Q: Should the buyer and the seller use the same attorney on the sale of a house?
A: The answer to this question requires you to ask two more key questions:
• Should you trust the advice of an attorney representing other parties in the same real estate transaction with you?
• Can you assume that an attorney, whom you may not even know, is looking out for your best interests while he or she is simultaneously representing others with interests contrary to yours?
There are two real estate agents involved in most transactions. Typically, these agents independently represent the buyer or seller, whom they assist in the transaction. At times, as a matter of convenience, an agent will represent both the buyer and seller under what is termed dual agency. In this case, both parties receive somewhat compromised representation, given the potential for conflicts of interest.
Similarly, buyers and sellers have the opportunity to employ attorneys to represent their interests, both as independent counsel and through multiple representations. In North Carolina it is customary for the attorney representing the buyer to do a title search and offer legal advice. It is also customary for the same attorney to offer limited representation to the seller by preparing the deed. In this same transaction, it is also customary for the lender to be represented by the same attorney involving document execution.
Now I don’t know about you, but I would want someone exclusively on my side if I have a real estate problem to solve, not an attorney shared by others.
Perhaps the most compelling reason that one would have for sharing an attorney with other parties is simply a matter of convenience. The closing can occur more quickly and easily with one attorney than with two or three. The risks involved in sharing an attorney, in some cases, may outweigh the benefit of this convenience. This is a business decision that the buyer and seller must make.
Ultimately, the decision to share the same closing attorney is a personal matter to be decided independently by the buyer and seller for each transaction. In a simple transaction where there is little room for conflict, sharing an attorney, I think, is warranted. In complicated circumstances, and where there may be contentious issues between the parties, having independent counsel should be the rule. Here you cannot afford to risk having a fox in the henhouse.
Furthermore, in cases where the parties begin sharing an attorney in what is believed to be a simple and trouble-free transaction and where problems later arise, it is recommended that each seek independent counsel before closing. Your Realtor should be a resource to assist you in deciding whether or not you use independent counsel in a particular transaction.
House Helper answers are provided by area industry professionals and are the opinions of our experts. Triad Homes does not make any representations as to opinions and facts.
If you have a question that can be answered by a Realtor, remodeler, builder or mortgage loan adviser, please send it to Heather L. Modlin at hmodlin@news-record.com or by fax to 373-5956.
About our contributor
Charlie Elliott, MAI, SRA, is president of Century 21 Elliott Properties in Greensboro and Boone and president of Elliott & Co. Appraisers. He can be reached by telephone at 854-3074, ext. 3020, or by e-mail at charlie@elliottco.com.
