Hey guys, I bought a home a few years back and the builder was holding onto the adjacent property to eventually build another house on it. Over the last few months with the way the economy has declined the builder has called me and offered the piece to me for under $15,000. We finally came to an agreement on price and I would like to get the ball rolling on purchasing this. I am not going through a realtor since I know the owner and there's no reason to pay commission to them for doing nothing. My main concern is getting a contract made up. I have a realtor friend that gave me a contract they use, but it is 15 pages long and contains a TON of stuff not applicable. I've also spoke with a few lawyers in the area and have been quoted anywhere from 350-500 dollars just to draw up a contract, not to mention all the other fees including the title search, taxes, etc totalling 1500 to 2000 dollars. I understand I'll have to pay all the state stuff and I will be getting the title search/insurance, but paying a ton of money for a simple contract seems ridiculous to me. Does anyone out there have some advice on a generic contract or a process of getting one? We've already come to an agreement on price, and there's no house/structures on the property, just the real property. Thanks in advance!

Ok, still laughing, you don't want to pay them for doing nothing, but you know that a real cotract is going to be pages if you want all the legal stuff covered.

I mean you two can spit and shake hands if you want, you write him a check and he hands you a warranty deed to the land.

Now what should you do.

1. a complete title search
2. purchase title insurance
3. get a title company or real estate attorney to draw up all of the contract and purchase agreement.

So you spend a few hundred on title insurance, a few hundred on an attorney and some on a title search.
It is well worth it so you don't find out latter some ex wife from 5 owners ago has a claim.

Hey thanks for the response, I understand I'll have to pay out around 500-750 dollars for the title search, title insurance, whiche the real estate attorney will have to do. I actually just got off the phone with yet another attorney and he stated that all he needed was a signed contract to start the process, which is what I'm now looking for. Is there a generic form or something similar that is tailored for land only purchases, without all the extra stuff about termites, radon, improvements, etc?