Attorneys: Commercial Real Estate Attorney?
Friday, August 14th, 2009 at
9:42 am
What role do commercial real estate attorneys play in a commercial transaction? Are they necessary? I worked for a commercial cheap prescription drugs real estate broker briefly and don’t recall ever dealing with an attorney. Do they make more money than a residential real estate attorney? (I’m going to law school next year and thinking about focusing on real estate law, as I already have a real estate degree and I like the field). Thank you for any insights you may be able to give.
You must be in a state where the closings are held without attorneys. The realty brokers write the contracts and the escrow company closes the sale.
A commercial realty attorney would be good to "craft" a purchase contract that would be specific to one piece of property. Better than a preprinted contract that an agent pulls out of a drawer.
Mostly the attorneys are used to clean up the problems that occur later. Suing sellers for undisclosed underground gasoline tanks; sinkholes; undisclosed easements.
And they are used to evict tenants. They appear in court so the landlord can stay at work.
It all depends on what state you are in. Some states require a lawyer to close any real estate transaction and other states require an escrow to close a real estate transaction.