Answering Three Questions About Buying Your First Home

You may not make a purchase that is larger or more important than buying your first home. Yet, you may lack the type of expertise needed to ensure this purchase goes as smoothly as possible. In order to be a better-prepared consumer, you should understand the answers to these basic questions first-time homebuyers may have.  

Do You Need an Attorney If You Have a Real-Estate Agent?

There are many first-time homebuyers that are under the impression that they will not benefit from working with a real-estate attorney if they have an agent. However, it is important to note that these professionals provide substantially different types of guidance and services to homebuyers. For example, your real-estate attorney can help you with the preparation of legal documents pertaining to the sale as well as reviewing contracts to ensure you understand the contents of the document.

How Can You Protect Yourself Against Buying a House with Structural Issues?

One of the more common fears that individuals may have about this purchase is buying a home that has serious structural issues. Sadly, many individuals are unaware of the fact that it may be possible to structure the contract so that the seller is responsible for the repair costs for serious structural issues for the property.

What Happens If Your New Home Has a Title Lien?

Unfortunately, it is possible for a person to accidentally purchase property that has a lien against it. These liens are often from a previous owner's unpaid debt, and it is an unfortunate fact that these debts stay with the property. If these debts are not paid, the property may be foreclosed and auctioned off to settle the debt. For this reason, you should always have your real-estate attorney research the title history of the property to help ensure that a lien is not currently against the property.

When you are working through the process of buying your first home, it is important to understand some of the steps that should be taken to protect yourself during this purchase. More precisely, it is important to understand that it may be wise to work with both a real-estate agent and attorney, the fact that it may be possible to include a seller's responsibility to address serious structural issues with the house, and the need to research the title history of the property to verify that a lien is not currently against it.