Expert: Jessica Bryan - 9/4/2010

Question
We are scheduled to close on single-family home on Sept 20 in Chicago, IL.  As first-time buyers, we got a lawyer to help out with the legal aspect and she was pretty responsive.  We started negotiating with the Seller and everything went well at the beginning.  We didn't hear from her in over 2 weeks and today (Sept 3) she told us that the Seller submitted some changes to the contract and that we needed to make a decision on those. The problem is that those changes were sent to her on August 25th, and now, a week and a half later and at 3pm on a Friday before a holiday weekend, she drops the news on us.

Can we replace her at this point without jeopardizing the closing date?  We are all packed up, ready to move in, gave up our apartments and everything.

Answer
Hi Joel;
While standard practices differ from one area to another, the one thing that we can all expect is good service and responsiveness no matter where we live or move.  Since you are the one who is paying the attorney her fees she is employed by you and can be 'fired' by you.  However, she has already done some work for you and will no doubt ask for her fee.  If you go with someone else, you will have to start over and this will delay things as well as cost you more.

My suggestion is to let the attorney know that you are disappointed that she was not 'on top of' the changes and notification to you.  Ask for her assistance in working through these changes and negotiate these. (I am unclear what "changes" the sellers could make to the original contract since I assume everything was signed and agreed upon.  Without seeing the contract I cannot really comment but I suspect there could have been some contingent issues or clauses that could be addressed without being in violation of contract.  These could be changes in closing date; inspection issues and how they will be handled; or seller rent back; to name a few.)

I advise that you look to the future and forget about the small issues such as your attorney's unresponsiveness.  If you change attorneys at this point and if there is any delay in closing the Sellers could penalize you for non-performance.  After all it isn't their fault that your attorney wasn't responsive and therefore if the closing date slips back then it is you who will be held responsible and not the sellers.  

I wish you all the best in you new home.

Jessica Bryan