Buying a house on contract. No idea what I'm doing.

[Ryan Brown]

Backstory: I moved into a house about 4 years ago that was not lived in and in pretty bad shape (but in a good neighborhood in the hollywood hills). I made a verbal agreement with the owner (a family friend) to fix it up, then buy it at a set price when I was ready. He passed away 1.5 years ago, the house went into a trust, his niece was the trustee. She's like a second mother to me, and she's honoring the terms I had with her uncle. She recently (8 months ago) took the house out of the trust and its fully in her name.

Now it's time for me to buy, and she's agreed to do a seller financed sale. I've spoken to realtors who want a percentage of the sale to do the deal, and I've spoken to real estate lawyers who will setup the contracts/paperwork. I don't think I need a realtor for this? One realtor told me I need to go through escrow and the title goes under my name now, another said we can just file the paperwork and then in 5 years, when the final balloon payment is due and the deal is done, is when the title goes to me.

A lawyer friend said he'd set it all up for me, but when I told him about the house being in a trust, he said it may be smart to go through a realtor just to be sure it's all done properly, the chain of title is clear, etc.

Any help here? Do I need to pay 20K in fee's, paperwork, realtors, escrow, etc, when the terms have already been settled between myself and the buyer? What's the standard when buying on contract, as far as the title goes? What exactly do I need to make this sale legit but not give 40K to a realtor?