Attoryneys, A Vital Resource
By Jim Palmer Jr.

While reading a Client Review concerning a closed transaction, I noticed that the client had made positive comments about the Realtor®, but then made an extremely negative comment about the closing attorney. “Please don’t ever use that attorney again!” said the comment. “Love them or hate them depending upon which side you are on” said another client.
In a past poll concerning favorability ratings of different occupations, attorneys fell close to the bottom of the rating scale, somewhere below Realtors® and even below used car-salesmen. So, why do attorneys get that kind of negative press? Because there really are a few unscrupulous attorneys who have tainted public perception of the profession in a negative way and thence the whole profession has suffered.

Regardless of those few bad apples, the real estate attorneys I choose to do business with are well worth the money and honorable in every way.  In the realm of real estate, attorneys provide many valuable services, including the closing of transactions.  Real estate attorneys provide many vital services such as creating documents that deal with easements, shared well and road maintenance agreements and real estate contracts.

They may also be called upon to defend a client in a lawsuit such as adverse possession or other disputes that are transaction or property related. They may be pressed into service to file a lawsuit that helps to right a wrong. Many attorneys are not general practitioners like your old family doctor. Instead, most of them specialize in a certain segment of the law. For example some attorneys specialize in the rental aspect of real estate and only work with landlords to do evictions. They are really good at evictions, but they may not be the one you call upon to defend an adverse possession law suit.
In my career I have called upon many different attorneys to perform a variety of tasks that required a high degree of proficiency in specific tasks. I have found that most great attorneys are very willing to bow out when the task involved is not in their wheel house. They usually know another attorney whom they trust to refer those tasks to.

I’m thankful for those trusted attorneys whom I consider to be part of my “real estate team”!  Don’t be afraid to ask your Realtor® to refer a great attorney if you have a need concerning a real estate question.