Home Sale Law in New York

Buying or selling a house can be an exciting but stressful time in a person's life. It also requires a person to make a large number of possibly life-changing financial and legal decisions.

Because of the complexity of these issues, most persons in Rockland County, New York don't opt to sell real estate themselves, even though there are no laws barring them from doing so.

One good way to help a real estate sale or purchase go smoothly is to contact a real estate broker. These professionals can help you find the right house within your budget, or help you find suitable buyers for a house you're selling.

Rockland County, New York real estate brokers are typically paid by taking a pre-determined portion of the house's sale price.

Getting a Mortgage in Rockland County, New York

Any direct questions asked of the seller by the buyer must be answered truthfully. This is particularly the case if the buyer asks about defects in the property. If the seller lies in response to such questions, they have just committed a very significant form of fraud. If the buyer later discovers this defect (after buying the property) he can sue the seller for any physical or financial harm caused by it.

In addition to disclosing any material facts the buyer directly inquires about, most "latent defects" in a house or other piece of property should be disclosed whether the buyer asks or not. Usually, any defect that the seller knows about and that the buyer can't be expected to know through a reasonable inspection, it has to be disclosed.

Buyers should remember, nonetheless, that if they are not blameless in their failure to discover defects, they might not be able to recover if they sue.

Consequently, buyers must inspect the property before they buy it. If they don't, they can't sue for any defects they later become aware of, if an inspection would have revealed those defects.

Can a Rockland County, New York Real Estate Attorney help?

As you can imagine, there are many more legal and financial issues that can affect the outcome of a real estate transaction. However, buying a house is also a very exciting time for most people. A reliable Rockland County, New York real estate attorney can help you focus on the positive aspects, and avoid dealing with the most difficult and tedious (but nonetheless necessary) aspects.