While buying a new home is an exciting prospect, it is also a major financial investment. Because buying real estate is such a big decision, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to know that the laws concerning real estate purchases are highly complex. If you are planning to buy a new home, we at Jones, Childers, Donaldson & Webb, PLLC can help make the process easier.
We have extensive experience in real estate law, and we can make sure the legal side of the process goes as smoothly as possible. In this article, we will go over a few key things that all home buyers should know about real estate law to help you know what to expect.
- Mortgages- Only the very rich can afford to buy property outright. Everyone else will need to take out a loan to finance the purchase. You will need to make a down payment on the house and take out a mortgage loan from a bank or other financial institution to make up the difference. Then, you will make regular payments to the bank over a set period until the loan is paid off.
- Offer- Another thing you should know about real estate law and purchases is that when buying a house, you do not have to pay the asking price. Instead, real estate prices are negotiations—the seller asks for a certain price, then the buyer makes an offer of the price they consider fair. Negotiations continue until both parties can agree or until one party decides to walk away.
- Closing- A third thing you should know about buying a house is that you will need to go through a process called closing in order to finalize the purchase and transfer the property from the seller’s ownership to yours. This is a legal process that requires you to sign a lot of paperwork, so you should always have a real estate law professional with you to make sure everything is correct.