Issues in Real Estate

Real estate is the single most important capital investment that you will ever make in your life. From the moment you buy a home, it can provide an income stream for your retirement, save you from going into debt from medical bills, or even help to purchase other properties for yourself or others. Real estate is such a powerful asset because it can help to shape your life and improve its quality for generations to come. For this reason, it makes sense that real estate law is highly regulated with plenty of rules and regulations surrounding its construction and operation. In this article, we will discuss some of the most important issues in real estate law that you need to become familiar with if you plan on buying a home or investing in real estate.

Article Topics

The topic of real estate is so large that it would be impossible to cover everything about it in just one article. For this reason, we will discuss the six most common topics of real estate law and the issues surrounding them. If you are currently or have in the past purchased real estate, you should be familiar with all of the issues discussed here. If you are not familiar with any of these topics, I strongly recommend that you read through them before you even think of getting involved in any kind of real estate transaction.

The first issue that we will discuss is Title Issues . A title is like a deed that states who owns what property at a specific moment. For example, the title to my house states that I own it and also gives me most of the rights and obligations of ownership. The only time that the title to my house would change is if I sold it to someone else. A title, then, is one of the most important issues in real estate law because without it you would have no rights over your property. 

Real estate transactions require many different parties to work together and each of these parties needs a clear understanding of what role they play. For this reason, all of the people involved in a real estate transaction must sign paperwork before any money changes hands. This paperwork is known as a Real Estate Purchase Agreement (REPA). These agreements will usually state who will buy the property and for how much, as well as establish all of the terms and conditions regarding ownership and operation of the property.

The REPA lays out a specific set of rules for the property and all of the people involved in it. These rules can be pretty extensive, but an experienced real estate attorney should be able to draft up a suitable agreement that will fit your needs. It is very important to get this right, as a poorly written or badly interpreted purchase agreement can lead to serious problems later on. For this reason, it is very important to hire an experienced real estate attorney so you understand all of your rights and obligations as well as those of the other parties.

A good real estate attorney will also help you navigate through some of the legal issues surrounding land ownership. In the United States, all land is technically owned by the government and we only have the right to use it. This means that any improvements that you make to a piece of property remain your property. However, if you were to sell your land, your improvements must be sold with it at a fair market price. This issue can become an important one when discussing how to finance a real estate transaction.

The next issue we will be covering is Financing . While this may seem like an innocuous topic at first glance, it is actually anything but. It is essential to understand how financing works so you can make sure that you are paying as little as possible for your real estate purchase and ownership expenses. The best way to learn about financing is to look at a few different transactions and how they were financed.

Financing a real estate transaction can be accomplished in several ways. The simplest and most common is to finance the entire transaction with a bank loan. This can be accomplished by finding a mortgage lender who will lend you the money for your property. While this is straightforward in theory, it can become quite complicated when trying to get approved for a mortgage loan as banks are very strict about who they lend money to. In addition, banks will often require extensive documentation of income, assets, investments and other personal information. This can cause problems for self-employed individuals, those with a history of bankruptcy or those with a lower credit rating. The other option is to get the money by yourself through known as an all cash purchase . There is also a third way that is gaining in popularity called seller financing . You will learn more about these options later in the article.

The next issue we will be covering is called Title Insurance . An issue that should concern every homeowner is ownership. The problem with owning real estate is that you do not actually own it. Instead, you have a right to use it and govern it according to the terms established in your title. This can lead to problems if you sell the property at a later date or if someone else buys it from you. Title insurance is used the protect yourself and your heirs from all of the possible issues that could arise with your title.

Title insurance can be bought in a few different ways. The first is by buying coverage through an existing title company. This comes under the umbrella of "retainage". It protects your title for a set period of time and generally protects you in multiple situations as well as up to 10% of your entire value. The second option is to buy coverage which guarantees that no matter what happens, your title will not be affected . The additional benefit of this type of policy is that you can often negotiate a lower price because the company knows that there is no risk involved. The third option is to directly buy an insurance policy from a company that specializes in title insurance . There are many different companies available and one that I would recommend is New York Title Insurance Company .

The next issue we will be covering is Closing . A closing can be thought of as the last step in any real estate transaction. The closing process involves all of the parties coming together with the deeds and other paperwork for your property and signing off on them. This final step is extremely important as it is where all of the money changes hands. It is also where you will be given your title and keys to the property.

In order for a closing to take place, all of the parties involved must meet at an appropriate location with all of the required paperwork. The purpose of this is to make sure that everyone agrees that they are getting what they bargained for. This is called a "title search" and it is needed to make sure there are no issues with the title .

The next issue we will be covering is Escrow . Escrow refers to a third-party who holds money and paperwork during a real estate transaction until it reaches a certain point.

Conclusion

In summary, it is my hope that you now have a good understanding of what exactly a real estate transaction is. It was quite an extensive process and involved many different parties, but did you notice something missing? I didn't see any loan officers or appraisers anywhere. In fact, the one thing that I did see was real estate attorneys representing everyone involved in the transaction. Why does this matter? Well, if you are going to be making investments in land and real estate, then it doesn't hurt to have legal counsel . Having an attorney on your side can save you from having to deal with problems on your own and can help you make informed decisions when purchasing land or property.