BiggerPockets

Ok, you can use a plain vanilla contract, but many investors, including myself, won't touch them. We would have to vacate that one and replace with our own.

To your point about not being able to afford an attorney, you might not be able to afford not having one! Spending $500 now might save you Thousands later! When you have a crappy contract that you are stuck in and no investor will come bail you out.

There is no set length to a contract, rather it is dependant upon the laws in your community. What you want is a contract that covers all basis of a transaction.

Many title companies have a standard form, as do most realtor associations, but even those are always reviewed by attorneys in the end during the standard Attorney Review period.

Maybe it might be wise to start simply birddogging properties and work your way up to a place where you can be comfortable not only with a contract, but putting your name on that contract.

I would have to echo with not simply going to Home Depot.....You need a GOOD contract. So save up for the lawyer and go for it! I asked this question to a couple of (serious & experienced) REI's too and they all said that they got their lawyers to help them.

I use a simple one page contract that I copied from someone who copied it from some guru. As long as you have the contract basics - parties, consideration, and legal description, your contract will probably work.

Now when you start getting into each states property code and state specific laws, there will be additional factors to real estate contracts that are good to know and that can make a real difference.

For example in Texas, if the Seller doesn't provide the Buyer with a Seller's Disclosure of Property Condition, then the Buyer can cancel the contract up to the day of closing and can cancel the contract up to seven days after they receive the disclosure if it wasn't provided before signing the contract. That's good to know info when you are doing a deal in Texas.

Now as for practical advice for you I actually am going to dissent from everyone else on this one. Go to the title company or to your state's real estate commission's web site, get a contract and get out there and get a deal. 9 times out of 10 you are buying distressed property from people who don't care what the contract says anyway. They just want their money, and I don't know if dishing out the $500-$1000 for a lawyer to write up or look over your contract is the best use of your initial funds.

Now let me say that is my " unofficial" advice. " Officially" you should ALWAYS contact a lawyer to look over all of your contracts.

Also if you are wanting to learn your state's contract idiosyncrasies, I would recommend that you take a real estate law of contracts class. The class is a standard class for new realtors and it will help you tremendously in understanding contracts. Your local community college would probably offer it, and you could probably find an online study of it also.

As for your other questions about wholesaling, it sounds like you need to read through the wholesaling archives at BiggerPockets. There is a wealth of information here, and I would highly recommend you use it to the fullest.