Due diligence for buying a house in New York

[showtime]

What do lawyers typically do for due diligence when you're buying a house vs an apartment in NYC? Obviously there won't be any offering plans, board minutes or annual financial statements for lawyers to review. Do they just order a title search and review the title report? Review and negotiate the contract?

Is there anything else? It seems like the job would be easier for a lawyer then if the deal is a house vs a condo or a coop. Lower fee I hope!

[trav]

Not sure about the fee, but you may indeed find lower lawyer fees out in the suburbs like Westchester. And true, the due diligence is a bit different and perhaps abbreviated since the real estate attorney doesn't have to do common legal and financial due diligence typical for coops and condos such as board minutes review and offering plan review, nor do they have the review the annual financials of the building.

With that said, they definitely still need to run a thorough title search and review the title report for any violations, liens, judgments and the like. You'll want to make sure the house you are buying in New York is legal and that you won't have any hidden issues once you become the owner. Super important to have a good lawyer for something like this.