Hi Jph,

In our area (I see you're in Queens and this applies to downstate New York where we generally use attorneys to close transactions), you only need the real estate attorney once you have an accepted offer, because contracts will be prepared by the seller's attorney and sent to your attorney. That said, I highly recommend you know who you will be using by the time you make your offer. That way the seller and his/her agent will know that if they accept your offer there's nothing stopping them from getting the contracts over to your attorney.

I'd also suggest that you speak with your REALTOR and maybe friends that have recently purchased about attorneys they might recommend. As an agent, I can tell you that sometimes the wrong attorney can very easily jeapordize or kill a deal unintentionally. If they are too slow to respond, take a long time to get the deal in contract, or are difficult for the REALTORS to interface with you may lose the deal - even if it's a great deal for both you and the seller(s). If your agent is really good, consider using an attorney he/she recommends. If you're not too comfortable with the agent, consider finding an attorney on your own, so if there's a problem down the line you know that there's no correlation.

Hope that helps! Feel free to contact me directly if I can be of further assistance - I'm happy to help.

Sincerely,
Diallo J. Stevens, REALTOR®, CRS, GRI, SRES, RECS, e-PRO

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E-mail: Diallo@DialloStevens.com
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The easiest way to keep your stress level low, is to get on the schedule of those needed to close your home ASAP. If you are under contract, this means the home inspectors(structural, mechanical and termite) other inspectors (if needed), surveyors, lenders, the movers, the place you are moving from(coordinate this), mail delivery, utilities and cable ordered, and the attorney.
If you have a Realtor working for you, say, a buyer's agent/repressentative, they will coordinate all of the players in the transaction to guide you through it with as little stress/damage as possible. The closing attorney, in my market (Charlotte) typically takes care of ordering the title search, making sure you have clear title (battling if the home doesn't) and working in symphony with the buyer's lender and the seller's Realtor to ensure your home is delivered to you on the day it is supposed to and with clean title. At closing, they walk all parties through the various documents, and make sure that the HUD1 (final settlement statement) is in compliance with the lender and the government(RESPA).