San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

You can go directly to the escrow company and have them draw up all the paperwork for you.

It might not hurt to get an attorney, but that depends entirely on your relationship with this friend and how you might resolve any issues either during of after the transaction (what if you find $30K worth of mold problems that they had painted over, or something like that?).

We've used Gary for an inspector, and will use him in the future. Great guy, great work, and very much worth every penny.

http://www.sucasainspection.com/

Good luck with your transaction! :)

Thank you, CA renter.
I will definitely give Gary a call.
I am doing all the pre-purchase work to prepare for this transaction. So far we both agreed on price verbally, but not on the paper, yet. I hope my friend won't change her mind as she changed her mind once before. I hope I can trust her.

I am trying to find a discount agent since I am a first time home buyer(I will pay him/her.) to review the paper work with me. Anybody on this board could recommend one?

Attorneys will just get in the way. A realtor may help a little, but for a friendly deal, the escrow agent is key.

I did a "no realtor" deal once and the escrow agent made it possible. The escrow agent is the one who makes things happen, moves things along. They know what papers need signing, when they need signing, and how to get the deal closed. A good loan agent helps, also, and if escrow guy and loan guy work together, it'll happen without much trouble. Expect to do some running around, though.

Get recommendations on title agent, inspector, termite inspector, escrow agent, mortgage broker and you'll be in decent shape.

Like CA Renter says, you don't need a Realtor.
Go directly to escrow. All a Realtor would do is put you into escrow anyway.

Here's a good one:
http://www.heritageescrow.com/contact.html

as,
While I am not a discount agent, I have helped with a situation like this on a reasonable flat fee before. It seems like might you want more than just the paper work as a first time buyer. If you would like to discuss it you can email me at Russellwalsh2003 at @ Yahoo dot com.

Thank you all for the advice.

Sorry that I may have used the wrong term"discount realtor" in my first forum. What I meant was: a realtor who would charge a flat fee and review my contract before I sign and give me some advice during escrow process if there are some problems show up. I hope I did not offend any realtors on this board.:)

I bought from my father. We negotiated the price and went to an escrow/title company. No realtors, no fees to realtors. All the normal fees associated with escrow, financing, title insurance, doc charges etc.

For the actual sales contract we used a standard form.

I would say buying from a friend is different than buying from your father. For both of your interests I'd want an outside set of eyes on it.

CA renter, if you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay Gary for inspection of a property ?

Thanks.

I do not remember the exact amount as it was a few years ago, and we paid him extra because he did such a good job, but it was between $300 and $500.