Q: Hi, My husband and I are currently preparing to build a home on his family's farm. We need a contract made.

A: Assuming you are using a properly licensed and insured general contractor, start with the contract your chosen contractor provides. There are many, many of them, so don't believe any nonsense about form. Then, hire a lawyer to review the agreement before you sign anything or commit to that contractor. If you do this yourself for the first time, you are extremely likely to make some very serious and expensive mistakes. A few hundred dollars on a lawyer review is nothing on the scale involved. Even that will not guarantee that you won't make mistakes or get into problems, but it will give you perspective and may save your project. Important terms include when payments will happen; what standards will be used to evaluate draws; and accurate technical specs. Good luck.

A: You need a real estate lawyer, period. There is no list of "things" to include. You need a proper and complete contract. If part of the farm is being subdivided in order to deed a separate lot for the land, then you need deeds prepared and, if access across the remaining portion of the farm is needed to reach the road, then you need easements and/or rights-of-way granted. This is complicated. And important. You ant to make sure you own the land under the house you build, and the means to get to and from it, regardless of who may own the rest of the farm your lot is carved out of, and so you can sell your house and obtain mortgage financing for it (or your heirs or future owners can do so) in the future.

A: There might be two contracts involved here --- first, if any title is transferring to your husband (it isn't clear if he already owns the land or if it is in another family member's name) you might need a contract from the owner to you/your husband and second, there should be a contract with the home builder. Depending on the circumstances, you might need a family deed prepared as well -- this can get a little complicated with agricultural land since there are additional taxes that come into play if formerly agricultural land is going to be used for another purpose.

Maryland law has a lot of specific items that must be in a new home contract and some other terms that aren't required by law but are very helpful to the landowner. You can read up on some of the required terms in the Maryland Annotated Code and/or through brochures put out by the state's Attorney General's office. It would be wise - as other attorneys mentioned -- to have a lawyer prepare or at least review the construction contract. Sometimes builders have a detailed boilerplate contract that fully complies with Maryland law, sometimes they miss important terms and sometimes they have all the legal terms but don't protect the homeowner very well. Legally the contract may be prepared by a party to the transaction or by an attorney.