A student visa that lets you study at the university of your choice is a terrific thing for you. But what happens if your studies take longer than you planned? On top of exams and term papers, you may have to worry about your student visa expiring. That’s where an immigration lawyer can be your best friend. Understanding how immigration laws work can be the first step to making sure that you keep your student visa in good standing. My blog is all about immigration issues, especially those faced by foreign students. Check out the articles for more information that you can use to complete your studies in the country you chose to study in.
If you are getting ready to purchase your first home, you may want to consider hiring a real estate attorney for help. While you can purchase a home without an attorney, having an attorney is helpful for many reasons. Here are three important things your attorney will do to make sure you are protected during the home-buying process.
Add Contingencies To Your Purchase Agreement
One of the most important parts of writing a purchase agreement for the home you want to buy is making sure it offers a way out. Once you complete a purchase agreement and give it to the seller of the home, you will enter into a legal contract to purchase the house. The only way you will be able to get out of the deal is with contingencies.
A contingency is something added to the purchase agreement that offers a way for you to back out of the contract if there is a problem. The contingencies you add to the contract must be detailed and precise, and this is why it is important to have a lawyer create the contract for you. While there are a number of contingencies you could use, the most common ones are designed to address major problems with the house. This can include the following problems:
If you were to buy a house that had any of these problems, you might suddenly be faced with repair bills that could total thousands of dollars, or possibly even more than this. A contingency on the contract gives you the chance to fully inspect the house to look for problems like this and to back out if you find one or more major issues.
Make Sure You Get Credit For Taxes
A second thing you might not realize when buying a house is that you may be entitled to a credit for property taxes. Property taxes are typically calculated for an entire year and are payable the following year. If you closed on the house on April 1st, you would be responsible to pay the property taxes due in May. Because of the way this is set up, you should receive a credit from the seller for the time frame up until the date you close on the house. In other words, the seller must pay you for the property taxes he or she incurred, and you will then have the responsibility for paying the bills when they come. If you did not realize how this worked, you might not get this credit, and you would then end up having to pay for property taxes on the house for a time period when you did not even own the house.
Research The Title Of The Home
Finally, your attorney will perform the title work on the property for you. Title work is needed to make sure the buyer actually owns the house and that there are no liens on the property. If you purchased a house that had unpaid liens, you would end up becoming responsible for these liens. In addition, if you purchased a house that really did not belong to the seller, you could end up with major problems down the road.
Title work is done to protect you, the buyer, and your lawyer will also make sure you have title insurance, which is designed to protect you in the event that something was not discovered during the title work process.
The home-buying process can be complex and tricky, especially for people that have never gone through it before. If you want to make sure everything is done properly during your first home purchase, you should consider hiring a real estate attorney, such as Iannello Anderson, for help.
Share7 March 2016
