I am planning on purchasing a home and notice that title company clears the title. I am not sure why attorney is needed?

The buyer's attorney reviews the purchase contract and negotiates changes with the seller's attorney. Items often come up at the home inspection that you will want addressed before you buy - either be requiring that they be fixed or by giving you a credit off the purchase price so you can fix them yourself.

They will also review the deed to be sure it is written property and done according to the wishes of the buyer. They will be sure that the offer and agreement ( purchase agreement) is done properly and that nothing is left out that could effect the protection of the buyer ( assuming this is a buyers attorney) a sellers attorney does the same for the seller)

Remember the title company is not there to give you legal advice on the purchase, merely to check to see if the title is clear for purchase and to write up the deed in the exact form you tell them, not to advise you on how it should be.

You can buy/sell without an attorney but you risk costly errors. Most attorney's charge about $200 for a closing and are usually worth it.

Yes, I have bought maybe 50 plus houses over the years and I would never buy one without an attorney. ** OK I have bought 5 or 6 without one before, and I will be honest two of them were nightmares, one I sold I ended up in court over additions I had nothing to do with, and in another had trouble latter and was not protected by the contract. And this from someone who buys and sells real estate, has a real estate license.

So I would almost never do it again without an attorney

You can buy/sell without an attorney but you risk costly errors. Most attorney's charge about $200 for a closing and are usually worth it.

$200?

My average fees are around $1,000 for a purchase with a mortgage, $750 for a purchase without a mortgage and $650 for a sale.

Yep, been paying $150 to $200 for closings,me selling. Have not sold for the last 3 years but it won't be up to $1000 yet.

$200?

My average fees are around $1,000 for a purchase with a mortgage, $750 for a purchase without a mortgage and $650 for a sale.

The fees attorneys charge vary greatly around the country. Lisa - I thik your fees are fairly typical for NJ, maybe a little low - pretty much in line with what I had paid when I bought a home there 20 years ago (taking some inflation into account). Now I'm in the Chicago 'burbs and paid "only" about $400 5 yeas ago. One difference is that in IL the closing takes place at the Title Company's offices, and the Title Co does all the escrow accounting, calculating the puts and takes on utility bills and real estate taxes, filing deeds, etc whereas if I recall in NJ the buyer's attorney does all that - is that right? This accounts for at least some of the difference.

The fees attorneys charge vary greatly around the country. Lisa - I thik your fees are fairly typical for NJ, maybe a little low - pretty much in line with what I had paid when I bought a home there 20 years ago (taking some inflation into account). Now I'm in the Chicago 'burbs and paid "only" about $400 5 yeas ago. One difference is that in IL the closing takes place at the Title Company's offices, and the Title Co does all the escrow accounting, calculating the puts and takes on utility bills and real estate taxes, filing deeds, etc whereas if I recall in NJ the buyer's attorney does all that - is that right? This accounts for at least some of the difference.

Yep. In NJ the attorney does everything. The only thing the title company does is perform the title search.

Thank you all for the helpful information!