Real Estate Law Intake Forms & Client Questionnaires

The buyer who just got their offer accepted on a three-bedroom in Montclair is calling your office at 4:30 on a Friday because the contract says "attorney review period expires Monday." You need the property address, purchase price, mortgage pre-approval status, and the name of the opposing attorney before you even open the contract. A generic client intake form asks for name, address, and "describe your legal matter." That is not how real estate closings work — every piece of missing information at intake is a phone call your paralegal has to make on Monday morning when the clock is running.

The Real Estate Law intake form follows the standard 3-page litigation format and is designed by a licensed attorney admitted in New Jersey and New York. It covers purchase, sale, and refinance transactions with fields structured around how real estate attorneys actually handle files. Property address, block and lot, municipality, county, purchase price or refinance amount, contract date, closing date, and whether the transaction is residential or commercial. It captures the parties on both sides — buyer and seller names, real estate agents, mortgage broker, lender name and loan officer, title company, and opposing counsel.

Why Real Estate Needs Specialized Intake

Real estate transactions are deadline-driven in a way most legal matters are not. The attorney review period, mortgage commitment date, inspection contingency deadline, and closing date are all hard dates that cannot slip without consequences. The intake form captures every one of these dates up front so your calendar is populated at file opening, not when someone remembers to ask. It also captures mortgage type — conventional, FHA, VA, USDA, jumbo, cash purchase — because each has different requirements that affect your title review and closing preparation.

The form includes sections for title issues that surface constantly in residential practice: open permits, certificate of occupancy status, survey concerns, property tax arrears, HOA or condo association fees, and whether the property is in a flood zone requiring additional insurance. For sellers, it captures whether the property is tenant-occupied, whether there are any outstanding liens or judgments, and whether the seller is an estate or trust requiring additional documentation. These are the questions that, if not asked at intake, create surprises at the title search stage.

Purchase vs. Sale vs. Refinance

A buyer's file and a seller's file require different information even though they involve the same property. The buyer intake focuses on financing — pre-approval amount, lender name, down payment source, gift letter requirements, and whether the buyer is selling another property simultaneously. The seller intake focuses on current mortgage payoff, capital gains considerations, and whether the seller needs to find replacement housing before closing. Refinance intakes are simpler but still need the current lender, outstanding balance, new lender, and whether the refinance involves cash-out. The form accommodates all three with dedicated checkbox routing.

Intake vs. Client Questionnaire

The intake form is your internal office document. Your paralegal fills it out during or after the initial call. It includes litigation-format fields for case administration, opposing counsel, court information (for matters that go sideways), and a case summary section with room for notes on unusual issues. The client does not sign it. The companion client questionnaire is what you send the client — it collects personal information for the title search, asks about ownership structure (individual, joint tenants, tenants in common, LLC, trust), and includes engagement letter acknowledgment and a signature block.

Pricing

Each form is $19.99 for the complete set (intake + questionnaire), $14.99 for intake only, or $9.99 for questionnaire only. All PDFs are fillable in Adobe Reader, password-protected against editing, and carry the CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE stamp.

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