Residential Real Estate Practice Guide
8.27.2020
Even though we all practice law in the same state, many aspects of a residential real estate transaction differ depending on where a property is located. Particularly Upstate, closing customs and practices vary widely from one county to the next. These practices include whether a contract is drafted by a realtor or an attorney, if a realtor-drafted contract is subject to attorney approval or disapproval, the length of the required title search, who orders and pays for title searches and even the type of deed.
An attorney who works on a transaction outside of his/her own home county may be at a disadvantage because local attorneys, title agents and realtors have different expectations about how the transaction will be conducted. Conversely, a local attorney may have difficulty convincing an attorney from outside of the area that “this is how we do things here.” This Local Practice Guide is designed to help bridge this gap. The Guide is organized on a county by county basis and will serve as a reference to the various local real estate customs and practices as well as provide a guide to local mapping and tax reference resources.
This Guide is provided exclusively as a benefit of membership in the NYSBA Real Property Law Section.
If you don’t see your county listed and would like to help us add your county to the list, or if you would like to supplement the information about your county’s practices, please email John Jones.
Click on the county below for information on that county’s practices.
- Albany – updated 1/22/18
- Allegany – updated 10/7/19
- Bronx – updated 4/10/19
- Broome – updated 2/14/17
- Cattaraugus – updated 10/7/19
- Cayuga – updated 1/8/19
- Chautauqua
- Chemung – updated 10/16/17
- Chenango – updated 8/28/17
- Clinton
- Columbia – updated 1/17/18
- Cortland – updated 8/1/2017
- Delaware – updated 5/18/18
- Dutchess – updated 4/10/19
- Erie – updated 1/8/18
- Essex – updated 4/18/18
- Franklin Northern – updated 4/18/18
- Franklin Southern – updated 4/1/8/18
- Fulton – updated 1/22/18
- Genesee
- Greene – updated 1/17/18
- Hamilton – updated 6/15/17
- Herkimer – updated 10/16/17
- Jefferson
- Kings (Brooklyn) – updated 6/15/17
- Lewis
- Livingston – updated 1/8/19
- Madison – updated 4/18/18
- Monroe – updated 1/8/18
- Montgomery – updated 1/22/18
- Nassau – updated 1/22/18
- New York (Manhattan) – updated 6/15/17
- Niagara – updated 1/8/18
- Oneida – updated 2/18/20
- Onondaga – updated 6/15/17
- Ontario – updated 1/8/19
- Orange – updated 4/18/18
- Orleans – updated 1/8/19
- Oswego – updated 4/18/18
- Otsego – updated 1/17/18
- Putnam – updated 2/20/2020
- Queens – updated 6/15/17
- Rensselaer – updated 6/15/17
- Richmond (Staten Island) – updated 6/15/17
- Rockland – updated 3/1/19
- Saint Lawrence
- Saratoga – updated 1/22/18
- Schenectady – updated 1/22/18
- Schoharie – updated 1/17/18
- Schuyler – updated 4/18/18
- Seneca – updated 2/18/20
- Steuben – updated 4/18/18
- Suffolk – updated 3/1/19
- Sullivan – updated 1/17/18
- Tioga – updated 1/31/19
- Tompkins – updated 8/1/17
- Ulster – updated 1/17/18
- Warren – updated 6/15/17
- Washington – updated 6/15/17
- Wayne – updated 1/8/19
- Westchester – updated 1/28/19
- Wyoming
- Yates – updated 4/18/18
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