Purchasing home without a realtor

[Erik Bremer]

This is my first post so my apologies if there is a more appropriate forum section.  My elderly neighbor is going to be moving to a nursing home after a brief stint in  the hospital.  The husband passed away a few years ago and my family has basically been taking care of this woman for the past few years as she lives alone and can't drive or really take care of herself.  Her children (who have power of attorney) offered to sell us the home for 300k before putting it on the market.  They have already consulted a realtor who said it is worth about 300k, and my realtor said she thinks it is worth about 300k as well.  This home is in California and her family lives in Texas.  

My question is, why should we even go through a realtor?  My loan guy thinks we shouldn't.  He said he would handle all the escrow stuff, and that it would be easy since we are much more familiar with the property than the sellers are.  He thinks we should offer them 285k in exchange for them not having to pay a realtor.  Does anyone have any experience with this?  Isn't one of the main jobs of a realtor finding a buyer?  If the buyer is already found it seems strange to pay a realtor thousands of dollars to do some paperwork.  Is it even legal to waive the appraisal and inspection and just purchase the property as is.  

This situation is kind of unique because there is no fear of the seller is not disclosing something to the buyer, as we have much more knowledge about the condition of the home than the sellers do.  Is house buying simpler when it is simply an "As is" sale? 

Any guidance would be much appreciated!  Thank you in advance.  

Erik