Sandy Balzer Tobin's Blog

Clients often ask if they need to hire an attorney when buying or selling a home. The first thing I tell them is that I am not an attorney, I am a marketing and negotiation specialist. After a decade in the business, I can give you an idea of the legality of certain issues and how I’ve seen similar situations evolve, but it would only be in laymen’s terms. Absolutely you should hire an attorney. Trying to save money in this way could cause huge complications down the road involving what is likely your most expensive asset.

Normally in Massachusetts attorneys get involved once an offer has been accepted on a house. Ken Goldberg, a Needham real estate attorney I have worked with, pointed out an attorney is important in the drafting and review of the Purchase and Sale contract, which outlines every legality, from purchase price to financing contingencies to title issues. Attorneys are key in making sure a property has a clean title and that it does not have any open-ended zoning issues. A buyer’s attorney makes sure the buyer is protected and a seller’s attorney makes sure the seller can move on and not be dragged back for some problem years down the road. Attorneys also prepare all the paperwork needed for the closing and record the sale with the Registry of Deeds.

Some buyers, if they are obtaining a mortgage, will elect to use the bank attorney for the transaction. You can do this, but I remind my clients that the bank attorney’s job is to protect the bank, not the person borrowing the money. Personally, I would want to know that someone was looking out for just me.

A pet peeve among real estate brokers is when people hire their Uncle Vinnie, who may be an attorney, but he’s a litigator or a tax attorney, not a real estate attorney. Sure, any attorney can legally negotiate on your behalf, but would you hire a podiatrist to treat your migraines? Real estate attorneys know the ins and outs and the risks involved with home sales. They do this for a living and they can do it in their sleep. They know the players; the brokers, the bankers, the other attorneys. They make sure the transaction moves along smoothly.

Most importantly, they keep the real estate agents in the loop. These agents are the ones who initially negotiated the agreement on your behalf. Sometimes when the attorneys get their hands on the transaction, they leave the brokers out of the loop. I’ve seen too many transactions get de-railed because of this lack of communication. It goes something like this: The brokers negotiate a sale along with various details. The attorneys get hold of it and start re-negotiating aspects of the sale that were previously agreed upon. Buyers and sellers sometimes get confused as to what these changes mean. They call their broker for input and their agent has no idea what’s going on. Now everyone is upset and the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Not a good situation. Veteran real estate attorneys know that the brokers are ushering this transaction to the final closing and need to be aware of all the details.

So, yes, definitely hire an attorney. Don’t try to do this on your own in order to pinch a few pennies. After all, we know what they say about the lawyer who chooses to represent himself.

Bidding wars: The phrase strikes glee in the hearts of sellers and dread in the hearts of buyers. In Needham over the last several weeks, I know of at least five bidding wars. With inventory at historic lows, there are sure to be more in the coming months. So what do you do if  you are a buyer faced with this tricky situation?

First, be prepared. Have a preapproval letter and make sure it’s current. Know how much you can pay and when you can close. Being prepared also means knowing exactly what you want in a house and exactly what the market is doing. Visit open houses, not just in your price range, but higher and lower ranges as well to give you perspective. Follow sales closely. This is when it’s wise to work with a good, local agent who is tracking sales and may have inside knowledge on what’s happening in the field. If you try and use some of today’s popular real estate websites for information, you may end up basing your research on incomplete or out-of-date information. Go over all the offer documents with your agent ahead of time so you know what you’re signing when the time comes.

Be prepared to act fast. As soon as you see a new listing hit the market, make a plan with your agent to see it as soon as possible. If the sellers are only allowing people in at the first open house, becoming common in this climate, get there as soon as the open house starts. Make sure your agent knows you are going so he or she can prepare some offer documents in advance.

When you make the offer, make it clean. Don’t jumble it up with a series of requests or ask for any of the seller’s possessions. Consider waiving some contingencies if you can. Most importantly, be as flexible as possible with a closing date. This can be just as important to a seller as price.

If you do find your offer is one of many, there are three possible scenarios as to how it will play out, all controlled by the seller. The first scenario, though most unlikely, is the seller will choose an offer immediately from what is on the table. It happens, so if you haven’t put your best foot forward, you might miss out. The next scenario is the sellers will begin to negotiate all the offers individually, back and forth. But this is time consuming and in the heat of the moment, most sellers just want to know what’s the best offer they can get. This leads to the third scenario; the best and final offer.  

Best and final allows buyers to decide the most they are willing to pay and under what conditions. It allows the buyer a bit of control and an opportunity to ask some hard questions. How much do I love it? How much am I willing to pay for it? Most importantly, how much would I be willing to lose it? I always advise to offer the highest price a buyer is comfortable with but one that won’t make them cry if they find out somebody else got it for just a bit more. This is also a chance to clean up any contingencies or dates to make the offer more appealing to the seller.

If you lose, be prepared to be disappointed. If you win, be prepared to question yourself about whether you spent too much. A common reaction. But if you are prepared with market knowledge and set out in your mind how much you want  to pay for the house from the start, you shouldn’t feel any buyer’s remorse, just excitement at the purchase of your new home. It’s a new real estate landscape. The tide has turned to a sellers market in a wide band of price ranges. The key for buyers today is to have a plan.

In the early process of getting a house ready for sale, people will ask for advice on how to get their home in shape. What I find is very often there is a room in the house being used for multiple purposes. This is when I point out the “one room, one use” rule.

 Many times there will be a desk with a computer and printer stuck in the corner of a formal living room. Sometimes the dining room table is covered with paperwork, doing double duty as an office.  In one home I visited, a first floor bedroom was both a guest room with a bed in one corner and a play room filled with shelves and baskets of toys in the other corner.

Many of us may live like this, combining our spaces in different ways to suit our needs. Unfortunately, when you’re trying to sell a house, this confuses the buyer. “What is this room?” they ask. It should be perfectly obvious what the room is, but buyers can’t see past your “stuff.”

If your house was built with a formal living room, stage it that way. A bedroom is fine to be used as an office, as long as it’s only an office.  Your kitchen may be where your budding artist has his paints and easel set up, but that scene is not going to help sell your house. When buyers walk into a home, they need to immediately be able to picture themselves living there. You don’t want anything to impede that vision. If your living arrangements are not conducive to the original intent of the room, you’re going to have to find another place for those items. When you move to your new home, you can spread those things back out anywhere you like. It takes a little sweat equity sometimes, but the results are well worth it.