Buying a house from family friend... advice? (sales, real estate)

[ma4me]

Ok, so my friend has offered to sell me their condo. There is no loan on her condo - and she would not be charging me interest. My goal is to get the house for the least cost [obviously...] I would not need an inspection or appraisal since the sale price has been agreed upon. What is the easiest way to finalize this deal for both of us. Should we use an estate planner or attorney? Any referral on the north shore??

[mmyk72]

It seems like you guys are not bringing in a realtor, which is a good way to cut the 5+% commission - you may get naysayers who say you need to have someone look out for your interest blah blah blah.

I'd suggest get an attorney who draws up a P&S agreement and coordinates everything.... It seems like you and your friend can just work out the details and have the attorney put them in the PS.

Do you mean your friend will give you a loan to buy her condo but interest free? What a friend! You may need to ask the attorney to draw up a loan doc of some sort.

[kmann-sherborn]

I'm a little confused by your post. You said you're looking to get the best price but that the price has already been agreed upon.

Is your friend financing the loan on the condo or are you getting a loan from the bank? I assume it's the former but either way, it's a good idea to have a real estate attorney draw up an agreement to protect your interests. We bought our first home from a close friend & that's what we did. Our attorney was wonderful, very smart but also calm and easy to work with. I've had many clients who used him as well, and he's done a good job keeping things running smoothly between parties. I'll email you his contact info.

Re: an appraisal, if you're getting a loan from the bank, they'll send an appraiser (which you pay for). If not, it's a good idea to get a sense of comparable recent sales to be sure you're paying a fair price.

When we bought a home from a friend, we still did a home inspection, although we were quite familiar with the history of the home and work that had been done over the years. The reason for an inspection isn't to determine the sale price, but to determine if there are any major issues that would impact your decision to buy the home. To me, the small cost of a home inspection was definitely worth it so we knew we weren't getting into a money pit.

Best of luck!

[steverabago]

there is a service called ZimpleMoney that you can use to track the loan payments and collections

[miu]

Still get a home inspection.

[shiver]

I would very strongly recommend the home inspection. A fabulous price may not be so fabulous if there are major issues that will fixing (issues that your friend may not even be aware of). Also, get a real estate attorney to do a title examination. If there are any title issues, it will impact your ability to sell in the future because you'll inherit any existing problems.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by no mortgage being involved. Get a real estate attorney involved. Having an attorney doesn't mean it's an advesarial situation. It just means you have someone who knows what they are doing handling the legalities. It's worth the cost.