Quick question for any knowledgeable populace:

Do you think an attorney is needed for a refinance closing? The bank provides one (that we pay for), but I'm unsure of who they truly represent(?).

We were planning on refinancing about 9 months ago, but Bank of America was amazing incompetent and frustrating and slow to deal with. We switched banks and can close next week. It seems that others who have been down this road have NOT used an attorney, but I'm not sure if it's a "better safe than sorry" deal.

Thoughts? Pretty Please?

Kurobuta Bacon deep fried in tempura batter

Ooooooohhhhh - Kayyyyyyyyyy..... ?

I did a refinance once years ago and didn't use an attorney. Can't really say if one could have made a difference or not.

The American banking system is very different from ours so I'm going to go with a firm, dunno.

However, if forced to vote on it, I'm going with the deep fried bacon.

Was this helpful?

Mark we refinanced several years ago, didn't use an attorney and never ran into any unforeseen problems either short or long term.

"Cardiologists everywhere must be celebrating yet another deep-fried culinary creation that will fill their waiting rooms."

How can you expect me to think about real estate lawyers on a Friday when I just became aware of gourmet Happy Hour bacon? Priorities, man!

PM Zimm or JohnK. Maybe they'd be "helpful".

Good luck with the ReFi, Mark.

Ditto on no lawyer...we did a refi several years ago....no attorney. All the people who flip houses (before that came to a crashing halt) did their own refi's as well.

We just refinanced through our credit union, and they did have an attorney do the paper work signing, etc...

What kind of refinance rates are you guys looking at?

Ditto on the "no lawyer". We refi'd five years ago without one. If you go with a reputable bank and pay attention during the closing, you're fine.

We were looking at 5.4 through Bank of America, but am now locked in at 4.2 (!) with the new bank. We're currently at 7.2.

We're taking ~40K to totally replace the plumbing, redo our main bath, do some stuff in the kitchen, remove the asbestos from the basement/workshop, yadda, yadda, yadda.

I think we'll be fine w/o an attorney, but wanted other opinions because we just got "the" call that we can close this week, and Joyce has Wednesday off, which works for the bank people. It just seemed so sudden to be finalized after screwing around with BOA for so many months!

When I have a few moments, I'll post about BOA because I'll take any opportunity to trash them.

Well, now that Mark has his answer, I'll dovetail onto it and ask this: for a first home purchase, would you guys use a mortgage broker? A credit union? Just walk into a big bank?

I have used a mortgage broker for all three home purchases that I have done and it has gone fine. I have never used an attorney and like Mark would have been suspicious about who they were representing.

Hi kcarlile,

I would try to avoid a mortgage broker because they'll try and get you into mortgages with a higher interest rate so they earn bigger commissions. I used one and came to that realization a couple years later and re-financed, getting a much lower rate.

I've since learned that if you are of the bargaining sort, you can get significantly better rates. If I were to re-finance yet again (my current mortgage is at 5.8%), I'd try and be aggressive and get a lower rate.

Regards,

I refinanced 8 years ago from 7.0 to 6.0 percent. I used a mortgage broker. They told me that the refinance wouldn't cost me anything, but later found they had added in $4000 to the loan value.

I also had a bad experience with a mortgage broker when we bought our first house. I ultimately played hard ball with them, and things turned out o.k., but it really was a headache.

No attorney when we refinanced about a year ago. Don't know under what circumstance you would need one. I believe there just needs to be a Notary Public stamp somewhere, at least here in Hawaii anyway.

Up to a certain point, everything is negotiable with with regards to rates and closing costs. You can get better rates at the expense of points, get points waived for a slightly higer rate, have certain fees waived like 'processing and documentation' ($500 or so), and may even get away with having the appraisal fee reduced or waived. Like Alan mentioned, it just depends on how aggressive you are.

Mortgage brokers are kind of a hit and miss thing. Check with friends, co-workers, for refferals. When we bought our house, we used a broker. Worked out well for us.

We just finished refinancing today. I'm always surprised that when you refinance, the bank considers it "closing" on the house, even though we stayed with our same bank. I was under the impression that closing on a house has different laws and rules depending on the state. In NY, when I closed on a house, a lawyer was required by law (and we had to pay for him). Here in Indiana, they are not, and we have not had one on our last 3 closures (the original purchase of the house, the refinance at 5.75%, and the refinance we did today at 4.75%).

As someone who has to deal with many types of contracts, my advice is: It never hurts to have an attorney look over a contract if you are having any problems understanding the legalese contain therein.

Paying for an hour of time from a competent real estate attorney to read over a contract is actually a bargain if it will keep you from getting f#cked over somehow in the future.

It's also good to have a few attorney friends around for free advice.

Btw, friendly attorneys usually respond well to micro brew and kind bud. Or hookers and blow if they are making more than $300.00 an hour.

But seriously, party with an attorney and they will eventually loosen up and tell you things that will make your hair curl (or uncurl) and make you never, ever trust anyone in that profession.

I mostly deal with entertainment attorneys though, and they are a whole other species entirely...

I think that is very good advice! I did a bunch of contract stuff for one of the tech companies I worked for: enough to get a sense for what contracts can be like. If you are not sure about something, review it with a lawyer, but know what your concerns/questions are ahead of time so you don't run up the bill.

The only things I regret in my divorce are the bits of advice from my lawyer that I chose to ignore. As with any other profession, you will have the good, the not so good, and the just plain bad. Given the entertainment business, I suspect those lawyers are indeed a different critter.

I just fired an attorney….incompetent b****. That degree and license doesn’t mean anything other than they have been educated and licensed to do work to their abilities. Some are good, some are not.

I have not used an attorney for any mortgage related assistance in the past. It’s a fairly painless process anymore, other than the 5K or so you get to eat for “fees”. Credit unions are generally the best option.

The other thing to remember is to recognize who you are talking to even if he or she is an attorney. I am an attorney, but I have worked in a very specialized area of law since I graduated from law school 17 years ago. More often than not, if a fried or family member asks me for a legal opinion I have to tell them that they'd need to talk to a "real" lawyer to get a reasonable answer because the question simply is not within my area of expertise. There are some very general legal questions or contract language that I can give reasonably good advice about, but for the most part my opinion isn't worth a whole lot for the family/friend type of questions I get.