ATTORNEY FEES

Attorney fees for the Seller:

Selling your home is a complicated procedure with contractual requirements and options as well as Federal, State and IRS regulations. For the flat charge of $650.00 to a seller of a single family home, regardless of the sales price of your home or if contract for deed, you can be sure of experienced, legal guidance from start to finish. Here is what you get for that fee:

- initial conference with you to obtain information, discuss options, explain the sale process and prepare the Illinois Property Disclosure Form and Radon Disclosure Form, Federal Lead Paint Disclosure Form and a draft of the Real Estate Contract conformed to your sale

- conference with you and/or the buyer to discuss the sales process and finalize the Real Estate Contract

- preparation of all seller required documents including the deed and other required transfer documents

- review and explanation of all pre-closing documents such as the closing statement

- attendance at closing with review of all documents.You pay a $250 retainer at the initial conference with the final $400 paid at closing of your sale.

Attorney fees for the buyer:

Buying a home is also a complicated procedure with contractual requirements and options as well as Federal, State and IRS regulations. For the flat charge of $500.00 a buyer of a single family home, regardless of the sales price of your home or if contract for deed, can be sure of experienced, legal guidance from start to finish. Here is what you get for that fee:

- initial conference with you even before you have found a home you like in order to obtain information, discuss contract and inspection options and to explain the purchase process

- when you have found a home, a conference to review the proposed Real Estate Contract,  Illinois Property Disclosure Form, Radon Disclosure Form, and Federal Lead Paint Disclosure Form and to prepare any amendments or riders to the  Real Estate Contract

- help through the inspection process and any needed repair amendments

- review of the title commitment and seller prepared documents including the deed and other required transfer documents. Preparation of the seller's affidavit  

- review and explanation of other pre-closing documents such as the closing statement which lists all the dollar figures connected with your purchase

- attendance at closing with review of all documents. You pay a $250 retainer at the initial conference with the final $250.00 paid at closing of your purchase

The Flat rate charge:

Most home sellers and buyers of single family homes find it difficult to commit themselves to an attorney fee rate of $150 per hour or more along with not really knowing how high the final bill will be even with an estimate. For this reason I have set a flat rate charge that the seller or buyer can budget on and depend on.

The flat charge rate to seller and buyer does not include any pre-litigation or litigation representation that arises out of the contract or sale of the home and applies only to single family homes. For the seller, it does not apply to repeated sales or contracts of the same home that are cancelled. If you decide not to proceed with the sale or purchase, or if the sale or purchase is cancelled for any reason, you will be charged on a time basis not to exceed the flat rate. The flat rate charge to buyer will also be more if I must prepare documents such as the contract and transfer documents that are traditionally the responsibility of the seller.

Attorney Patrick T. Chambers is a registered title agent with Attorneys Title Guaranty Fund. If title insurance for this transaction is obtained through his office from Attorneys Title Guaranty Fund than he will receive a portion of the fee paid for both the title insurance owners policy (generally paid for by the seller) and title insurance loan policy if a lender is involved (generally paid for by the buyer) as will be set forth on the title invoice to be provided with the title commitment and also on a disclosure form. If he closes the loan for the lender he will also receive a closing fee generally paid for the buyer. These charges are in addition to his attorney fee charges.

Please see customary seller and buyer closing costs which are in addition to attorney fees.