Basically, a real estate agent is a licensed professional with limited knowledge of real estate law who connects buyers and sellers (usually through the MLS system), provides their clients support during the home buying process, and seeks to help their clients, who are sometimes both the buyer and the seller, make an informed decision. Real estate agents are not permitted to provide legal advice and their involvement is heavily weighted towards the front-end of the transaction (helping buyers and sellers find each other). 

A real estate attorney, on the other hand, depending upon your desired level of involvement, can assist with every aspect of the transaction once a buyer or seller has been identified. We can assist you with any of the documentation in the buy/sell transaction in addition to providing legal advice throughout the real estate buy/sell process. As your real estate attorney, we can be as involved or uninvolved as you, the client, so desire, and can prepare and/or review all of the documents that are signed at any stage of the transaction and can supervise the closing of the real estate purchase and all documents prepared by a title company and signed by you at the closing.

In Michigan, a real estate attorney is not “required.” However, because a real estate agent is usually not an attorney, nor, usually, is the title company’s closing agent, only an attorney can provide you with the legal advice you need concerning any aspect of the real estate sale (whether it be a residential sale, a commercial real estate sale, a land contract or the sale even of vacant property). A real estate attorney is highly recommended in any real estate sale where there may be any questionable or complex situations, like a foreclosure, a short sale, a land contract, a lease with option to buy, seller financing (such as where the seller takes a promissory note from the buyer) and more.

You should hire a Real Estate Attorney before your purchase contract is signed. After the agreement has been signed, there may be less that an attorney can do to fix any problems that may arise if they weren’t properly addressed in the contract.

A Real Estate Attorney can also be of assistance in the event that the seller begins dragging their feet. Sometimes a seller will delay a sale as they look for better offers. A Real Estate Attorney may be able to help you through a properly worded demand letter, negotiations, communications with the opposing party’s agents and other professionals, or by filing legal actions to speed the process or block other potential buyers

When a buyer doesn’t need financing (e.g., a mortgage or other loan), it is a “cash sale”. In cash sales, banks and other lending institutions are less involved, or not involved at all, in the transaction, and there is generally less paperwork involved. However, in cash sales, a Real Estate Attorney is essential in order to protect the interest of the client, whether the seller or the buyer. In cash sales, properly prepared documents are critical, and a Real Estate Attorney is best positioned, educated and experienced to provide you with important and thorough advice so that you can make your best decision before you are locked into an agreement, and through the agreement and the entire transaction, how to best structure the buy/sell process in order to help you reach your goals at closing and even afterwards.