DIYbanter - View Single Post - advice needed: buying a house from owner (without an agent)

(Kate) writes:

I am thinking about buying a townhouse directly from the owner without
an agent. But I am not sure how much is the lawyer fee and is this a
smart choice. I am a first time home buyer, so don't know much about
the process. For example, the closing fee, the owner said 50/50,
what's the reasonable amount. the owner said it costs me about at
least 10,000 less without an agent. the townhouse is 2 years old and
the price is 305,000. please give any advice and I will appreciate.

Why are you asking random people on the net for advice? Get yourself
a good real estate attorney and have him/her handle all the contract
negotiations. Depending on where you live, you will likely need to
have an attorney anyway to handle the closing. They typically charge
a flat fee (less than $1000) for their services. It's well worth it
to spend that much on a $305K investment when you don't know what
you're doing otherwise.

-Sandra the cynic