Trying to get a house, question about legal documents

[Jason McMaster]

So, my wife and I want to get this house from some of her parents friends and we're kind of stuck. They're looking for legal document examples for:

Land Contract
Land Trust
Self Mortgage

My wife and I have been looking around and can't find any documentation to look over and since I know a lot of you have gone through this and there's even some lawyers around here, I thought I'd ask in here if anyone has any ideas of where to look or example contracts we could see.

[MikeTwain]

I'm assuming here that you're trying to do this by yourself.

IANAL, IDEGRLLEMR, but IHUALWBAH.

All I'll say is this:

HIRE A REAL ESTATE ATTORNEY. Do NOT try to do this yourself. There are too many pitfalls. You may end up paying $1k but it is worth it. You'll still pay far less than if there was a real estate agent involved.


* Legend:

IDEGRLLEMR = I don't even generally really like lawyers except maybe Rywill.

IHUALWBAH = I have used a lawyer when buying a house.

[Jason McMaster]

I just wanna see the documents.

[MikeTwain]

And I'm saying "No you don't."

But try here:

http://www.freddiemac.com/cim/forms.html

[Rywill]

IDEGRLLEMR = I don't even generally really like lawyers except maybe Rywill.

Awww.

Jason, have you checked out a local bookstore? There are usually do-it-yourself kits for legal stuff. You could also try www.nolo.com (I haven't looked myself, but they have lots of this kind of thing). I second Mike's advice to get a lawyer, though. A house is a pretty huge asset to gamble on your ability to sort through a real estate contract. Home sales in California don't require a lawyer because everything is so standardized, but if I lived out east where it isn't, I would never even consider doing a real estate sale on my own (and I am a lawyer!).

[MikeTwain]

Just to give you an example of what can go wrong, when we bought our house, the DAY BEFORE CLOSING our lawyer came to us and said that the title company had (very belatedly) in the course of their search managed to turn up the fact that there was a second mortgage on the house that the seller couldn't PROVE was ever satisfied. (Paid off.)

Basically, the sellers had taken out second and third mortgages and refinanced a bunch of times, but one of the times it was with a mortgage broker that had gone bankrupt. The mortgage had then been taken over by another bank that had also later gone bankrupt.

A third and final bank that had been eventually assigned the responsibility for the debt had never filed some paperwork that proved the mortgage was paid off.

Now as it turned out, my lawyer was able to determine that the title company that had done the work for that second mortgage was the same title company we were using for our closing. He got them to admit (he had some connections with them cause he used them all the time) that it was their fault that they had not caught this at the time of the previous title search and they wrote us a letter of indemnification stating that if it turned out that there was money due that THEY would be responsible for it and not us!!

Eventually it turned out that Bank #178 was able to provide some documentation and the money had been paid. At the time though, if we had not been able to successfully resolve that issue it would potentialy have been a huge problem wherein we could have been thought to be responsible for an unpaid mortgage.

Now, I don't even understand half of what I just wrote but you get the point. You should really get a lawyer.

:D

[nutsak]

IANAL, IDEGRLLEMR, but IHUALWBAH.

* Legend:

IDEGRLLEMR = I don't even generally really like lawyers except maybe Rywill.

IHUALWBAH = I have used a lawyer when buying a house.

But what is IANAL? ( I want to know so I can grow up a bit and stop laughing at it. )

VV thanks

[MikeTwain]

I Am Not A Lawyer.

Sorry...I thought IANAL was pretty common.

[JeffL]

FWIW I also advise getting a lawyer. When you think about the size of the purchase and all of the "little" things that can go wrong - and the potential negative impact - the investment in a lawyer is a smart move. If you hire a real estate lawyer and you didn't need him, great. But twice I've had my lawyer find something that was relatively simple for them (the lawyer) to handle, but which could have cost me a lot otherwise.

[Nick Hyle]

Joining the chorus - get a goddamn lawyer. The risks on the downside are too big to cheap out over a $500-$1500 expenditure that covers your ass.

[dannimal]

real estate lawyers seems to be a pretty regional thing. I think they're a must-have in New York, for example. In Michigan, though, they're more or less never used (well, in my experience, and in the experience of everyone I know here who's bought a house).

[VegasRobb]

Out here in Las Vegas, I've never heard about real estate lawyers being used. Everything mentioned in this thread is handled by the real estate agent (who might add in lawyer fees as part of their fee).

[JeffL]

real estate lawyers seems to be a pretty regional thing. I think they're a must-have in New York, for example. In Michigan, though, they're more or less never used (well, in my experience, and in the experience of everyone I know here who's bought a house).

Well, I used one when I bought my house in Michigan.

But you may be right - it seems like it's mandantory here in IL to use one.