Resent-Message-Id: <8707231500.AA01106@bk.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 87 10:11:19 PDT
Message-Id: <8707211711.AA21487@ames.arpa>
From: harvard!think!ames!ihnp4!drutx!qwerty@husc6.harvard.edu
To: sei.cmu.edu!bjz@seismo.css.gov
Subject: Re: Buying a new house
In-Reply-To: your article <1942@aw.sei.cmu.edu>
Resent-To: bovik@spice.cs.cmu.edu
Resent-From: Barbara.Zayas@sei.cmu.edu
Resent-Date: Thursday, 23 July 1987 11:00:00 EDT

I have bought two homes and sold one.  Two of the three transactions were
without lawyers, as everything progressed according to schedule without
any significant disagreements.  The third wound up coming to a reasonable
conclusion, but only after I retained a lawyer and sought his council.  Once
I had done that, the other parties involved didn't give me any more problems.
Note that my lawyer did not contact them - the very act of seeking legal
council was sufficient motivation.

If things go well, lawyers are not usually needed.  If things start to go
the least bit sour, run (don't walk) to the nearest legal council.

The point of contention we had was that my engineer's report said that the
seller needed to put in a new basement floor.  The contract read:

	"The purchaser will provide a new structural engineer's report and
	 the seller will complete repairs as required."

The realator representing the seller (remember, that's who pays the realator)
called the seller, notified him that I had retained a lawyer, and basically
gave him a refresher course in Contracts 101.

Took a while, but was worth it.
---

Brian Jones  aka  {ihnp4,allegra}!{drutx}!qwerty  @  AT&T-IS, Denver