[Randall55]

Originally Posted by dougjb

For perhaps the biggest purchase of your life that will involve a great deal of your money, why on earth would you want to rely upon the word of non professionals opining on TOTV. I am sure these people are well meaning but they are not lawyers and most are not realtors.

Ultimately, you will be signing a contract, one that will bind you to pay certains sums, perhaps based on some eventualities. Not ever real estate contract is the same.

For my money, I would spend a few hundred dollars on a lawyer, not a real estate agent or realtor. The lawyer can write a contract that specifies your requirements, not the general requirements contained in boilerplate contracts.

Personally, I have, as a seller, never accepted a contract that contained contingenicies such as a financing contingency or that would force me to make any repairs on the property. I allow a healthy period of time for the buyer to inspect the property and then the buyer can either take the property as is without any change in the sales price or walk from the transaction with his deposit check. A realtor would never let me do that....not because it is in my best interest...but because it is in the interest of the realtor to make the sale and earn his commission. I find most realtors to be swarmy and not worthy of ethical respect. On the other hand, when I tell a lawyer what I want in a contract, he or she makes it so.

As a buyer, there are many steps in the process. Make no mistake, this is a big purchase. It involves a large sum of money. I want a lawyer on my side and that can be bought for a few hundred dollars. Trust a realtor at your own risk!

Great post. It is better to have a real estate attorney and a home inspector (you hire) on your side when purchasing a home. A buyer's agent cannot supply you with this backup. They can only give advice.