Residential Real Estate
Purchase and Refinance of Residential Closings
As a closing, our attorneys handle the buyers’ interests in a closing. This includes searching title and identifying issues with title to ensure that our buyer receives clear and marketable title. We also work with the buyer’s lender to make sure all requirements of the loan are met, and we conduct the closing. The loan closing of a refinance includes most of the same requirements of a purchase closing. North Carolina differs from other states in that purchase closings and refinances must be conducted by or supervised by an NC licensed attorney, rather than by a title company or the bank itself.
If there are title issues the seller must fix, the closing attorney cannot help as it is a conflict of interest. However, our attorneys can help sellers with these issues if they are not representing the buyer.
Contract Preparation/Negotiation
We always recommend that the clients hire an experienced realtor to help with most real estate purchase transactions. Realtors use a standard form approved by the Realtor’s Association and the North Carolina Bar. Real Estate agents are permitted to negotiate the points to be filled in on the standard form, but they are not permitted to modify the standard form in any way. However, many developers have created their own purchase agreement in conjunction with their attorney. This agreement often changes the standard agreement in ways that help the builder rather than the purchaser. Our attorneys can help review those agreements to determine if there are any concerns for the buyer.
Although we never recommend selling or purchasing without an experienced realtor’s help, our attorneys can provide drafting assistance in a purchase arrangement once the parties have agreed on the terms of the sale. We can only provide legal services, so a buyer would have to arrange for anything else on their own.