Before You Sell Your Distressed Property

Illinois’ Requirement Of Hiring A Real Estate Agent To Sell Property

Most of the time, a short sale property needs to be listed. It’s only in very rare and specific instances that you don’t need to list the property. So, while selling a property in Illinois does not require hiring a real estate agent, it is not in your best interest to sell your property on your own.  You do not pay anything for a short sale, and 99% of the time the bank pays for your attorney fees, realtor fees, transfer taxes, desperations, and title fees. As a result, we strongly advise hiring an experienced real estate agent, and if possible, one with distressed property sale experience.

When you’re doing a short sale, you’re trying to accomplish two things: On the one hand, you as the loan payer don’t want to owe the bank for the loan. On the other hand, the bank wants to get a good offer so it can recoup as much of its money as possible. Consequently, you and the bank are working together in a partnership.

Real Estate Attorneys & The Property Sale Process

In Chicago, everyone needs a real estate attorney when selling a property. Real estate attorneys do everything from start to finish to make the transaction as seamless as possible. Your attorney does the title work. With the short sale, your attorney also does all the negotiations with the bank as well as the closing. Attorneys also take care of all the other requirements: surveys, transfer stamps, and document preparation. They get everything done so that after the seller signs, they hand the documents over to the title company, and the buyer signs.

The Time To Hire A Real Estate Attorney & The Cost Of Representation

You should hire a real estate attorney even before you list your property. Before making a decision about who you will hire, you should interview a couple of attorneys. Based on your conversations with them, you should get a good idea of who knows a lot and who doesn’t.

As for cost, keep in mind that the fee doesn’t come directly out of your pocket because everything gets paid by the bank with the short sale. Only if the attorney has to go to court would you pay.

In terms of the short sale and the closing, that all gets covered by the bank, so there’s no reason not to see an attorney. An attorney is not going to charge you a counsel fee for a short sale either as it is something that will get paid for by the bank.

The Common Mistakes Distressed Homeowners Make That Could Be Avoided

One of the common mistakes is someone going to court by themselves. Consider that law students go to three years of law school to become attorneys. After we graduate and pass the bar exam, we still don’t know what we are doing. We need a mentor to practice working through the legal system. In a foreclosure case, if you go into court, you need to properly respond to the complaint or a judgment gets entered.

We see people come to us when they have a sale date, and they go to court by themselves. They didn’t file paperwork, or they filed the paperwork incorrectly, which is easy to do in Illinois because you have to file some very specific responses in your answers or you might have your facts used against you. They sought our help after being in court two months ago and the property is up for sale.

If they had hired us sooner, there would not be a judgment against them. They would have had plenty of time to get a short sale done, and they would have about a year and a half or so to plan for the loss of their property.

As a lawyer, if I have a legal issue and it’s not in my area of expertise, I would seek the help of another attorney who focuses on that area. I’m an attorney yet I would not try doing it myself. Hire people with expertise and allow them to work in your best interest.

For more information on Real Estate Agents For Distressed Properties, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (312) 313-1033 today.