A contract is the first step when buying real estate

Speaker: My landlord is thinking about selling me the house that I'm renting from him, what is step number one? What do I do? Step number one always is a contract for sale and purchase, whether you're buying it from your landlord or whether you're buying it from a stranger, even if you're buying it from a family member. The contract for sale and purchase, it is signed by the buyer, signed by the seller. That way we know we have a meeting of the minds. If you're going to go out and borrow money from an institutional lender or a bank, they're going to require that you have a contract for sale and purchase in place.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Typically it'd be up to the buyer to have that contract prepared and presented to the seller and this is a tenant who is calling us so he is a buyer. We would be pleased to assist you with that contract and that's always going to be step number one. Once the contract gets signed, the buyer goes out starts looking for financing. Once the financing is approved, it's time to have a closing where the parties sit down and documents are signed. Documents are signed and the money is dispersed to the seller.