Every now and then we come across some words of advice that are too good not to share. To get this blog kicked off we just want to share a few sage words of advice from the New Zealand Law Society. They advocate heading to a lawyer whenever you are undertaking a big transaction like buying or selling property and we tend to agree. The kiwi do it yourself attitude can sometimes get us into tricky situations when corners are cut, and when hundreds of thousands of dollars (or millions for the Aucklanders reading this!) are at stake, even a straight forward contract is worth a quick once over.

So - make sure a lawyer is involved in your transaction. At conveyonline we use a trusted Hawkes Bay law firm - Langley Twigg Law. They're our choice because they've been around for decades, but have a modern approach to getting the job done. It's a mix of reliability and flexibility and that's really important to our customers. You can also rest easy knowing they are part of the Lawlink group of lawyers - meaning they are a provincial firm with national ties, combining the cost effectiveness off the regions, with the knowledge and structure of a big law firm.

Here's a few tips from the Law Society on why you should use a lawyer (from their Buying or Selling Property document from 21 March 2013). "Remember:

• You usually can’t change an agreement after you have signed it.
• Your agreement might be with your agent (an authority to sell) or with the property buyer
• or seller.
• You can save money and anxiety by seeing your lawyer first.
• Your lawyer can help you prevent small problems turning into big ones.
• If you are selling a unit title property it is illegal to enter into an agreement (even a conditional agreement) until you have given the buyer a pre-contract disclosure statement."