Purchasing property without Real Estate Agent

[Joseph Kline]

Hello, I have a friend who is a contractor who is offering to sell me a house he bought. The details are I would buy the property from him for 10k and he would finish it and such for 9k, bringing the total purchase price to 19k. (This is a cheaper coal mining region) 

What would be the best option in terms of writing up the contract and getting title transferred ect? From another buddy of mine who invests in the area, he says the real estate agents charge a minimum of 3k plus closing costs, is there a way to avoid this? Any other insights? Thank you

[Jonathan Bombaci]

Hire a real estate attorney to pass papers and do a title search for you and your contractor friend. They’ll make sure everything is done correctly and it’s normally a flat fee. It should definitely be less than $3k and at the end of the day a real estate agent would probably need an attorney to file all the paperwork for you anyways.