Ok, so this is just me, but I download documentaries that I wouldn't sit down and watch otherwise.  The Beatles Anthology videos are highly recommended even if you're not a huge Beatles fan.  I also recommend Ken Burns' Baseball, but that may not be appealing to you.

TV sucks.  About the only thing I watch every week is Criminal Minds, but I'm not sold on this season.  If you've never watched it, start at the beginning.

My wife's name is Sandy, so needless to say we've been having a blast with this.  Well, I have at least.  I don't think she liked being called frankenstorm.

If you know them personally then that's different I suppose, although still risky (to me anyway.) Personally I'd never purchase a home without a standard RE contract that adhered to state laws and deposit as it protects both parties.

Escrow money has nothing to do with realtors, it's standard for any real estate transaction. A good faith deposit could be anything, one dollar if you wanted, but generally is 1% of purchase price held by a third party (usually title company or lawyer) and applied to closing totals.

I'm sure you'll be fine, I'm not trying to be a jerk, it just sounded a bit unorthodox to me (and still does.) When somebody says "The house is ours" but only has a contract, then I tend to err on the side of caution. But if you're buying from a personal friend, then perhaps a laid back approach will work out just fine. In my experience, I trust nobody and have seen seemingly nice people become petty, small minded and vindictive if things don't go their way (low appraisal, inspection issues etc.) I sold my home to a very nice lady two months ago, and despite how well we got along, I made sure she gave me money immediately (she had 3 days from an executed contract) and stuck to her timeline. Thankfully she was great to work with and had her shit together. The couple before her, who also was great (we had them over with their kids), ended up being a nightmare and wasted 6 weeks of my time, lied and wouldn't respond to phone calls after only 3 weeks in.

Yes I'm in the real estate industry.

Thanks for the invite. Congrats on the seller covering the costs, and best wishes in the new home.