[quote=spdrun]Both NJ and NY require attorneys. I have less of a problem working with one just before closing (after I satisfy myself of everything) than dealing with a buyer broker for months on end!
Atty fee is actually cheap as compared to a broker commission. Yeah, yeah, seller pays, but everything eventually gets passed to the buyer![/quote]
Don’t know about NY, but NJ doesn’t actually require an attorney. In order to protect themselves, NJ agents always put a requirement for “attorney review” in the offer/acceptance. It’s of very little value. The review is basically a rubber stamp (how much repeat business is an attorney going to get if s/he nixes the deal?) and the attorney’s pay is so low (about $1000 per closing) that all the work gets done by paralegals (who may or may not be qualified). When we were trying to close, the opposing attorney added in the requirement for a “quantitative three part pump test.” After googling that phrase and getting ZERO hits we asked repeatedly for the requirement to be removed or explained and got no reply. Since this meaningless requirement seemed like a built in method of getting out of the contract, we told the buyer no deal which led to them having to get a different lawyer, more $$$ for them, etc.
The bottom line is: only way you get a real attorney review anywhere is for each party to pay by the hour rather than a flat fee – we ended up paying about $5000 but saving ourselves a little over twice that much, so it was worth it.
