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.

In Thornwood, New York, it's perfectly legal for individuals to buy and sell homes without the assistance of a third party. Nonetheless, this isn't the only option, and isn't always the best option, either.

For that reason, it's typically best to buy and sell property through a real estate broker. This is a person who helps a person buy or sell a home. They help as an intermediary between the buyer and seller, help sellers find buyers, and help prospective buyers. They also handle a great deal of the paperwork and other formalities involved.

In Thornwood, New York, brokers typically receive compensation in the form of a percentage of the sale price of the home.

Getting a Mortgage in Thornwood, New York

First and foremost, if a buyer asks any question of the seller relating to physical defects in the property, the seller must, under all cases, be as truthful as possible. In this case being "as truthful as possible" means answering such questions to the best of your knowledge, and making reasonable efforts to find the answers if you don't know them. Lying in this case is very bad idea, and will expose you to serious civil penalties

Moreover, most defects should be disclosed even if the buyer doesn't directly ask about them. Usually, defects which must be disclosed are those which are known to the seller, and which the buyer cannot be expected to find through a regular inspection.

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 Thornwood, New York Real Estate Attorney help?

If you are buying a home in Thornwood, New York, 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 reliable real estate attorney can make it much easier to focus on the aspects of home ownership that matter to you.