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Locating Real Estate Forms: A Beginner’s Guide

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This post is coauthored by Barbara Bavis, instructional librarian, and Robert Brammer, senior legal reference specialist.

We frequently receive requests for assistance with real estate law, particularly in finding real estate forms.  The legal requirements for such forms and agreements can be extensive, and as such, researchers can turn to treatises, legal encyclopedias, and legal form books to better understand how such documents are drafted.  This Beginner’s Guide will provide a list of some general resources which contain real estate forms.

General Resources

Print of advertisement for S.E. Gross showing steps in the real estate development process, from locating a piece of land to offering the finished home for sale. August Gast & Co. (1848). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a50735
Print of advertisement for S.E. Gross showing steps in the real estate development process, from locating a piece of land to offering the finished home for sale. August Gast & Co. (1848). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a50735

State Specific Resources

Like some of the legal issues addressed in our previous Beginner’s Guides, the content of real estate forms can be very state-specific.  To locate additional resources that are specific to your state, please use our catalog and browse subject headings. Click “search options,” “browse,” and use the drop-down to select “SUBJECTS beginning with” or “SUBJECTS containing,” and then input a subject heading using one of the examples shown below. Finally, click on a result and you can browse the materials classified under that subject heading.

Some of the subject headings that may be of interest include:

  • Real Property–[State Name]
  • Real estate business–Law and Legislation–[State Name]
  • Vendors and Purchasers–[State Name]–Forms
  • Forms (Law)–[State Name]

Locate Resources in a Library

To locate these resources in a library near you, visit WorldCat, type the title in the search box, and from the results page, select a result.  Finally, on the catalog entry page, scroll down to the “Find a copy in the library” section, enter your zip code (or city and country, if outside the United States), and click the “Find libraries” button to find libraries in your area that have the resource.

If you have any questions, please use our Ask A Librarian Service.

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