Home Sale Law in North Carolina

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.

While there are no laws in Pinehurst, North Carolina against persons buying or selling real estate on their own, this is rarely the ideal way to go, given the many legal issues surrounding the sale of property.

One good way to help a real estate sale or purchase go smoothly is to hire 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.

Pinehurst, North Carolina real estate brokers are usually paid by taking a pre-determined portion of the house's sale price.

Getting a Mortgage in Pinehurst, North Carolina

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. Generally, 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.

Therefore, 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 Pinehurst, North Carolina Real Estate Attorney help?

If you are buying a home in Pinehurst, North Carolina, there are probably things you want to focus on other than paperwork and required inspections, such as the process of moving in, checking out schools, etc. A reputable real estate attorney can make it much easier to focus on the aspects of home ownership that matter to you.