Good real estate attorney.

[NH Native]

Could some body recommend a good real estate attorney and a good building inspector?

Preferably somebody you have had experience with.

Thanks

[WithoutAPaddle]

What issues concern you? 

[NH Native]

I'm about to buy a place and I need a title search.

I also forgot to ask for a recommendation for a title insurance company.

I don't have a buyer's agent right now and would like to get some referrals from people who aren't representing the seller.  I know that there are a lot of people on this board who have moved here and have probably been through the process before and could probably recommend some good people.

[WithoutAPaddle]

I gave up trying to identify "good" attorneys after spending hundreds of hours trying to do so.  If you call the New Hampshire Bar Association referral service, they'll give you the names of attorneys in your area, or in the area where the real estate is located, who have self-identified real estate as an area of their claimed expertise.  I know that's not much of an endorsement, but given how soft the economy is right now, I suspect that if you picked one out of the Yellow Pages (is there still a Yellow Pages?), any attorney whose business is slow would tell you he handles a lot of real estate whether he does or not.  Beyond that, while a friend or confidant of yours might be able to tell you if he has observed gross incompetence by an attorney, very few lay people can otherwise assess their lawyer's technical competence.  In other words, you might benefit from hearing a negative endorsement, but a positive one shouldn't carry much weight.

When I had looked into New Hampshire title guarantees a couple of decades ago, I was told by a Register of Probate just two companies were writing nearly all of the policies, but she didn't recommend one over the other. I think the name "Sterling", was in one of them.  Chances are, the real estate attorney you engage will connect you with his title insurance company of choice.

[doobie]

Most real estate sales in NH proceed without a real estate attorney.  Unless something goes wrong....  My realestate agent said she has been working NH real estate for 15 years and never had any one (seller or buyer) hire a lawyer.

[Free libertarian]

"good...attorney"  = oxymoron.   

[MaineShark]

I'm about to buy a place and I need a title search.

I also forgot to ask for a recommendation for a title insurance company.

Generally, the title company does the title search.  Since they're going to insure it, they make sure it's clear.

I don't have a buyer's agent right now and would like to get some referrals from people who aren't representing the seller.  I know that there are a lot of people on this board who have moved here and have probably been through the process before and could probably recommend some good people.

What area of NH?  Most Realtors (or home inspectors) aren't going to travel hours, so you'll get better recommendations if you indicate where this sale is taking place.

[WithoutAPaddle]

"good...attorney"  = oxymoron.   

Yeah, those eight-sided morons are the worst kind.

[WithoutAPaddle]

Real estate purchase agreements in Strafford County are mind blowers.  When my mother sold her house in 1997, there were errors deliberately entered into the bill of sale regarding some significant dates.  As her lawyer explained it to us, there was some governmental entity that had moved its fiscal closing from one date to another to incur a one-shot revenue wiindfall, which would have resulted in some real estate owners getting screwed by being contractually forced to honor an obligation regarding culpability for property tax, so some lawyer organization calling itself the Strafford County Bar Association or something like that agreed that, from now until eternity, they would use a wrong origination date and a wrong closing dates in tax calculations to effectively "kick the can" of the financial impact of the fiscal date change.  I have long suspected that they came up with this nonsense so that none would be sued for malpractice, but while it makes for interesting conversation with your lawyer, it doesn't add anything to your tax bill.

If this is mortgaged property, then the bank has the ultimate interest in ascertaining the integrity of the title, since they would otherwise be vulnerable to eating the loss if you defaulted and some newly discovered encumberance made it difficult for them to recover what they were still owed.

Are you planning on changing the use or character of this property?

[WithoutAPaddle]

Most real estate sales in NH proceed without a real estate attorney.  Unless something goes wrong....  My realestate agent said she has been working NH real estate for 15 years and never had any one (seller or buyer) hire a lawyer.

Sorry to have to offend your agent, but I don't believe her.  I suspect that she just prefers that the parties not engage attorneys.

[NH Native]

The place is a townhouse in Londonderry and I won't have a mortgage so it is entirely on me to make sure the title is good and that the place is in good condition or figure out what it will take/cost to fix the place up.  It does require some work.

Are there any other caveats that I should know about that any of you have experienced when buying a place?

"good...attorney"  = oxymoron.   

LOL!

[MaineShark]

The place is a townhouse in Londonderry and I won't have a mortgage so it is entirely on me to make sure the title is good and that the place is in good condition or figure out what it will take/cost to fix the place up.  It does require some work.

I'll ask a couple folks I know whether they might be interested.

[Silent_Bob]

Are there any other caveats that I should know about that any of you have experienced when buying a place?

Ya. If its a condo don't buy it. Condo "Associations" are miserable things to deal with.