Your friends just got married, and they are looking for a new home to move into. They know you study law, so they ask you for advice on how to go about the process. What’s surprising, though, is that you have no idea what advice to give them.
There are a lot of things that can go wrong when buying a property. You should always advise people to hire a real estate lawyer to help them with their needs. This will help them avoid any legal issues that may arise from dealing with landowners and brokers.
Real estate attorneys are essential in the legal field, and in society, in general. They are more important to your everyday life than you think. By hiring a real estate attorney to help you with your real estate transactions, you will save a lot of time (and money) by avoiding bogus sellers and invalid contracts.
As a law student, you might be wondering what the fuss is about. Learning about real estate law may be just what you need to pursue in this legal field.
Real Estate
Real estate, by definition, is a piece of land along with anything permanently attached to it. It is different from personal property such as jewelry, furniture, and vehicles.
Real estate is an important part of society. It connects all of us through our lifestyles. We need real estate to live, to eat, to pray, to study. Real estate involves residential homes, commercial buildings, and conservation lands. It is important for both the economy and our society.
Importance of Studying Real Estate Law
Real Estate Law involves the just practice of regulating real estate in our society. Lawyers are responsible for keeping real estate policies and legal matters in good hands as the citizens of society try to navigate through the land. They are responsible for accomplishing real estate transactions according to the law.
Real estate affects all aspects of our daily lives. Therefore, Real Estate Law is an essential field of study for future lawyers. This also brings us back to the importance of advising your friends to get a real estate attorney when they need one.
Practicing Real Estate Law
Now that you have knowledge of the value of real estate attorneys, how can you become one?
There are many years needed to be invested when one decides to pursue law. To be a real estate attorney, one would need to become a Juris Doctor. The next step is to obtain a license as a new lawyer. After those years, you would still need about 2-5 years of experience as employers prefer this in their hiring candidates.
Apart from the academics, being a real estate attorney, or any lawyer for that matter, entails the need for certain characteristics.
Values of a Real Estate Attorney
To be efficient in drafting contracts of sale, a lawyer must be proficient in their speaking and writing skills. Without these skills, it will be difficult for a lawyer to write a well-thought-out and well-written contract wherein both parties will be legally bound to.
Research is also one of the skills that a lawyer should have. This one is an obvious skill that a lawyer should hone. Conducting research on cases is a vital part of becoming a lawyer. One should be efficient in using their time to conduct thorough research of a specific subject to avoid wasting the clients’ time and money.
A real estate attorney should be analytical. This skill will be applied to reviewing contracts and signing papers that should be analyzed thoroughly if they are legally-sound. One of the main reasons why people hire real estate attorneys is for them to use their knowledge to review any errors in contracts before the client agrees to sign.
Lastly, a lawyer needs hard skills in problem-solving. In dealing with a conflict between clients and landowners, a level-headed attorney should be able to tone down the issue and come up with a settlement that is in accordance with the law.
These characteristics are basic values that a real estate attorney should have to maintain a good record as a practicing lawyer. As a law student, you can already practice these values in your studies as you climb your way up to your Juris Doctor diploma. Becoming a real estate attorney is not an “easy way out” because, in fact, it is a tough job to deal with. One needs guts to fulfill one’s duty as a real estate attorney.
