Real Estate Law

For those among us who love the land, this page contains connections to land use law, professionals, and professional associations in the real estate area like realtors, appraisers and home inspectors. For RVCC students, this page provides a tutorial on the preparation of several NJ closing documents, including RESPA/HUD.

A real estate paralegal assists her employer in buy/sell transactions for both business and residential clients. Effective paralegals working in this area of law will know something about banking, contracts, and even landlord/tenant law. They will need to do the mundane things like order title work or surveys and arrange the time and place of closing, but also draft and review the legal documents necessary for closing, from mortgages to deeds to affidavits of title to HUD-1 statements. The para-professional here will likely handle the entire matter from opening the file to disbursing the funds.

Real Estate & Land Use Law

The following sources provide an overview of this area of law:

• FindLaw for Legal Professionals www.findlaw.com/01topics/33property/index.html
  Geared for legal professionals, includes a guide to attorneys who specialize in this area of practice, databases, articles, software, forms, discussion groups and related websites.
• FindLaw for the Public http://public.findlaw.com/real_estate/
  Geared for the non-professional, includes overviews on real estate practices, articles on home ownership, and self-help guides to this area of law.

Top

Professionals & Professional Associations

The following sources will help you find property law professionals in any area of the country:

• Technical Advisory Service for Attorneys www.tasanet.com
  for experts in all areas of law nationwide
• The Legal Pages www.lawdiary.com
  a comprehensive directory of goods and services for NJ legal professionals, it provides local connections to experts in all disciplines, including real estate appraisers, home inspectors, mortgage brokers and more.
• American Society of Home Inspectors www.ashi.com
  for a listing of home inspectors nationwide
• Organization of Real Estate Professionals www.orep.org
  for a listing of real estate appraisers, home inspectors and info on E&O Insurance
• National Association of Realtors www.realtor.com
  for a search tool to find a realtor in any area of the county plus a listing of over 400,000 properties for sale by state.
• New Jersey Association of Realtors www.njar.com
  provides state information, including home sales and listing of state-licensed realtors
• Hunterdon/Somerset Association of Realtors www.hsar.com
  get real specific in your search with this regional association and its links

Forms & Documents

Many forms are state-specific and software can be purchased at a relatively low cost to handle most real estate matters…and the software even does the math calculations! RVCC uses EasySoft Legal Software www.easysoft-usa.com, which provides all types of real estate forms including deeds, affidavits, HUD-1, and more.  Not many real estate forms can be found on-line and for free, but you can check out:

• www.legaldocs.com and
• http://www.uslegalforms.com/real-estate-forms.htm
  although these are mainly court-related form documents, you can find sample real estate contracts, residential & commercial leases and even satisfaction of mortgage forms. Some forms are free, while others are available at a small fee.
• www.judiciary.state.nj.us/forms.htm
  is an excellent NJ-specific site for forms if landlord/tenant law is your area of practice. This page links you to forms like sample landlord/tenant small claims complaints, certifications of landlords, and consents to enter, with a guide for prose litigants. Some of these forms are interactive & can be filled out right on your computer; others must be printed and filled out the old-fashioned typewriter way.
• http://www.lexisone.com/store/catalog?action=rootFreeCategory
  This site has available over 6000 free forms in various areas of practice, and a lot more forms you can pay for! Check out the different areas, including real estate forms, and the state sources too.

Top

Tutorial for RVCC Students

You must be a currently enrolled RVCC student with an assigned WebCT ID and Password to access this secure area at http://webct.raritanval.edu/SCRIPT/tops/scripts/serve_home.

After logging in to the Home page, please use the icon labeled "Real Estate Law".
For technical support, please contact online@raritanval.edu.

Top