Lawyer Fee for House Sale
What’s the average cost for legal fees for selling a house? I always thought it was about $800-$1000. But my lawyer charged me $1500 for a very simple transaction — all cash. Is it excessive or a standard fee? Thank you
What’s the average cost for legal fees for selling a house? I always thought it was about $800-$1000. But my lawyer charged me $1500 for a very simple transaction — all cash.
Is it excessive or a standard fee?
Thank you
“I work with really expensive lawyers all the time. I was one, at a really expensive law firm. Now that I foot the bills, I can tell you that you do not always get what you pay for. Key here are recommendations. Use them. Dont hire a lawyer without one.”
Agree – That’s very good advice.
Why would attorneys charge based on price of the house? It’s going to be approximately a few hours to a dozen hours of work for a contract and closing, which if billed by the hour would be a couple hundred to a grand an hour. A similar amount of work whether it’s a 200k studio or a $2M house. $1500 sounds typical / reasonable. +1 on get a good referral, and not from the sellers broker, who just wants the deal to close quickly (and will get paid way more than the attorney).
It’s my understanding that attorneys for purchasers will charge based on the price of the house, usually flat fee. This sounds completely reasonable, but of course, it depends on what you bought.
I work with really expensive lawyers all the time. I was one, at a really expensive law firm. Now that I foot the bills, I can tell you that you do not always get what you pay for. Key here are recommendations. Use them. Dont hire a lawyer without one.
Maybe you should be more worried about overpaying for your house by a couple hundred thousand dollars and less worried about saving a few hundred bucks on a lawyer.
I have no patience for people who hire cheap lawyers and then complain about the quality of their work.
With a keystroke your lawyer could make a mistake that costs you many, many, many times his fee. Do you really want to hire someone who will do it for cheap?
As someone else said, penny wise, pound foolish.
Signed,
A really expensive lawyer
As a lawyer who does not practice real estate, I can say this much. Price is irrelevant to services for this type of work. Big firm RE lawyers don’t do small residential closings. Better off with a lawyer who specializes in this and charges less. A colleague who is closing on a Brooklyn coop has a father who is a partner in a big firm. The dad asked a RE partner in the firm to help him out on the closing. My colleague gave me the same papers for a second set of eyes – all in all the RE partner didnt give him any better advice than I did (and I dont specialize in this). I spoke to a law school friend who DOES do this type of work, and he basically told me that for 75% of NYC coop closings, the work is simple, routine, a few hours of time type of work – and you dont get better results by paying more. Generally though, you can get a sense of the lawyer after talking to him/her and how he/she responds to your Qs.
$1500 is about 2 hours worth of work for a NYC “big law” partner at mid-tier firm (i.e., an hourly rate of $750 wouldn’t be out of line). Of course, you don’t need that level of practitioner for a customary house closing. As you will need way more than 2 hours of work, if the lawyer is competent, it still sounds like you are getting a bargain. Then again, as I’m lawyer, I may be biased.
$1500 is a great price. $1500-$2000 is the norm for a standard sale.
Hello, I paid $1600 last year and was happy with the services rendered. I have friends who have paid $1800.