Who Pays Your Lawyer?
Picture a couple named Dina and Reuben who find an apartment abroad that they love. The real estate agent who is selling it to them says she knows a lawyer who can handle the paperwork, and offers to introduce them.
Reuben asks the lawyer one question on the phone: who pays you? She answers honestly. The agency sends her many clients, and she is paid by each client directly. She adds that she depends on the agency for referrals.
Nobody in this is a villain. The agent is paid when the sale closes, so she wants it to close. The lawyer depends on the agent for work, so she has a reason to keep the agent happy. Each is behaving reasonably, and together they set up a lawyer who has less reason to say wait.
Dina and Reuben ask a neighbor of twenty years, a retired teacher, who she would call. She gives them the name of a lawyer who has no link to any agency. The second lawyer charges $600 for the review.
She finds in a week that the title to the apartment carries an unpaid lien of $4,200 left by a former owner. It is common in some places and easy to fix before a sale. After the sale, it would have been theirs. The seller pays it at the closing, and the price drops by that amount.
Dina and Reuben tell the agent what the lawyer found. The agent is surprised, and then helpful. She did not know about it either.
Dina and Reuben keep three questions for anyone they hire. Who pays you, and what happens if the deal does not close? Who else recommended you? What exactly will you do, and what does it cost, in writing? They ask them of an accountant and a property manager, too.
You might say that doing this is slow, and a trusted person is a shortcut. A trusted person is a good shortcut, and the question is how to find one. Neighbors who have lived there for years, other retirees from abroad who have been through a purchase, and the people at a long-established business often know who is reliable and who is not.
You could write your own three questions on a card before your first meeting. You could ask two residents for the name they would use, and you could see whether the same name comes up twice.
Our calculator shows what a way of living costs in each country. Things that go wrong cost money too. A $600 review is small next to a $4,200 lien.
How did you find a person you trust in a new place? Tell us in the comments. Someone reading may be about to hire their first lawyer abroad.
Tell us in the comments