Your lawyer is the only completely objective party acting on your behalf. Even the best real estate agent is not licensed to make changes to the standard contracts, and should not be asked to give legal advice.
Even a standard agreement is many pages in length and will cover an array of areas. Having you attorney involved from the beginning can resolve potential problems in your favor before they even arise.
Mortgage brokers get paid based upon signing up qualified applicants for mortgages, which creates some conflict of interest between them and the client. A lawyer will review documents from the lender, and can also draft the Note and Deed of Trust / Mortgage documents n cases of owner take-back financing.
In the For Sale By Owner transaction, there is no telling whether the contract actually matches up to their expectations and, since there is no realtor, using a standard realtor's form makes little sense.
The Rent-to-Own situation is generally a result of the inability to sell the home outright. Whichever side (normally the seller, but not always) hires an attorney to draft the rent-to-own contract will be at a tremendous advantage.
A Short Sale is when the bank is willing to take less than is owed on the mortgage, in order to avoid paying to foreclose. An attorney is needed to keep a watchful eye on them, as well as to make sure the deal is not structured in such a way as to constitute a fraud on the bank.
Your real estate lawyer will help you quickly sift through the title commitment and advise you as you any problems. You will also want your attorney to review the survey to make sure it matches up with the description in the title commitment, and to use it as a check on the title commitment exclusions to the insurance policy.
Zoning regulations, environmental regulations, and other factors play a part in the market value of property. You may want to know what was done in the past or what is planned for the future to affect the ultimate sale price.
If you are buying a condo or co-op, make sure you have your attorney review the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) or Bylaws, which lay out your rights and obligations.
A Home Owner Association (HOA) is a group of owners who are part of a mutual benefit organization that governs the activities and aesthetics or the area covered. An attorney can advice you of your rights and obligations through a review of the HOA bylaws.
At Closing, the buyers may be given literally hundreds of documents they have never seen before. Having your attorney present can cut right through all this so that you are confident you are only signing the documents you need to sign and that you understand what you are signing BEFORE you sign it.