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Residential Real Estate Lawyer – Do You Really Need One?

Some states require lawyers to participate in residential real estate transactions, especially at closing or settlement. Notice how I said, “some states require…’” not simply that you need a real estate lawyer. The majority of states are known affectionately (by real estate lawyers) as, “non-attorney” states. In those states, conducting real estate closings is not considered the practice of law, so you are not required to have a real estate lawyer. The rest of the country resides in either, “attorney” states or states that have mandated the participation of real estate lawyers either for the entire closing or for some parts of the closing. (The parts where you need a real estate lawyer are usually defined by the clear as mud description, “those instances requiring the use of legal discretion and profound legal knowledge.”) Since choosing the right real estate lawyer can save you a lot of aggravation, you want someone who is:

Licensed and in good standing. Many states have web sites where you can look to see that the real estate lawyer you are considering is both licensed and in good standing.

Experienced. Word of mouth can be the best recommendation. If a friend or relative has been well served and satisfied with a real estate lawyer, chances are you will be also.

Real Estate Savvy. This is a specialized area. Just as every midwife might be capable of handling a simple birth, every lawyer might be capable of handling the so-called simple closing, (in California and other “non-attorney” states, people generally do not even use lawyers for residential transactions.) It would be nice, if at the beginning, you could know if yours will be one of those simple transactions. However, since most of us cannot see into the future, if you decide to hire a lawyer, you’ll want one well versed in real estate law and its peculiarities.

In your area. It is important that the real estate lawyer you hire be familiar with local rules and ordinances as they can have an enormous impact on how smoothly your deal flows.

That you can work with. There is no point in hiring someone you either do not like or do not trust. What good does it do you if you cannot rely on the information she gives you or, just as bad, you cannot stand talking to that person? A real estate transaction is not brain surgery; there are plenty of good real estate lawyers who also have pleasant personalities. You do not want to hire someone that does not play well with others. Your lawyer will be dealing not only with you, but with your buyer. You want someone who will help get the job done while protecting you.

How Can You Tell If Your State Is An “Attorney” State?

The easiest way is to log onto a website, such as [http://www.legalwiz.com/escrow.htm] which has a list. In addition to that, you can call your local bar association, your local title insurer, your local mortgage lender, or your local escrow agent. Using the word “local” is no accident. All real estate is local and all real estate laws are local in the sense of being governed by the state law of the state where the property is located.
If your house is located in an “attorney” state, adding a real estate lawyer to your team is both necessary and prudent. You’re going to have to have one anyway, so you might as well get her or him on the team early.

Do I Need A Real Estate Lawyer In A “Non-Attorney” State?

If the house you want to sell is in one of the majority “non-lawyer” states, you might need a real estate lawyer at some point if things get complicated, but there is no rush. In “non-attorney” states, closings usually take place through escrow. Although the escrow agent does not represent you, they are usually very knowledgeable and they are obligated to follow the directions you outlined when the escrow was set up.

If you do hire a real estate lawyer, she can be your second most valuable player. From advising you on such matters as the contract, disclosures, title, inspection issues, to holding the earnest money and handling the closing.

REMEMBER: Even in “attorney” states, real estate lawyers are not deal makers. Their job is to make sure the contract is properly executed. They may or may not be involved in the actual negotiations.

TIP: In some areas, real estate lawyers make a large chunk of their money from the title company they work with. As the seller, it will be your responsibility to bring down title. Therefore, working with an real estate lawyer who has a relationship with a title company, could be to your benefit.

Plan To Succeed With Information Product Creation: Why You Need To Split Your Process Up

One of the keys to succeeding in information product creation is to break the process up into discrete steps. This frequently isn’t an instinctive reaction for the typical information marketer. Especially on the internet where small sized learning products are the norm.

However, it is extremely important to your ultimate success. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you don’t do this you probably won’t succeed… even when you are starting out let alone as you move forward.

Your product creation system should do this for you if only to help you to understand the overall task.

But why?

In this article, I’m going to ignore chunking and focus on the practical aspects. That’s not to say that chunking isn’t important. It is. It’s important to understanding and to learning the process. But while you can use the same chunks as you move forward, long term your focus needs to be on the operation of the system not the understanding of it. Unless of course you are constantly training new people!

So why is chunking important to long term use of the product creation process? (Yes, I know systems design uses a different term for this process but I’m not teaching you systems design. So I’m going to use the word learning content designers use.)

The first reason that having individual discrete tasks is important is one of schedule estimation. Frequently it is very difficult to estimate how long the total task of creating a product will take. After all, the size and type of the products matters as does the number of products in your product funnel. And those are just the most obvious elements. However, estimating a discrete task is often much easier. The total can then be estimated as the total of the discrete tasks.

Secondly, scheduling a large task can be problematic. However, by segmenting the task into a number of discrete tasks, you gain a much greater flexibility in scheduling. Not only that but as your business begins to add people you are able to schedule multiple people to the product creation.

Finally, segmenting a large task into smaller discrete tasks allows you to have much better control over the product creation. This affects two different areas — status and quality.

By segmenting your process into discrete tasks you are able to schedule and record the progress at much more detailed level. As a result you are more in control of the status of the product creation. You know what everyone is doing. When they should complete it. And how much it should cost. You also know exactly what has been done.

You also improve your overall quality. Instead of waiting until everything is done you can check quality as you go. This allows you to immediate react to low quality products without absorbing their costs. This means that you have less rework and your rework costs less. And if the product is not going to meet its quality requirement you will know about it in time to stop the development, change the requirement or fix the product.

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Some Considerations on the Importance of Home Based Business Reviews

Home based business reviews are important if you are on the verge of setting up a business you can start doing from your home. Are you in need of financial freedom? Have you ever wanted to be there for any of your friends or loved ones but couldn’t because of financial constraints? Are you currently on a job that doesn’t give you enough time to be with your family and loved ones? Don’t you think that there are some ways out of your present quagmire if only you are prepared to admit? Do you want to set up a home based business that will eventually start bringing enough income so that you can quit your days’ job? You can do it and your chances of succeeding in any of the internet-based businesses are quite high but you need to take some critical looks at what the home based business review sites are saying about different types of online businesses. This will allow you to make some informed decisions and start a business that will pay you well in the long run.Benefits of Online Home Based Business ReviewsSome of the major benefits of taking advantage of the online home based business reviews is that they had taken time to look at different businesses and know what works and what doesn’t. As a newbie online business person, you may be tempted to join some businesses that have only false promises. This might end up wasting your time and money and may even frustrate you in the long run. But if you know the type of businesses that work, your effort will then be geared towards looking at how to make the best of the opportunities provided.It is also important to point out that there are lots of scammers and pretenders online who are there to get as much money as possible from innocent people. The categories of people that fall for the pranks of these pretenders are mostly inexperienced internet marketers but with online home based business reviews, you will be sure of ignoring any frivolous entreaties on the internet. You will be making a mistake if you simply say that you can not be deceived. This is because some of these scammers have the best sales pages online and can easily divert your attention. They may not take your money immediately but you might discover that after spending so much time or money trying to get to the roots of what they are preaching; all the materials will turn out to be hyped.Note that the home based business reviews don’t owe any obligation to you but they simply owe you valuable independent opinions about certain businesses. The decision to indulge in any kind of online business will be yours to take. You can look at what others are saying about any business you want to try your hands on while you take note of the positions of the home based business reviews.