Why you Need a Real Estate Lawyer to Sell your Home

Like buying a home, selling a home in Massachusetts, is a significant financial decision requiring much care. Before negotiations even begin with an offer to purchase, a seller who wishes to protect his or her investment and insulate himself or herself from litigation, should hire a MA real estate attorney as a first step.

At Silveri & Wilson, LLC, we take our representation, knowledge and expertise to another level.  Not only do we practice real estate law, but we regularly teach it as well.  We are one of the few law firms in Massachusetts with a Certified Real Estate Instructor on staff and regularly teach real estate law to both attorneys and realtors at the Boston Bar Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, Greater Boston Association of Realtors, and Tri-County Board of Realtors. We have the knowledge and skill to make your real estate sale a seamless and smooth transaction.

First Step - Hiring a Real Estate Attorney

Massachusetts generally follows the well-established principal of caveat emptor (i.e. "let the buyer beware") which shifts the burden to a home buyer in most situations to do due diligence before closing to ensure that the property will be satisfactory. This general rule means that in many situations involving private parties, where the seller is not in the business of selling homes, very little needs to be volunteered to the buyer (such as the condition of the home, leaks, flooding, etc).

This principle does not apply in every situation, however, and it is very easy for the seller to innocently say or do something that creates an unnecessary potential for liability. For example, the buyer's real estate attorney often will often add seemingly innocuous language to the purchase and sale agreement which has the seller guarantee certain things (e.g. structural integrity, flood protection, etc.). The seller does not want to receive a phone call from their original buyer years after the closing asking them to fix something or reimburse the buyer for something the seller had no actual knowledge of in the first place.

The seller can be exposed to liability in many ways through an inadvertent misstatement, by not fully understanding the purchase and sale agreement or offer to purchase, by not complying with those aspects of the law that do in fact require disclosure (e.g. lead paint, right to a home inspection, septic disclosures, etc.) and by not understanding the impact of  the paperwork at closing. These are all very real outcomes when someone goes through the closing process without a MA real estate lawyer to guide them.

Seller Legal Services

We offer the following services in connection with the sale of your house or condominium:

• Preliminary review of the title to your property: As part of the real estate closing process, the buyer's mortgage lender's attorney (called the "closing attorney") will order a title examination on the property. Even though this is technically the buyers responsibility, in those Registries of Deeds that are online, we will review the last two owners to determine if those mortgages have had proper discharges recorded for them. Unfortunately, missing mortgage discharges are a common problem in Massachusetts and can delay the closing. To be sure no other title defects exist, we strongly encourage our clients to allow us to hire a thirty party title examiner for a more thorough examination to identify any such problems early in the process to help ensure they can be rectified before closing.
• Preparation and review of the offer to purchase and/or purchase and sale agreement ("P&S"): These two documents will be the real estate sellers main sources of protection and both are binding real estate contracts. Drafting and reviewing a contract and advising about the legal effect it has on the client, is considered the practice of law and must be handled by a real estate lawyer. One of the many classes taught by Silveri & Wilson, LLC to other attorneys and real estate agents focuses solely on the purchase and sale agreement and offer to purchase. We have the highest level of expertise in this area.
• Coordination of payoffs: We will work with the closing attorney to obtain payoff quotes so that your current mortgages can be paid off and released at closing.
• Preparation of a deed: We will draft a quitclaim deed, warranty deed or fiduciary deed, depending on what the particular transaction calls for in order to transfer the title from you to the buyer at closing.
• Preparation of a limited power of attorney: Use of a limited power of attorney at a real estate closing is a very common practice in Massachusetts. This document allows you to appoint someone else (the "agent") to sign the closing paperwork for you if you are unable to or simply prefer not to attend. Typically the agent is the seller's attorney, spouse, friend or realtor.  We attend all of our real estate closings with our seller clients and will gladly appear on your behalf or simply be there with you.
• Attendance at closing and review of real estate closing paperwork: Most of the paperwork signed at closing is customary. Regardless of who the closing attorney might be, in general, you will see the same set of documents, but some of these documents are often altered in such a way that the seller can be inadvertently exposed to unnecessary liability.  

Contact our Massachusetts Real Estate Lawyers in Wellesley

Contact us today to learn more about how our real estate attorneys can help you sell your home.