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Average Cost of Real Estate Attorney for Lease Option To Buy Contract?
Hello, We are in California and looking to obtain a Real Estate Attorney to assist with a Lease Option To Buy Contract for California. We wanted a general estitmate of what a Real Estate Attorney may cost/fee to review a Lease Option To Buy Contract and advise us appropriately. Has anyone used a Real Estate Attorney for Lease Option To Buy Contract here in California? If so, how did it work out for you and what was the average cost? Thanks in advance.....
Public Comments
- It will cost $240 for one hour consultation. These are rather simple contracts. There is a tenant with a lease (you can buy one of those at a bookstore). And there is a paragraph about how the tenant will pay for the house. Short and simple. The attorney will strongly advise the homeowner not to enter into a Lease Option contract. They have a success-rate under 10% which is guaranteed to lead to unhappiness..
- Call real estate attorneys and ask. You definitely don't want to pay one by the hour in order for him/her to learn the law. Thus, you want one who's done it before. Here are a couple of test questions for an attorney: QUESTION: "Should any document be filed with the county tax records or assessor's office? If so, what document?" ANSWER: Yes. A "Notice of Agreement." Not the actual actual option. QUESTION (If he gets that part right): Why? ANSWER: To cloud the title. (It should be pretty much those exact words.) QUESTION: Should the lease option I sign with the seller be one document, or a separate lease and option? ANSWER: One document. QUESTION: How can I make sure that the owner is still making payments on the property? I wouldn't want the house to get foreclosed upon. ANSWER: Have the owner sign an "Agreement to Disclose." (This allows you to contact the owner's mortgage company and ensure that all payments are being made on time. QUESTION: Should I be concerned about a "due on sale" clause? ANSWER: Yes. Via the lease option, the owner is violating his mortgage's due on sale clause. [Though, really, in today's climate, it's not a big worry at all. Don't let it stop you. But a lawyer should know that a lease option triggers the due on sale clause.] There are five questions. Any good lawyer will get all five right. A competent one will get 4 out of 5 right. Any less, and they have no idea what they're doing. You also don't want to go to an office supply store and buy a "standard" lease option contract. First, there are no "standard lease option contracts." Nope. Further, the lease option contract you want, as a tenant-buyer, differs substantially from the contract a landlord would want you to sign. Finally, despite Ed's statement, lease options can have a higher success rate than 10%. Realistically, though, even when they're structured to be highly advantageous to the buyer, there's probably a 60% response rate. The average is probably under 50%. Still, in the right situation, they can be a good solution for both buyer and seller. Hope that helps.
