[GH85Carrera]

A good real estate agent has knowledge of the ins and out of the laws in your area. There are lots of gotchas and it made difficult by the very people involved. They don't want you to do it yourself as they make money making it look mysterious and difficult. There are still lots of legal things that have to be taken care of, and the deed had to have tax stamps, and the change in ownership as to be noted on legal documents.

When my parents bought their house it was from a retired Air Force officer. My dad had just retired from the Air Force as an officer. The two men looked each other in the eyes, shook hands, and made the deal. Done. Never an issue. Dad filed the deed paperwork.

When I bought my first house, the former owner was going to carry the note. In that era he gave me a super fantastic mortgage rate of only 12.5% as the banks were charging 15 to 18 percent. I mailed him a check each month, but I had to pay the property taxes and the insurance on my own. Again, no closing office. We shook hands on November 1st, and I woke up in my bed in my house on November 10th.