There's no equity there to be paying to the seller.As for standard day to day deals, $1 should hold the contract, but doesn't make you look very serious as a buyer.

With the subprime fiasco; a pending flood of foreclosures; the political change with more taxes on the way; the tightening of lending standards; etc, we're in for a long ride.

In some states the title company will have standard forms that can be used.The title and the existence of the existing first must be made clear to the buyer.

Mostly so the standard items are covered and so they are not confused or exposed to extra liability.You can note on the standard contract that the offer is subject to the items on addendum A and then supply your form with the clauses you want added.Independent of how you get to the end, make sure you read closely the full offer and understand what you are committing to do.

Have the lawyer review a contract you want to use or take a standard contract for your market and add in the things that you want to add in after consulting with them.John Corey

Thank you I will find all that out.Is there a standard formula to use to figure out the value of the deal?

(There were some fine points to this which are a little vague now, but it is pretty accurate)Also, in my experience, a Standard Purchase Agreement (or whatever your local RE board calls it) has a section that spells out who is the CLIENT, and who is a CUSTOMER.

Is there some standard calcuation that investors use to estimate how much the value of a property will increase after they make certain repairs and improvements?

The LLC would meet the definition of the term "insured" under the standard ALTA owners policy.

It will be pretty standard based on market convention.