There is a real estate company in my area that is helping sellers sell their home as a short sale home by become a "partner" with the Seller. Now tell me, does that smell fishy or not?
I came across a home in our MLS that said "short sale possible" so I showed it. My client liked it and we made an offer. I did all the due diligence stuff, like looking it up in the public records, reviewing the comps, and reviewing the previous sale. When we got the counteroffer back, we got a disclosure type document that said the real estate agent is a partner with the Seller and is going to share in any proceeds. We also had a to sign a bunch of disclosures, along with an agent disclosure that we understood the real estate agent was going to profit from the short sale.
So here is what I don't get. I think this company finds a down on his luck seller, and instead of just being their agent and guiding them through the sale, they get the seller to put the property in either a partnership or a trust, sharing ownership with the agent. Then when the short sale is done, somehow they make a portion of the proceeds and also collect a commission as the agent. Has anyone run across this? Are they then making commission plus extra money?
This isn't a small company doing this with one house, but they are a national franchise and they have many listings like this. When did having the seller hire you as an agent to sell their property and get them out of a jam become no longer enough? Am I old fashioned or does this appear to be some kind of a scam or just profiting immensely from someones bad luck? What do you guys think?
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