Why do I need an attorney? (continued)

So in order to understand what took place, you need a little background. For example, in Florida title insurance rates are subject to a state imposed minimum price (the "promulgated rate"). However, neither attorneys nor title companies are obliged to charge the minimum. Some do, some don't. My customer who "saved" a lawyer's fee ended up overpaying for title insurance to the tune of around $800 as I recall. Needless to say, he would have been better served to engage an attorney, negotiate a fair fee and insist that his title insurance be billed at "promulgated" rate.

But the real weakness in the argument that you can save on closing costs by skipping the lawyer is that not all deals go smoothly! Lawyers understand this reality and live with it. An attorney billing $500 each to close a dozen sales knows that one or more of them is going to develop some sort of dispute between buyer and seller or some sort of complication requiring extra time and effort to solve. it's factored into the price. On the other hand, if you have a deal gone wrong in some way, no attorney is going to take on a messy dispute for a lowball set fee. The time to engage the attorney, therefore, is at the beginning of the transaction when everything looks rosy. If all goes well, your cots will be offset by savings on the various nuisance fees you'd otherwise pay the title company. If something goes wrong, there's a skilled attorney responsible directly to you whose sole duty is to safeguard and protect your interests and who can advise you on your responsibilities and options.

In selecting an attorney, you're best off choosing one with a strong real estate practice. Many real estate practitioners operate their own title companies. Good questions might be, "Can you write my title insurance yourself?", "How many real estate closings does your office handle per month?" There is a Board Certification as a Real Estate attorney and although many skilled and competent attorneys do not hold this certification, it is an indication of an attorney's familiarity with the intricacies of real property law and practice.

Our company receives absolutely no compensation of any sort from any attorney we recommend. The following list of Florida attorneys has been compiled by myself and is provided as a convenience to our readers. Any of these attorneys will be glad to confer with you by phone or email to discuss your real estate needs. I have personally worked with each of them on closings and have found them to be: fair, competent, qualified and (most important) easy to reach on the phone when something goes wrong!

Attorney	E-Mail	Phone	Fax
Mark Balzli Real Estate Closings		305-538-1765	305-538-1586
Richard Gonzalez Real Estate Closings		305-531-5200	305-531-5206
Scott R. Jay Real Estate Closings Litigation including Condo Law, Landlord-Tenant		305-249-8000	305-249-9000
Richard I. Kroop Bruce J. Scheinberg South Beach Title Company Real Estate Closings Own Title Company		305-538-7575	305-538-4676
Karen S. Leopold Owns Title Company French Spoken http://www.leopoldkorn.com		305-935-3500	305-935-9042
Ileana Marrero Rodriguez Real Estate Closings Spanish		305-442-1245	305-444-8330
Marci Lowman Real Estate Closings Spanish and Korean Real Estate Litigation including Landlord-Tenant		305-981-4477	305-981-4478
Martin Wasserman Real Estate Closings Own Title Company Litigation www.wassermanlawfirm.com		305-672-2323	305-672-2422