Selling your home can be a stressful experience. From placing your home on the market to closing there are a lot of issues that can arise.

The first step is to find a Buyer. Most Sellers will use a Realtor. Realtors have experience in selling property and access to Multiple Listing Services ("MLS"). MLS allows other Realtors in the area access to information about your home and a chance to sell it. Because Realtors work with both Buyers and Sellers, MLS exposes your home to many more people. When you work with a Realtor, you will sign a listing agreement which sets out the rights and responsibilties of both you and the Realtor; things such as when you will owe a commission, what efforts the Realtor will make to sell your home, and the length of time the agreement lasts will be covered.

Realtors will show your home to people looking to buy and present offers to you. They can then take counteroffers back to the Buyer. This process can go back and forth several times until a deal is made. Then it is time to actually sign a binding contract.

If you wish to sell your home yourself, you would normally do so through signs, word of mouth, advertising, or a combination of these. Once you find a Buyer, the same process follows until you have a deal.

The final result, either with or without a Realtor, should be a formal, binding, written contract. A contract for the sale of real estate must be in writing and requires some sort of consideration, usually a deposit.

The sale of real estate can involve complex issues of title and liability. Just as most of us would not drill our own teeth, install our own electrical service, or change our own timing belt on our car, selling a home without a lawyer is not something the untrained person should do.

From the signing of the sales contract to closing, there are many things that can come up that need to be dealt with by someone with experience and training. When you sign the sales contract and accept the Buyer's offer, you have to follow through with the transaction, provided the stated conditions are met. If you have any doubt about your rights and responsibilities in regards to the contract, you should seek legal advice before you sign it.

Once you sign the contract, as the Seller you are usually obligated to have your absract of title updated (or have a new one made if you do not have one). Usually, you will also be required to provide a recent land survey. Then, problems with your title need to be resolved. Payoff figures and Satisfactions need to be obtained for mortgages, judgments, and other liens. The Buyer is entitled to tax bills/receipts and, sometimes, water/septic tests and zoning approval. Real estate attorneys have the experience and training to know what's needed how to get it.

Sometimes problems with the house itself arise - things such as leaks, furnaces that don't work, bad water - that give rise to serious legal problems. An attorney can help you make informed decisions about these types of problems.

Lastly is the closing. An attorney will prepare the closing statement, get any last-minute items that are needed, and attend the closing with you.

When you go to a bank for a mortgage, you will more than likely pay a fee at closing for the bank's attorney to review the title to the property. This charge will be disclosed to you by the bank in what is called a Good Faith Estimate.

The bank's attorney is the attorney for the bank, not you. He or she represents the interests of the bank. Often, those interests are the same as yours. Sometimes, they are not. Usually, if a question arises as to the property that does not affect the title, the bank attorney may not be as concerned about it as your own attorney would be.

Ultimately, this is a decision that you have to make. You should, at a minimum, discuss this with an attorney before making this decision.

Real estate law has taken a more or less "buyer beware" attitude over the years. If a defect was obvious, a Seller would not normally be responsible to point it out. If a defect was not obvious, and it could be shown that the Seller knew or should have known about it, then the Seller could have a problem. Similarly, if it could be shown that the Seller intentionally hid a defect, such as by painting over watermarks, then the Seller would have a problem.

There has been a shift in the law to provide Buyers more protection. As of March 1, 2002, in the State of New York, all Sellers are required to provide a Disclosure Statement about the condition of the house. Failure to do so results in an automatic five hundred dollar credit to the Buyer at closing.

Many times Buyers are not able to qualify for a mortgage. This can be because of bad credit, bankruptcy filing, insufficient income, new job, or a combination of these. Many times Sellers hold mortgages for these Buyers and have no problems. Many times they do have problems.

When you hold a mortgage, you are taking a risk with your own money. You are therefore entitled to charge interest to make up for your risk. The interest rate is basically arrived at by bargaining between the parties; it is what you are willing the accept and what the Buyer is willing to pay.

Ultimately, the decision is yours. Only you know how much you are willing to risk and how much you need to get paid in interest to cover that risk. It is a good idea to discuss such a proposal with an attorney before agreeing to it.

People use lawyers all the time for family transfers of real estate. Although such transactions are less formal than a sale on the open market, there are still some important issues to consider.

An attorney can help insure that you are transfering good title to your children. In this way, they will be better able to sell the property when the time comes and will be better able to mortgage the property to build on it. Also, an attorney can advise you regarding subdivision approval issues, estate planning and gift tax implications.

Many people retain life use of real property when they transfer it to family members. In this way, the property is automatically transfered upon death. This creates legal effects, such as property tax exemptions and responsiblities for repairs, that should be discussed with an attorney.

All things are negotiable when discussing the purchase of real estate. Once a Buyer and Seller begin such talks, they are free to agree to whatever they can agree to. Sometimes, a Seller feels he or she is selling for such a rock-bottom price that he or she would rather not pay for any needed items. And other times, a Seller likes the sales price enough that he or she agrees to pay more (or all) closing costs.

Because the Seller is required to provide good title, it is normally his or her responsibility to provide an updated abstract of title. If the contract is silent about this, it is usually assumed that the Seller has to provide it. Most pre-printed sales contracts require the Seller to provide an up-to-date survey, but that can be crossed out if the parties agree that the Buyer will get his or her own survey.

The bottom line is that the contract needs to be specific as to who pays for what. If you are unsure of whether a proposed contract does this, you should seek legal advice before signing it.

You should contact an attorney. There are many legal issues that can arise immediately when you are injured. It is very important that you know as soon as possible what you should be doing to help your case and what you could be doing to hurt your case. Also, it is nice to know if you don't have a case against anyone else for your injuries, in which case you can just concentrate on getting better.

Hand in hand with contacting an attorney, you should do whatever medical professionals tell you in relation to your health. Do what it takes to get better. Not only does it just make good sense to follow medical advice; if you don't, you could be deemed to have increased the extent of your injuries and make a real mess of your case against someone else.

The attorney should be able to advise you as to things that need to be taken care of right away. This could include preserving evidence and talking to witnesses. The attorney can also give you a general overview of how he or she intends to handle your case. Early on, it is difficult to give very precise time estimates; often, that depends upon how long it takes you to get better and whether you have any permanent injuries.

Generally, personal injury lawyers work on a contingency basis. What this means is that they charge a percentage of your financial recovery. There are some types of cases where the maximum percentage a lawyer can charge is set by law. Your lawyer will let you know if your case falls under such a law.

Contingency fees are charged because most people who are injured are not in a position to pay a retainer fee to a lawyer. Furthermore, their financial situation is usually affected by their injuries. You may be charged a different percentage depending on the attorney you use and the type and/or strength of your case.

Attorneys will also recover their disbursements. These can be filing fees, stenographer bills, and medical records copying charges, among other things.

Contingency fees can result in a lawyer making a large amount of money. Because the lawyer takes a risk that there will be no recovery and therefore no fee, the lawyer should be compensated accordingly. Almost all personal injury attorneys can tell of a case that they put a lot of time into and recovered nothing.

New York has a workmen's compensation system in place. The law does not look at who was at fault; if you are hurt at work, your employer is liable. Employer's take care of this through insurance. The employer pays for the injuries and medical expenses out of their insurance policy.

The commonly disputed issues under workmen's compensation are whether there was an injury; whether the employer was notified properly; and the extent and duration of the injuries. Employers are supposed to post information regarding employees' rights and provide forms for reporting injuries.

As with any injury, legal issues arise. You are strongly advised to seek legal advice. For example, sometimes injuries in the workplace can result in liability to others, such as landowners. If this is not looked at early on, you may not end up with as much money as you should.

New York laws regarding motor vehicle accidents are called no-fault. This means that you carry insurance to take care of the injuries to people in your vehicle as well as the damages to your vehicle. The fault of either driver is not to be contested.

This can be overcome if you have suffered what the law defines as a "serious injury". There are some specific injuries listed; a "serious injury" can also be defined by its effect on your daily life and ability to work. You should seek the advice of an attorney if you think you may have a "serious injury".

When you have a "serious injury", you can recover money from the other driver. Fault has to be proven. This is very hard to do without the assistance of an experienced attorney.

There are many issues that come up when you are in a motor vehicle accident. If you have any doubts as to the extent of your injuries and whether someone else may have to pay for them, you should talk to an attorney.

The most important thing to remember when you have been hurt because of something a public official or employee did or did not do is that it normally means you have much less time to act. Statutes of limitations (essentially time limits to start suits) are measured in years against private defendants; when a public body is the defendant, you may have to file a Notice of Claim in a few short weeks or months.

There are many exceptions to the above. There are also other differences in lawsuits against public bodies. You should seek the advice of an attorney if you are in this type of situation.

The amount of money you recover is based on many things. The law measures your damages by, among other things: medical expenses, lost wages, prescriptions, home health aides and equipment, mileage to travel to doctors, and damages to personal property. Then, of course, there is pain and suffering.

Pain and suffering is the money you get for being hurt over and above your actual out-of-pocket expenses. It is a difficult figure to predict. A jury in one case can award one amount and, in a similar case, a jury could award a significantly different amount.

If you are having discussions about settling a case, your attorney can give you a general idea as to what a case like yours would normally be worth at trial. This can be very helpful in deciding whether to accept a settlement. Ultimately, however, it has to be your decision based upon the legal advice you have received.

This can take from a few weeks to several years. The average is probably about nine months if your case is settled without suit and about two years if you go to trial. There are many things which can make it shorter or longer. You could take a long time to get better; cases are not usually settled or tried if you are still recuperating. You could have more than one defendant; your injuries could have possibly been caused by more than one party. Each party normally has their own insurance coverage and/or attorney. There could be missing witnesses that need to be found. The other side could swamp you with procedures known as discovery - such as depositions - which can legally slow a case down. And so on...

You should realize at the begining that you are probably not going to see any money right away (and there is never a guarantee of any money). Knowing this, you need to carry on with your life as best you can while the process goes on. Cooperate with your attorney and your doctors and have patience.