I want to buy my mothers house which she lives in and she is not well. She bought it a long time ago. Is there a smart way to buy this house?

The cheap way is to go to an escrow company and open escrow yourself without an agent.

The wisest would be to negotiate a reasonable amount of money with an agent to do both sides of the transaction for you, so that you can be legally covered with the correct paperwork. Don't feel that you have to pay a double fee to an agent, you should be able to negotiate heavily since you are bringing all the business to that person.

Ask around with friends and neighbors for a trusted agent and make sure that agent has done enough transactions to be experienced in representing both buyer and seller.