Hiring a Lawyer vs Hiring a Real Estate Agent When Buying Property

Congratulations! You’ve saved enough money to finally be able to purchase a house or even commercial property. It’s one of the most important milestones that one can reach in a lifetime.

Whether you’re buying your first home or investing in a commercial building, you’re going to be shelling out a lot of money at once. A piece of real property is one of the biggest purchases that you’re going to make, and as with any purchase that requires a significant amount of money, you’re naturally going to want to get your money’s worth. And well, there are often two professionals that you ask for assistance when you’re purchasing property — either you hire real estate agents or your hire lawyers.

So, is there a distinct advantage of hiring one over the other?

Therein Lies the First Fallacy

The assumption that you need either/or is the fallacy here because you have to look things with a wider angle lens in order to comprehend what is being required of you and your professional of choice. See, there are two aspects here that you need to cover.

A. The Legal Aspect of Property Buying

B. The Marketing Aspect of Property Buying

While you can argue that a lawyer is going to be able to provide both legal and real estate services, the lawyers specializing in real estate are few. Not all lawyers are adept at handling real estate issues and you would be lucky if you’re able to find a lawyer who is.

On the other hand, while you can say that a real estate agent has more experience in dealing with real estate matters, a real estate agent is in no way qualified, or more importantly, not certified to provide legal advice.

What’s The Distinction Between a Legal Question and a Real Estate Question?

Well, it’s more simple than other articles of the same nature like to state. A legal question entails whether or not a certain course of action is going to cause legal ramifications. Questions that pertain to contracts, shared properties, and build limitations are all legal questions because failure to adhere to any of these laws will get you in trouble. “What happens if I do this?”

On the other hand, real estate questions are questions that pertain directly to the sale or purchase of the property. “How many square feet is the property? How many rooms?”

If you haven’t caught the subtle difference, then allow me to point it out. Legal questions involve an action and whether or not one is allowed to do them. Real estate questions put a great emphasis on facts about the property rather than consequences.

So, should you hire a real estate agent over a lawyer and vice versa? Well, the answer is the one that nobody likes, but it’s one that’s the wisest course of action. Hire them both and let each focus on their area of expertise. You’re going to be paying a lot of money for your new property, make sure that all your bases are covered.