Most attorneys will not charge you if the deal falls apart if that is your concern. Please interiew some local attorneys and ask them about how they work.

An accepted offer is NOT a contract of sale. As with a non-short sale transaction, there is always the risk -although in this market fairly minimal - that another buyer can step in before contracts are signed and buy the house. After the accepted offer, you are expected to do your due diligence and have the home thoroughly inspected. Contracts generally are provided afterward in case you request needed repairs and want to include them. Again, I am speaking in generalities here. Every deal is different.

Good luck.

thanks again for your advice. we absolutely know that we need a real estate attorney when that point comes. but the operative word in your statement is "if" - if the offer was indeed accepted. we don't know that it was, and don't trust the seller's agent's word. that's why we're asking if it's normal to get a written acceptance. at that point we would feel comfortable forking over the money for lawyers fees. of course, once we know that the offer has truly been accepted we would hire an attorney. we'd just hate to pay for a lawyer to look over documents and then find out that the bank never even accepted our offer.

thanks again.

I won't go so far as to say that you shouldn't be using this particular agent for the transaction. But doesn't this agent have a surpervising broker? I would hate to think that the broker is equally inexperienced. Furthermore, if the offer was indeed accepted, you are already at the point where you need a real estate attorney. When you are making a purchase this big, you can't afford not to have the appropriate professional representation!

our agent is unfamiliar with short sales and we don't want to hire an attorney before we need to...that's part of the reason we thought maybe we should see it in writing. we don't mind waiting a long time for this house, but we're not interested in losing money (inspection, lawyer's fees) before we even know it's legit.

Verbal acceptance doesn't mean anything with a short sale. You need to see it in writing.

Nothing is normal when it comes to short sales. You should check with your agent and attorney.