Posted by Judy on March 13, 2000 at 09:58:53:
Lease options are legal. Don’t let anyone fool you.
By the way, you might consider calling a title company and seeing if you can talk to their attorney. If the title company does simultaneous closings, then they will know the basic answers, and will be able to send you in the right direction for more info.
How to learn about state laws w/o RE Attny.? - Posted by Maggie
Posted by Maggie on March 11, 2000 at 21:28:59:
I feel like I’ve been posting too much lately, but I’m trying to cover all the bases I can before I start.
How can I find out about my state laws without acquiring a RE attorney right off the bat? I need to try to do some of this preliminary work myself to save at least a little money.
Thanks, as always.
Maggie
Re: How to learn about state laws w/o RE Attny.? - Posted by chris
Posted by chris on March 13, 2000 at 01:20:52:
Forgot to mention these guys earlier. They have self help legal books written by attorneys who have done the searching for you and lay it out in normal folks terms. Many of the titles are state specific.
It is true that the web sites from the previous replies have the law at your fingertips, but unless you are doing the searching exactly you will miss a lot of material or you will read lots of stuff that does not pertain to your interest. When you are looking for legal information go to a site that covers that area. For example, if you need to know the landlord/tenant laws for your state the people over at mrlandlord.com have already lined up the links for your convenience.
-Chris
Re: How to learn about state laws w/o RE Attny.? - Posted by JPiper
Posted by JPiper on March 12, 2000 at 09:34:55:
Your state laws are located on the internet?.as mentioned below. Hate to burst your bubble but learning real estate law completely on your own is highly unlikely unless you?re Clarence Darrow reincarnate. Remember that old saying ?The lawyer with himself as a client has a fool for a client.? Care to speculate on what might be said regarding a layman? It?s one thing to ?read? the law?.it?s quite another to interpret it. How laws have been interpreted in your state might be dictated by ?case law?.
I find myself wondering just exactly what law you feel you need to know. If you?re talking about things like ?what is a deed?, ?what do different types of deeds mean?, some of the basics in real estate law that will more or less carry through from state to state…?your library might be a good source for this information. Books like ?Modern Real Estate Practice? contain many of the legal aspects of real estate in a more general form?..a text book that is sometimes used for real estate licensees.
Another source of information that might be helpful to you is Bronchicks course called (I believe) Nuts and Bolts?.or some such thing. It used to titled ?How to Be Your Own Real Estate Lawyer?. I feel confident that you had this course, and understood it, that you would be well on your way in terms of ?concepts? that would be helpful to know.
Foreclosure laws may be unique in some ways to your state?.and therefore when you get to the point where you want to pursue this, then spending some time with a lawyer would be very helpful. Perhaps there is information available locally about foreclosure from a publication used for continuing education for attorneys.
But here?s where wisdom lies. Knowing just enough to know that you will never know ALL the law, and knowing when you don?t, and knowing when you need to seek advice. If you try to know ALL the law, all on your own, you?re never going to get out of the starting blocks.
JPiper
Re: How to learn about state laws w/o RE Attny.? - Posted by Bud Branstetter
Posted by Bud Branstetter on March 12, 2000 at 09:13:43:
There is probably a book at the college level of real estate law in your state. Go to a college book store or contact a college teacher that teaches such a course.
Re: How to learn about state laws w/o RE Attny.? - Posted by chris
Posted by chris on March 11, 2000 at 23:10:14:
Re: How to learn about state laws w/o RE Attny.? - Posted by JoeB(Atlanta)
Posted by JoeB(Atlanta) on March 11, 2000 at 22:15:48:
Hi Maggie, if you really want to peruse your state law (code books) then try www.findlaw.com
It’s not for the faint of heart and it’s NOT exciting reading…but you can check it out.
I would recommend joining your local RE club (see REI Clubs at top left of this page) and asking about any pertinent laws, etc.
Best of success,
Joe Brillante
Re: How to learn about state laws w/o RE Attny.? - Posted by Darin
Posted by Darin on March 11, 2000 at 21:43:02:
Maggie,
Depending on what legal questions you have, you might want to find out who the real estate sales person and broker schools are and see if there is an instructor who could take a moment to answer some questions, call other investors in your area, find out where and if you have local real estate investment clubs, attend or join. ***But your best bet is to ask around and find the best real estate attorney in your area, one who specializes in real estate. You really need to spend the money and sit with an attorney with a list of questions. It will save you thousands in the end. But the key is, is to find a very active real estate attorney.
Re: How to learn about state laws w/o RE Attny.? - Posted by rita_mo
Posted by rita_mo on March 12, 2000 at 14:40:52:
Maggie,as a former paralegal,I stay up on current laws for my own knowledge, not to eliminate a lawyer, but like you to cut exspenses, you’ll find alot of law books including on real estate at the local library, also if you have a college campus near by they have a law library open to the public, you just have to do the reseach on the premises.
rita
Clarification: I still want to use a RE Attny. for MAJORITY of needs… - Posted by Maggie
Posted by Maggie on March 12, 2000 at 10:30:20:
…but I wanted to know of any other resources (as on the internet) that might be available to answer simple questions when the need might arise. For instance, I wanted to see if L/O were legal to do in my state because I had heard mention that they were not in all states. HOWEVER, I fully recognize the absolute need to have a solid RE attorney at my disposal, which I have never questioned.
What I meant about wanting resources for “preliminary” research, was for just that, becoming vaguely familiar of what was available to me on my own. Also, I would like to think that I would never be so foolish as to assume that I knew even a fraction of what I would ever need to know about RE laws without consistant assistance.
Thank you for your response and I assure you that I will be seeking out appropriate legal advice throughout the duration of my investing. Perhaps this is my mistake, as I did not clarify in my original post that I am not some feebleminded person who would be so arrogant as to assume that I could rule over my RE empire with no one else’s help. Unfortunately, it is not hard for me to imagine others having made that mistake in the past, so I can understand your cautionary advice.