Professionals are essential if you want to be a wise buyer of real estate. Here’s a list of the pros you will need to know.
Let’s begin with A : Attorney, Accountant & Appraiser
These professionals endure years of training, grueling entrance exams, required continuing education courses to remain licensed and a Code of Ethics which puts their licenses in jeopardy every time they perform services for you. A profession and livelihood are not lightly risked.
The secret is to find those professionals who are specialists in a particluar real estate niche. Not only will they be infomed of the latest developments in that area, they are likely passionate for that specialty. All you need do is make the calls and ask a lot of questions. Are they a specialist in the type of real estate you are buying? How long? What percent of their practice is devoted to that specialty? Will they personally handle the file? Even as you interview them (many will give free or low cost consultations) you will get an education on the subject. Before long you will know the terminology and the process.
Buying real estate for the first time is extremely stressful. As you acquire knowledge the stress decreases. As Martha would say, that’s a good thing. Find the professionals easy to talk to and use them. It’s one of the most expensive purchases you will ever make. Don’t be a dunce. If you had a brain tumor, you wouldn’t just go a GP, you’d go to a brain surgeon–duh. Now to those who may say buying real estate is not brain surgery I say go to the law library and look up cases on real estate law—you don’t want to be in those case books. Maybe a comparison is child birth—when you come down to it any doctor can deliver a child, hey, even cabbies have done it. But no woman I know would have their baby delivered by just any doctor.
The value of a real estate attorney who specializes in the type of real estate you are interested in (condo, timeshares, commercial, business, etc) is their ability to examine a contract and make sure it fits your patrticular circumstance. Not everyone has the same need in real estate—you may need to sell your home before closing on a new one–this takes contract finesse and skill. Even in those states that don’t require attorneys to close real estate, they are the MOST qualified to deal with contract legal clauses (including loopholes, escape clauses you may need). Also, real estate attorneys have more skill in objectively negotiating than most of us do–we just want the property and emotions may blur our judgment.
In the real estate industry, lawyers are known as “destroyers” because they find the problems with deals the other parties are either not trained to discover or are too emotionally tied up with (an interest in the deal going through) to be objective when it comes to risks.
Even renters need a lawyer because no matter how short term, a lease is a legal document and it is important to know what the landlord is or is not required to do for you before you unload the moving van. L&T court is no picnic.
Accountants are valuable in analyzing deals from a financial aspect. They look at the bottom line and explain it. When the property is commercial, a business for sale, or an investment property, there are (or should be) balance sheets and profit and loss statements, tax returns, etc. If you think balancing a checkbook is a challenge, you have no idea what goes into unraveling financial statements.
The purchase of a condominium or cooperative apartment requires review of financial documents. As an owner of a co-op apartment you actually own shares in a corporation and are responsible for paying a share of the expenses of the entire corporation, You better damn well known how financially sound that co-op corporation is or you could end up on the ledge of that window with the great view of the park. Constant increases in common charges, assessments, unknown flip taxes, all affect your bottom line and if you are financed to the hilt, unpredictable monthly carrying costs are brutal. Without an accountant to break it down for you, your next visit could be to a bankruptcy attorney.
Appraisers examine real estate from a perspective which is compelling to banks. It is so compelling, that a bank won’t lend you the money without one. Banks trust them and so should you. Appraisers are especially valuable for commercial and investment property. Appraisal of a business for sale or start-up is a unique specialty. According to the Institute of Business Appraisers, 90% of all U.S. businesses are closely held.
Tomorrow the B professionals.
