No harm in going to your bank. Worst they can tell you is no.

Title agency will handle the actual transaction/title insurance anyway. You might need to ask a lawyer to draw up the actual sale contract.

Or you can buy the standard sale contract forms used by brokers here. Apparently, you don’t actually need to be a broker, though they charge you double if you’re not a “member.”

http://store.car.org/car-standard-forms.html

Using a “borrowed” copy without paying would probably be a copyright violation, but draft/sample forms seem to be available for free…

http://www.car.org/3550/pdf/283726/396788/809175/RPA_11-14_Draft11%28Web_Post%29.pdf

You just need a title company and mortgage (or cash).

First select a title/escrow company.
They won’t give you legal advice but will tell you what you need to complete the transaction. They won’t close until all the docs are in.

This is the company I used before:
https://corinthiantitle.com/

I heard good things about Quicken Loans.

You don’t need inspection (you can waive that) since you live there and know the property. No need to waste money on an inspector, especially if you will buy regardless.

Good suggestions CAr. But they are not necessary in this case. Sounds like the OP has lived in the house for 10 years; he loves it and wants to buy. He just needs a title company to conduct the transaction.

That’s why I said skip the inspection, and some of the usual stuff that homebuyers do that add complexity.

In San Diego, he can just call Wawanesa to get an insurance quote. Wawanesa is very good and they don’t insure places near canyons so he’ll know very quickly how much insurance will be.

Since he knows “absolutely zero”, then best to make the transaction as easy as possible. Sounds like he’s getting a deal, so we wouldn’t want complexity to scuttle it.

He should just open escrow with an Escrow/Title officer. She will tell him that buyer and seller need first to submit a purchase agreement and earnest money deposit submitted to escrow. She will take it from there and tell him what else they need to submit.
Here’s a form to use:
http://www.zillow.com/advice-thread/Where-can-I-obtain-a-free-copy-of-California-real-estate-purchase-agreement/480725/

I don’t care how long anybody has lived in a house,
it’s irresponsible to tell someone that they shouldn’t get an inspection ‘because they already know everything about the house’

Get a 30yr mortgage and obligate yourself to hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments, but don’t spend $400 because you live there ?
Is OP a licensed contractor, electrician, plumber, roofer etc. Qualified to know what’s
wrong with the house ?

I wouldn’t assume that the landlord is being fair.
Accepting things the way they are for the sake of convenience could turn out to be a VERY costly mistake.

There is nothing wrong with 2 parties agreeing to complete a transaction on their own but don’t expect an escrow officer to guide you through the transaction, that’s not their job and they’re foolish if they offer advice.

The real risk is by the seller, not having anyone to bear some responsibility if something goes wrong.
As long as any seller gets their money, they will
never sue the buyer.
It’s the buyer that can sue a seller for any number of reasons after a transaction closes.

Just because a buyer has lived in a property doesn’t mean that they have to accept a property as is.
There are disclosures that are required even if a seller has not lived in a property.

Any Agent/Realtor/Broker has some liability in every transaction that they are involved in, which is why it isn’t prudent for one to say they will
help complete a transaction like this for a few hundred dollars.

The OP admitted he knows nothing about the process and the ‘experts’ here are telling him it’s no big deal to do it on your own.
Really bad advice.

[quote=spdrun]Yet FSBO deals happen all the time, even with first-time buyers. Nothing wrong with buying as is — better to negotiate the price than to have the seller do some halfass repairs.[/quote]

That’s your opinion, it’s not a fact.
VERY few first time buyers represent themselves.

No buyer has to accept ‘halfass repairs’
As is can be a problem in getting a loan.

For most buyers it is not better to negotiate the price. They don’t have the funds needed to complete the repairs and most buyers aren’t know it all do it yourselfers like many on this site who wouldn’t dream of paying a professional to do anything because they know how to do it for less.

I stopped getting inspections because I know that I would buy regardless of the results of the inspection; and I know I’m getting a deal. Plus I know that in foreclosure cases banks don’t fix anything, and these days with tight inventory, they don’t negotiate either. The price is what it is.

The OP should chime in and tell us if the seller is giving him a special price.

HLS, we are “representing” the buyer here. If the seller has disclosures he must abide by, then it’s his own business to get the buyer’s signatures.