualified “Offer to Purchase,” the property, which is a legally binding contract in Massachusetts. Of course, it’s not a bad idea to engage legal representation prior to entering into such a contract, and in fact the best practice is to do so prior to singing a listing agreement with a broker. By doing this, you will have the benefit of legal advice regarding the first two contracts that you are likely to sign during the course of the sale. There is no extra charge for this advice- it’s simply something that many clients miss out on, because they wait until the last possible moment to hire legal counsel. We understand, shopping for and paying for legal representation is probably up there on the list with going to the dentist or removing your shoes at the airport. Accordingly, our approach to the job emphasizes communication, knowledge, educating the client, and collegiality and courtesy to all participants in the process at all times. This is transactional law, not litigation, and this fact should be abundantly clear at all times during the process. (Unfortunately, this is not always the case).
NO RETAINER FEE: There is no retainer fee to get the ball rolling- simply call or email to discuss your needs and the fee is collected at the successful closing of your sale. You may view a sample engagement agreement HERE (setting forth the standard flat fee for seller’s counsel representation in a residential conveyance of real property).
The work that we perform as your real estate attorney for the sale of your home includes the following:
- reviewing and advising you on: the broker’s listing contract, the offer to purchase, and the purchase and sale agreement.
- coordinating the delivery (in cooperation with your real estate broker) of all necessary documents to the buyer’s attorney for closing, including: mortgage payoff statements, title V reports, final water bill reading, (ETC).
- drafting the title deed and power of attorney (which enables us to conduct the closing without your physical presence)
- assisting with the resolution of any title issues that may appear during the buyer’s examination of title to the property, (ETC).
Click HERE for an overview of the sequence of events, and what to expect, during the course of your home sale.
Finally, one of the most common questions that my clients ask is “what are my projected net proceeds of this sale?” Essentially, if your broker has done their job, you will have a good idea (within about 3% - See BJ Ray’s analysis) of the eventual sale price of your home. But to understand how much money you will actually recieve at closing, you must account for attorney fee, payoff of mortgages, tax adjustments, broker’s commission, deed tax, and the like. We have created a very useful spreadsheet to answer that very question - HERE.
Enjoy.