Real Estate attorney and mortgage broker recommendation? (sale, lawyer)

[eribear]

Hi,
My husband and I have been looking at homes for a while now, and have narrowed our search down to two great homes. We have not been using a buyers agent during our search. We are hoping to make an offer soon, and are wanting to use a lawyer to assist since we can't use a realtor now. This is what we did when we bought our last house, and found the sellers agent was really cooperative due to the higher commission they would get.

So anyways, I'm looking for some recommendations on good residential real estate attorneys and also for mortgage brokers. I did a search in the forum, but didnt find any good info.

Thanks everyone!

[TexasHorseLady]

I'll DM you, per forum rules.

[Exiled Texan]

I recently did the same thing....buying without an agent. PM if you want my peeps info.

[vb0]

What are the advantages of not using a relator but rather a lawyer?
What are the disadvantages?

[Exiled Texan]

Pro-

For me, I liked the ability to control my own negotiation. Plus, I'd been focusing on a very small area for 2 years and had seen almost every comp in that time. Bought and sold before (not a rookie). The seller's agent gave the seller 2% to get the deal done. I also had time to be patient and let seller's come to my price. You may get a seller's agent willing to work with you more b/c of the extra commission, but sometimes they close rank and get all protectionist. Have to be professional and be able to take emotion out of it.

Con-

Not having MLS access, you don't know exactly what things sold for. You can ask around, and agents actually tell you things at open houses, etc. If you are new to an area, or have to sell a home to buy, perhaps going solo isn't a great idea. It takes time. My lawyer just explained all the forms to me and then I went out bidding on houses. When it was time to finalize an accepted offer, he looked it all over. I'm also a lawyer (albeit not real estate), so I was comfortable with going solo. I can see how some are not. Agents also have connections on all the other things that surround house buying. Nice to have someone help you with that.


Unless you are talking very expensive price points, I think agents generally earn their keep. For me, being very type A, I enjoyed going solo. I've seen agents screw up a sale and also seal a deal. I wanted it to be in my hands.