Compare Real Estate Attorney Costs and Related Legal Fees

Learn about approximate Lawyer and Attorney costs, filing fees and other related expenses you’ll pay for various types of real estate law practices.

Real estate law is very broad and includes many items that we each will inevitably will be faced with at some point. This page of the www.legalpriceguide.com has detailed information about various types of real estate law including an explanation of each one and the average cost you can expect pay for each service. This guide covers the following topics:

• Real Estate and Closing Attorney Costs
• Landlord and Tenant Disputes
• Homeowners Association Law
• Foreclosures
• Neighbor Disputes
• Incidental Expenses Related to Real Estate Law
• Actual Real Estate Law Costs Paid by other Visitors

Real Estate Attorney Costs

Real estate law is usually divided into two categories; Real Estate Attorney and Closing Attorney, although they go hand in hand. Most of us will primarily deal with a closing attorney when we buy or sell a residential home. Closing attorneys are still real estate lawyers, but they specialize in the buying or selling of homes.  They go over the home title before closing and deal with any issues related to them. Usually at the closing as well. they will explain each document that you sign. In addition to providing legal advice during closings, real estate law is very broad and covers a wealth of other issues including commercial real estate, rent to own, property disputes and property development.

Real Estate and Closing Attorney Costs		Average Cost
Residential Home Attorney Costs (Closing Attorney)		$800 – $1,200
Commercial Property Real Estate Attorney Costs (Closing Attorney)		$1,500 – $2,000
Rent to Own Property Costs		$500 – $750
Property Disputes		$75 – $125/hr
Property Development		$75 – $125/hr

Landlord and Tenant Dispute Legal Costs

If you are a landlord, unfortunately you may eventually have a reason to evict your tenant. While not always necessary, in cases where you, as the landlord, have not filed eviction papers properly or timely, you may be faced with hiring an attorney. An attorney can file the proper paperwork for eviction and help you collect back rent. If the dispute is not settled before going in front of a judge, the tenant could have to pay your legal fees in addition to any back rent owed. Tenants also have rights when it comes to renting a home, such as poor living conditions, water damage, mold and bug infestations. There does come a point that a tenant has a right to withhold rent due until the home is considered habitable again.

Landlord and Tenant Dispute Legal Costs		Average Cost
Eviction		$750 – $1,000
Collecting back rent		$750 – $1,000
Tenant Disputes		$75 – $100/hr

Homeowners Association Legal Costs

Homeowners associations are usually formed after the real estate developer has reached a target goal of home sales in a new subdivision or condominium community. They turn over their control and put it in the hands of a committee that has been put into place by its residents – usually by vote. The duties of the homeowners association (HOA) is to collect fees,  care and maintain services, such as pools, tennis courts and clubhouses; oversee security measures are in place and enforce other regulations outlined in the homeowners agreement. In most cases a homeowners association will need to contact an attorney for matters involving rules and regulations and disputes. The association usually prevails in any disputes, but there are times that the homeowner can file suit against the association for not upholding the rules, not providing services paid for or for unfair treatment.

Homeowners Association Legal Costs		Average Cost
Homeowner Association Incorporation		$75 – $100/hr
Suing Your Homeowner Association		$75 – $100/hr

Foreclosure Attorney Costs

We all hope we are never faced with a foreclosure on our property, but it happens regularly especially with the financial hardships a lot of families are facing these days. If your home is being foreclosed on, there are ways that a foreclosure attorney can help. Prior to the bank selling your home in a foreclosure sale, you will have options if you act quickly. Several items a foreclosure attorney can help you with are; filing for forbearance on your loan which will suspend your payments for a set number of months; obtaining a loan modification that can extend the time you have to pay, lower your interest rate or lower your principle balance. They can also help in those situations where you simply want to surrender your home instead of it going into foreclosure. This can help save your credit a bit by not having a judgement on your credit report.  Any foreclosure proceedings can be a lengthy process, so make sure you consider whether you want to pay an attorney hourly or flat fees.

Foreclosure Attorney Costs		Average Cost
Foreclosure Proceedings		$250/hr $3,000 – $5,000 flat fee

Neighbor Disputes Legal Costs

As much as we would like to live in a home where you are friends with all of your neighbors, that doesn’t always happen. In some cases there are disputes that involve property lines, fence or other structure disputes, animal disputes and nuisance disputes. If your neighbor has built or is planning to build a storage building, put up a fence, or pour a new driveway, they have to make sure it isn’t on your property. If you feel it is, there are legal ways to end the dispute. For a neighbor that has animals that are illegal to have, there are nuisance laws in effect for that and can be fought in court. Nuisance disputes usually fall into the following areas; private and public. Private disputes involve anything that cause a loss of enjoyment of your property, such as backyard odors due to animal feces that make it impossible to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air. While they aren’t encroaching on your property, their lack of cleanliness does effect you. Public nuisances involve things such as; noise from a race track or nearby factory odors that have an effect on the entire public.

Neighbor Disputes Legal Costs		Average Cost
Boundary Disputes		$75 – $100/hr
Animal Disputes		$75 – $100/hr
Nuisance Disputes		$75 – $100/hr

Real Estate Court Costs and Filing Fees

When buying or selling a home, most fees are included in your mortgage lender documents, but you may need to pay for the title recording or title search out of pocket, and these usually require a trip to your local court house. For other real estate legal processes, there will be court filing fees that vary depending on your state, county or the type of filing it is.

Court Costs and Legal Filing Fees		Average Cost
Court Filing		$50 – $125
Court Recording		$35 – $100
Title Search (Buying or Selling Home)		$25 – $45

Other Incidental Real Estate Expenses

Most incidental fees associated with real estate happen when you are buying or selling a home and they are usually a surprise and not money you had planned to spend out of pocket. Make sure you talk to your real estate agent and have them outline every expense that will be included in your mortgage and those that you will have to pay out of pocket. Having to shell out and extra $1,000 is no fun when you are about to move into a new home.

Incidental Real Estate Law Related Expenses		Average Cost
Tax Services		$50 – $75
Home Inspections		$85- $225
Document Review		$35 – $50
Photos		$50 – $100
Credit Reports		$35 – $50
Application Fee		$150 – $200

Visitor Submitted Real Estate Legal Costs

As we have previously noted, the purpose of this site is to give consumers a general idea of how much it costs to hire an attorney for their specific needs. While the prices we outline are averages, we depend on not only industry professionals, but also our readers to help us come up with these prices.

If you have recently had to hire a real estate attorney, how about sharing your story with us? It helps readers when they are trying to approximate the costs they may incur. All you need to do is fill out the form below and submit. We never include personal information on our website, so your information is safe.

Real Estate Costs Paid by Others	City, State	Actual Cost
Closing Attorney	Greensboro, NC	$1,150
Note: Purchased a residential home
Eviction and Back Rent	New York, NY	$35 – Court filing fee
Note: Landord filed suit to evict tenant and claim back rent due. Tenant was held responsible for legal fees incurred
Property Dispute	San Diego, CA	$2,250
Note: Homeowner and neighbor disagreed on property lines

Submit your Real Estate Legal Costs to the Comparison Table

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