Real estate lawyer
"It's tangible, it's solid, it's beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate."
—Donald Trump

Your real estate lawyer should be beholding to you and no one else. That is why I suggest that you retain a lawyer before you sign with a real estate salesperson.

Primary function
The lawyer's primary job is to insure that the property you are buying has a clear title and to register you as the new owner and register your mortgage and line of credit, if you will have one that is guaranteed by your home equity. (This line of credit is actually a second mortgage.)

Second function
Most offers to purchase a condominium unit contain a clause saying that the  offer to purchase is conditional on your lawyer reviewing the information on the status certificate.

Most lawyers just take a look at the status certificate and ignore the attached Declaration, By-laws, Rules and Regulations and the Reserve Fund Study.

It is up to you, the owner to carefully review those documents and see if there is anything there you cannot live with. You should ask your lawyer for clarification on any points you do not understand.

Only a few lawyers will advise a client not to purchase a condo in a particular condo corporation. This is because they may take only a causal look at the status certificate and not see anything amiss or they are concerned that the real estate agents will stop referring clients to him if he advises too many clients not to buy.

After all, he has dealings with real estate agents every day and he will see individual clients only every few years so he cannot risk losing referrals from the agents.

If your lawyer advises you to buy elsewhere, do as he or she says.


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