Yes. In every U.S. state buyers can legally purchase a home without a buyer-side real estate agent. Close It Yourself gives you the tools, checklists, and educational guidance to run the process yourself, and we strongly recommend pairing our platform with a licensed real estate attorney to handle contract review and closing.

CIY is built for U.S. residential home buyers who want to be hands-on and save on the buyer-agent commission. If you are comfortable doing your own research, touring homes, and coordinating with a real estate attorney, lender, and service providers, CIY gives you the structure and resources to close confidently.

No. CIY is a technology and education platform — not a brokerage, agent, or licensed real-estate service. We do not represent you in any transaction. For legal matters we strongly recommend consulting a licensed real estate attorney; for negotiation specifics, the contract you sign with the seller controls.

MLS-powered property search, an AI guide trained on the home-buying process, a mortgage and offer-strength calculator, a comparative market analysis (CMA) workflow, document storage, a step-by-step closing timeline, and a vetted directory of attorneys, inspectors, lenders, and title companies in your area.

By skipping a traditional buyer agent, you remove a 2.5%–3% commission line item from the transaction. CIY gives you the search tools, educational resources, and offer-writing guidance you would normally rely on an agent for, so you can either negotiate that commission off the price, ask the seller to credit it toward your closing costs, or roll it into rate-buydown financing.

On a $400,000 home, a 2.5%–3% buyer-agent commission is roughly $10,000–$12,000. The exact savings depend on the home price and on what you negotiate with the seller — CIY's tools help you frame the ask, but the final number is set in your contract.

Effective August 17, 2024, the National Association of Realtors settlement requires buyer-agent compensation to be negotiated directly between the buyer and the buyer's agent rather than baked into the listing on the MLS. That means buyers who hire an agent now typically pay that fee themselves — and buyers who self-represent with a platform like CIY remove that line item entirely.

We strongly recommend working with a licensed real estate attorney for contract review, title work, and the closing itself. Some states require an attorney; in others it is optional but still inexpensive insurance against a costly mistake. CIY helps you with the search, evaluation, and offer-drafting process, but an attorney provides legal protection that software cannot.

Yes. Every closing involves a title search, title insurance, and an escrow agent — services typically provided by a title company (or in some states, a real-estate attorney). CIY helps you find and compare local title companies and explains every line item on the closing disclosure so you know exactly what you are paying for.

You write a purchase offer (your real estate attorney can prepare or review the contract) and submit it directly to the listing agent or seller. CIY walks you through the offer components — price, earnest money, contingencies, closing date, financing terms — and our AI guide helps you reason about how a given offer compares to recent sales in the area. The legally binding document is whatever you and the seller sign, so an attorney review before signing is essential.

You contact a mortgage lender or broker directly — no agent required. CIY provides a vetted lender directory, a list of questions to ask each lender, and a side-by-side comparison tool for rate, points, and total cost. Most lenders can issue a pre-approval letter within 24–72 hours once you submit income, asset, and credit documentation.

See our pricing page for current plans. Even our paid plans cost a small fraction of a typical buyer-agent commission, and most buyers complete a closing within 1–3 months — well inside the lifetime cost of any subscription.

You pay one price one time. You can use the CIY platform as long as it takes you to close on your home, up to six months.