What does a Real Estate Lawyer go through when processing the sale from the Seller's perspective?

Last month we did a blog and video for the process from the buyer's perspective.  You can find that here: https://dkeet.ca/blog.html/steps-for-buying-a-home---lawyers-guide-8273050

Selling your home sound easy to some people. Basically, you find someone that wants to buy it, sign a few documents and your all done, right?  The most complicated situations I have seen are with family but sometimes with family the process can be a fairly easy transfer.  In most cases the process involves more than that.

Understanding when and how the process works when the Real Estate Lawyer gets involved for the sale is important.  Being based in Edmonton Alberta, this information is specific to Edmonton and Alberta, but I assume the process will be similar in other areas as well.

Obviously, I am a real estate agent so saying, "it is better to use a professional" is biased.  That said using professionals statistically will get sellers a quicker sale at a better price.  Starting with what is your property worth? Also, very few people have sold many of their own properties and even if they have it is hard to know the market when you are not in it. So, educate yourself, but rely on professionals.

For selling you will need a lawyer or notary for at least part of the process regardless so using a real estate lawyer will save you a lot of headaches.

Before diving in

Part of the process with the lawyer is trying to make sure you have all of your ducks in a row.  

There is another video about the difference between getting title insurance vs the real property report (RPR), but before you sell, making sure you have your documents for your house in order, so that when it gets to the legal stage of selling you don't have issues popping up.

Making sure marital status is confirmed. This seems like a check box type question, but Dower Rights comes into play if someone was married, and the spouse or ex lived in the property in the past.  If they did then you won't be able to sell without them signing.  If they are out of the country this can cause a delay.

Skipping forward a little so that we can focus on the legal aspects. 

So, your home is decluttered, staged as much as possible, certain things may have been painted or upgraded, your home was listed with a virtual tour and photos, marketed in a number of ways, you had an open house and had some showings, now if it was priced correctly, you should see an offer or offers (hopefully it can get into a multiple offer situation).

If you are lucky, you get unconditional offers. These are offers that a buyer writes out that have no conditions.

Conditions are generally financing, inspection, condo document review (if it is a condo). It can also be things like pet approval or the sale of the buyer's home, etc.

If the buyer is using a real estate agent, the paperwork is all created in a way that makes the lawyers process much easier.  I had a buyer that wanted to buy from a seller that did not want to use any real estate agents. In the end, the lawyer that they talked to, forced my buyer (she was paying me directly without telling the seller) to use the offer-to-purchase agreement from me. 

A term is something that must be done but if it is not then the other party can sue (or a hold back and be put in place and the lawyer can hold back money to make sure it is done). A condition is something that must be taken off the contract or else the offer falls apart. Conditions will have a date attached, so that the conditions need to be removed by a certain date for the sale to go through (or later an extension needs to be agreed on).

So, conditions are removed, and your realtor (hopefully me) has come over with a big smile on their face to give you a present and put a sold sticker/sign on the for-sale sign. 

The house is then considered "sold".

Now the lawyer gets engaged

Our office will send them a copy of the signed offer to purchase contract, Listing documents.

Usually both the real estate agent and the lawyer both need to pull the title from the Land Titles site and do our Fintract (filling out the documents for the government to help reduce fraud and money laundering).

Your lawyer will now contact you to set up a date to meet with you for signing.  Usually, you will need to be in the country.  They can do video confirmation but if they do that the original signed documents still need to make their way to the lawyer which depending on where you are can take weeks, or could get lost etc. so leaving time for that.

For the signing meeting you need your ID to identify yourself. When meeting or before the closing date the Seller(s) will instruct the lawyer where they want their money to go.  For example, giving the details of the bank account(s) they want money to be sent to and sign a document allowing the lawyer to deposit funds into their account.

Generally, you have different lawyers taking care of either side (buyer's side and seller's side). After meeting up for signing, the seller's lawyer will reach out to the buyer's lawyer.

The Seller's lawyer places the buyer's order on several conditions. These conditions are so that the Seller's lawyer can hand over closing paperwork. Relying on that lawyer, on the closing date, to deliver the cash to close with the balance of funds owing under the contract and any adjustments for property taxes.

They send the documents by courier. The Buyer's lawyer needs to review and accept the trust conditions.

Closing Date / Possession Date

95% of the time the Seller's Lawyer will receive the funds to close on the closing date (possession date) around 12 noon.

If there is a mortgage to pay out, the lawyer will contact the lender and confirm the exact amount that needs to be paid.

Making sure everything is legal and making sure the title is clear are the main jobs of the lawyer.  So, if there is anything on the title (like a line of credit, mortgage, lien etc.) the Lawyer needs to make sure it is paid off or removed so that the buyer can get a clear title for the property.

Once the lawyer receives the funds the lawyer generally makes all payments and distributes the funds on the same day.

So long as all the funds are received, the Seller's lawyer will contact the real estate agent telling them the keys are released (again usually at around noon on the possession/closing date). By the time the seller should have all of their things out of the house and left it in a fairly clean state and the buyer is free to move into their new home. 

And that is the simple, yet not simple, process. Of course, there can be issues along the way the lawyer, and real estate agents like me, would support and help.

If you have any questions, comments or have any suggestions on how we can explain this process a little more clearly, please comment below or contact me.

Please visit the following page to get Mark's details (Be sure to tell him that you found him through Derek's video)  https://dkeet.ca/guest-speakers.html

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