Can I do a real estate closing without a lawyer.
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Can I do a real estate closing without a lawyer.
How do lawyers do a title search, and check for liens?
Asked on July 3, 2009 under Real Estate Law, North Carolina
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 15 years ago | Contributor
You can do a real estate closing yourself, but for the kind of money most likely involved here it may well be worth your while to hire an attorney. As for the title search, you can hire a title company to do that for you for a nominal cost. The title company can issue you title insurance for the property; something I highly recommend. This will offer you your best protection against any outstanding liens or the like. In fact, if you are financing the property, your lender will require it.
Again, you may want to consider being represented by counsel for this.
Best of luck.
B. B., Member, New Jersey Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 15 years ago | Contributor
The system is a bit different from one state to another, and I don't practice in North Carolina. But it's been a long time since lawyers did their own title searches, mostly, there are people who aren't lawyers who do this more or less full time, either free-lance or as employees of title insurance companies. If you are buying a piece of real estate without a lawyer (which I don't recommend), and you're paying cash, you can still get title insurance (which I can't imagine you could skip if you were getting a mortgage); there should be one or more title insurance companies in your area in the telephone book. They'll arrange for the searches, and title insurance is your guarantee that this extremely important step is done right.
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