Hey everybody today,
we're going to talk about how a power of attorney can be used in a real estate.
State transaction.
I'm Tiffany Webber. I'm a closing attorney and Mooresville, North Carolina,
and we see powers of attorney used in real estate transactions all the time.
So you may be wondering what types there are,
how they can be employed if they're even necessary.
So we're going to talk about that today.
The first type of a power of attorney that someone can have is called a durable
power of attorney. And again, this is specific to North Carolina.
So if you're in another state, talk to an attorney in your state about this,
but in North Carolina,
a durable power of attorney usually has broad powers that you can
delegate to someone else to be able to step in and help you in times when you're
not able to accomplish those tasks yourself. Um,
it's not always for a bad reason. For example,
you could be in a different country and maybe you need to buy or sell real
estate.
And you have someone that is in the state where the transaction is located.
That can sign the documents for you. In fact,
that is a common reason why a power of attorney is used in real estate.
The other reason could be that someone is maybe too ill.
Usually a durable power of attorney is drafted by an estate planning attorney as
part of your estate plan. So that's why it has broad powers. Hey,
so if you are enjoying this video, go ahead and give it a thumbs up.
So I know that you're learning a thing or two. All right, now,
back to the video. Now,
the other type of power of attorney that we see used in real estate transactions
are specific to a certain real property.
So say you own five properties and you're selling one of them and you want to
designate a person to be able to go to the closing appointment and sign the
closing documents for you. Well,
rather than giving them broad authority to handle all sorts of things in your
life,
like your bank accounts and all of your properties and everything like that,
you can designate that this person is only authorized to sign for property
number one and not properties two through five.
You can also have a power of attorney that's limited to expire on a certain
date. So it will automatically expire after 90 days or on,
uh, May 30th or whatever it may be.
So those are usually used more often in real estate transactions because
someone will realize, Oh my goodness, I'm traveling on the day of closing. Um,
I can't get the document signed in advance,
so I will send so-and-so to sign the document.
So I need to get a power of attorney drafted to that effect. Now,
one thing about using a power of attorney in a real estate transaction is do not
just send someone to the closing appointment in your place with a power of
attorney that has never been seen by the closing attorney or any of the parties
before, because it will delay things we need to know ahead of time.
If you intend to use a power of attorney,
because all of the documents have to be drafted a certain way to be valid.
So if you are contemplating real estate transaction or say,
you've just gone under contract and you get the closing date and you realize
that you can't attend, and there is no other way,
you can get the document signed in advance,
simply reach out to the closing attorney and let them know if you don't already
have an attorney that is working with you on your estate documents,
or that you can call to get a power of attorney drafted.
Your closing attorney can help with that.
And all you have to do is let them know who you want to designate as your agent
give of course,
full legal name and correct spelling of the person that you intend to designate.
You will have to sign it in advance before a notary.
So you will sign that one document, uh, before a notary,
wherever you can and get the original to the closing attorney so that it can be
used and recorded in the register of deeds to make all of the documents signed
by the power of attorney valid.
Some common pitfalls that can arise when someone wants to use a power of
attorney are simple mistakes that can be avoided with some planning.
For example, uh, you have to have a power of attorney notarized.
You can't just sign one and send it into the closing attorney and say,
here you go, because it has to be, um,
sworn and signed in front of a notary public that can attest to the identity of
the person that's signing the document.
Another common mistake is that maybe you do have a validly executed power of
attorney, but you never provide the original.
And the original is incredibly important because it has to be recorded at the
register of deeds. You can not record a copy.
So the original has to be provided to the closing attorney for it to be
effective. If you just send a copy, you can't use it.
And then you've wasted all of the effort to get it in the first place.
So maybe you have learned today that powers of attorney are not uncommon.
In fact, they can be quite helpful when they are used with proper planning and
preparation. We see these all the time.
So if you are ever doing a closing in our office, then don't be alarmed.
If you need one and you call us and we say, no problem, we got this.
Maybe you've never seen our channel before then.
Maybe you don't know that we love to make videos just like this one to educate
everyone involved in a real estate transaction about the legal process of a real
estate closing that's buyers, sellers, real estate agents,
your family and friends that are just excited that you're going to be buying a
piece of property. Anyone who's interested in real estate. So if that's,
you we'd love for you to subscribe to our channel so we can bring you more
videos, just like this one. I'm Tiffany Weber,
real estate attorney in Morrisville, North Carolina.
And I'll see you in the next video.