Real estate attorney

A real estate attorney reviews the sale and any title problems and tells you what survives the sale. When a title company needs a quiet title action, they file it.

When you need one

• Tax sales, foreclosure auctions, HOA and sheriff sales, and lien certificates.
• Any time there are surviving liens, a challenge to the sale, or people living in the property.

How to find one

• Look up the lawyer with the state bar where the property is, using the lookup on this page. It shows any discipline.
• Ask for an attorney who handles quiet title and foreclosure matters in the county where the property is.

Questions to ask

• Have you handled quiet title actions here? How long do they take?
• Flat fee or hourly, and what’s your estimate?
• What should I do before I bid?

A real estate attorney gives legal advice, reviews contracts and title problems, and goes to court when needed. One example is a quiet title suit after a tax-deed or foreclosure purchase, which asks a court to declare who owns the property. In Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah, title and escrow companies run most home closings. So an attorney is optional for a simple purchase but valuable when something is unusual.

Forced-sale purchases are where a lawyer earns their fee. A tax-sale buyer’s title can be challenged if the government didn’t give the owner proper notice. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that when a mailed notice comes back unclaimed, the government must take other reasonable steps before selling (Jones v. Flowers, 2006). The rules also change: the Court later held that a county can’t keep more than the taxes owed from a tax sale (Tyler v. Hennepin County, 2023).

Lawyers are also targets. Criminals fake attorneys’ emails to steal closing funds. Impostor “sellers” have also fooled realtors and real estate attorneys into closing sales of land the impostors didn’t own.

How they’re paid

Check before you hire

• Check the lawyer’s license and discipline record with the State Bar of Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah or Texas.
• Ask how many quiet-title or tax-deed cases they have handled in that county.
• Get a written engagement letter: scope, hourly rate or flat fee, and estimated court costs.
• Before bidding at a tax or trustee’s sale, ask the lawyer to review the notice steps. Also ask what a title insurer will require afterward.
• Get the firm’s phone number from the State Bar listing or official website. Confirm any wire instructions by calling that number.

Real stories

Fast calls to the FBI, his lawyer and his bank got $280,000 back (2017)

He got a fake email made to look like it came from his real estate agent. It told him to wire more than $280,000 to the closing attorney, and he did. He called the FBI, his lawyer and his bank right away. The bank issued a SWIFT recall that froze the money before it left the country. A local real estate lawyer told the station his firm now assigns an employee to watch email transactions.

Lesson: Keep your lawyer’s and bank’s numbers handy and act within hours if a wire looks wrong.

Lawsuit over misstated square footage won a key ruling (2016)

The buyer found the home was much smaller than marketed. The buyer sued the brokerage and the seller’s salesperson. In 2016 the California Supreme Court ruled that the salesperson owed the buyer the same fiduciary duty as the dual-agent brokerage. That let the claim go forward.

Lesson: When you’ve been misled, a real estate lawyer can enforce duties the law already gives you.

Bought an $80,000 house for about $21,000; the sale was challenged for bad notice (2006)

The state mailed tax-sale notices by certified mail, and both came back unclaimed. Then it sold the house. The owner learned of it only when the buyer had an eviction notice served. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the state should have taken more steps to notify him. It reversed the ruling that had upheld the sale.

Lesson: Before counting on a tax-deed property, have a lawyer check whether the owner was properly notified. A defective notice can undo your purchase.

Missed the lawyer’s warning; $70,558 down payment stolen (2018)

Scammers hacked the family’s real estate attorney’s email. They sent look-alike emails with an extra letter in the attorney’s name, plus an accurate fake closing statement. The family wired $70,558 to a stranger’s account. They did this even though the real attorney had emailed earlier, warning them to ignore wire requests.

Lesson: Read and follow your attorney’s wire-fraud warnings, and confirm any payment instructions by phone.

Impostor fooled a realtor and a real estate attorney; land sold for about $525,000 (2024)

An impostor used a Google Voice number, a fake email and ID photos to pose as the owners. The impostor fooled a Massachusetts realtor and real estate attorney. The lot was deeded to a buyer in May 2024. The owners found out in August 2024, after a developer had started building a house on it. Federal charges were announced in 2026.

Lesson: Professionals can be fooled too. Buyers of vacant land need title insurance and strict seller-identity checks.