Buying From Private Seller

[Bryan Weller]

I suppose this is a rather newbie set of questions, but here goes... When buying a house from a private seller, everyone talks about "putting it under contract" and I understand the general concept. However, I have a few questions.

Here's the scenario.... Let's say that I've been marketing hard and got someone who wants to sell me their house and we agree on a price. I am looking to buy, rehab and resell the house. I understand that I would want to use a standard state contract to do so. I would fill it out and have both parties sign. Here we go with questions.

1) Would you typically put in a due diligence clause here just like you might when buying a property from a bank? It seems obvious you would, but you're trying to get someone to sell you the house and not give them a lot of reasons to back out.

2) When would you run title search and how much does this typically cost?

3) Who do you use to make the sale official? Do you use your title company lawyer or your personal RE lawyer or what?

I guess I'm looking for all the steps you would take when buying the house yourself without the assistance of a real estate agent or the bank.

If someone has a link to share, rather than writing the whole thing out, I understand completely. I've read a lot on real estate investing, but I don't seem to have seen anything laying this one process out. Thank you.