Have any of you been involved or heard about doing a third party simultaneous close on a short sale?

I was contacted today by an investor who has the following business plan:

1. Find potential short sale sellers

2. Investor writes a low offer to be submitted to the lender(s) along with the hardship package

3. Once lender(s) approval is obtained, if the lender approved sales price is much less than market value, put the home on the market with an aggressive price so it sells quickly.

4. Do a third party simultaneous close whereby the investor closes with the seller and the lender gets their proceeds, and then the same day, the investor sells to the buyer at a price higher than he paid, so investor pockets the difference. The investor may be under the guise of a "land trust".

This scenario appeals to me as a listing agent since I do not get involved until the short sale has already been approved. So no long wait, and no concern of the short sale terms being unreasonable. It would also appeal to buyers since they do not have to wait either.

Do you think this is defrauding the lender? Could a lender write an approval condition that would prohibit this simultaneous sale?

A long time escrow officer I spoke to did not want to get involved and I have hesitation also.

What do you think?