What has been your experience with finding a good real estate attorney who know a lot about creative real estate investing. I am currenty searching and thought a might get some tips from you guys before I start spending a lot of money.
Thanks for the help.
if you find out please advise. I just had an experience this week where i made an appt to see a high priced real estate attorney who said he was familiar with investors. Unfortunately i neglected to ask him in what capacity?
I knew almost upon meeting him that he was not what i was lookin for but went into his office. the short of it is he had no experience with helping creative real estate investors and spent about 10 minutes (the total time in the office was about 20 minutes) asking me where i got this idea and what made me want to do this, and where was i getting the money. None of these questions did i feel were relevant. I also took along some standard forms for his review (the objective being to have him review and made recommendations regarding things i might need to add to adhere to my state regs). Instead he just tore about many of them. He probably works with lenders regarding their real estate matters.
He told me that I could not file the deed because it had lines at the top (in missouri the top 3 inches has to be blank or they charge extra but it can be filed). I told him that was not true and then he said “well you can, but it cost more.” That was my first experience. The good news was that through this short encountered a learned a few things ,he did not charge me for his time and i got a free bottle of water! I guess you have to take the good with the bad 
I am still looking but now i think i will be sure to ask a lot more questions before making an appt. If anyone knows of one in the st louis, mo area, please let me know.
The best place to find any professional in your local area is your local real estate investors association.
You should look for extensive experience in the creative real estate industry (lease options, subject-to, land trusts, wrap around mortgages, contract assignments, etc…)
A big plus is if they actually invest in real estate using creative techniques.
What city, state are you in?
Thank you for all the replys. I am looking for a attorney in Maryland.
Let me know if you find a good one…I’m in MD too.
afiMDinvestor,
What part of Maryland are you in? What type of real estate investing do you focus on?
I’m in Bowie, MD and I’m a new investor. My husband and I started out looking in DC and PG county then switched to looking for long term rentals in Baltimore. Also considering new construction purchases for resale or lease option. We also want to do some rehabs. As you can see, we’re somewhat all over the place…but, we’re getting more focsed day by day.
We have a realtor, but we need to find one that’s an investor or deals with investors regularly. Also need the attorney and more financial contacts for good investor loan programs. I know a tax guy who’s supposed to give me the names of a couple of attorneys. Ill pass that on if I find a good one.
What are you into?