Selling FSBO to an Investor

[Max Gupton]

I live in an older neighborhood (1950s) in a hot market where there are a lot of investors are coming through, flipping homes and (I assume) making solid profits. I had a realtor look at my house and some comps and he thinks I could get about $410-415k going to market. However, I found an investor that has offered me $400k with 5k in earnest money and no buyer realtor commissions. I know it's under market, but after buyer/seller realtor commissions of 6%, plus paying for minor repairs and other misc costs to get the house in a salable condition, I'll still end up ahead. Plus no headaches of dealing with buyers coming in/out of my house and a fast close.

Based on my discussions with him, I think his plan is to flip the house. He's been doing this for awhile, so I have no doubt that he'll make a solid profit. Win-win, right? The only problem is, I've never sold a house by myself, so I don't know the ins/outs of the closing process and what all I should do to protect myself. I don't expect any malpractice as he is also a realtor. But, just doing my due diligence, I've had a family lawyer and my lender look over the contract. Both have said it looks pretty standard. One friend suggested I get a Due Diligence Fee rather than earnest money to get him more locked-in to the deal.

My question is, should I hire a real estate attorney (or other professional) to represent me in the closing? I asked my buying agent, and he said he would rep me, but it would be 1.75% ("firm policy") vs the typical 3%, which equates to $7k and would almost defeat the purpose of this whole process. I know attorneys aren't cheap, but I wouldn't expect something as simple as a closing to be all that expensive. Based on my research, it seems like the title company does most of the work. I'm not sure if I need one at all. I just don't want to screw myself/family over because of my own ignorance of the law.

Any suggestions/insight is greatly appreciated.