Here’s the obvious point: buying a home is a pretty big deal. However, even though that sounds obvious, you might be surprised at how many people really don’t bother trying to get a lawyer on their side at all. They think that a real estate lawyer isn’t necessary, and they can be skipped over. This is actually bad advice, because buying a home is a lot more complicated than it looks.

It’s true — you really do need a real estate lawyer, but you might not be convinced until you really look at what a real estate lawyer does.

The real estate attorney that’s right for you will actually do a lot more than you think. For starters, they’ll review all of the documents involved in the purchase of the home, including the legal descriptions and the title insurance policy. You will be getting their expertise in a big way, because they can scan these documents and make sure that everything looks good.

However, what if things don’t look good? They have the power to change legal language in a purchase contract or even use state laws to void the purchase contract altogether — is that something that you think you can do on your own?

It can be scary for an individual or even a couple to work with the mortgage loan officer, the seller’s attorney (trust us; the seller will probably have their own representation — why wouldn’t you get your own lawyer if you could help it?) — and of course, the real estate agents on both sides. In a way, having an attorney is a great way to make sure that the real estate agent stays honest. We don’t want to assume that all real estate agents are shady, but when there’s a lot of money at stake, there are times where people take shortcuts that they normally wouldn’t.

Now, you might wonder about the actual cost of hiring a real estate lawyer. It can be done on a flat fee or up to an hourly rate, which is what you want to try to avoid if you can. Make sure that no matter what type of fee structure your attorney asks you for that you don’t just go without a contract agreement — you want to have every responsibility spelled out — why not get started looking for the real estate attorney of your dreams today? You’ll be glad that you did!