Did you see the story in the Realtor®Mag news feed today about the guy who sold the same New York building twice to two Connecticut real estate agents? One "bought it for only $22,000 with a $2,500 cash down payment in advance. The second agent got a better deal - only $10,000 cash for the building, all of it in advance. The "agent" was a phony (I hope I didn't spoil that for you), using a fake ID and with no ownership interest in the building whatsoever. He took the cash and was never seen or heard from again. Well, surprise, surprise surprise!
One has to wonder what was going through the heads of those two realtors (other than greedy thoughts) to allow them to turn over $12,500 to someone whom they had not met before this deal for an out-of-state building. Perhaps they got a tour of the building first or maybe just watched a virtual tour or just looked at photos. Perhaps they even got receipts and official looking documents for the cash that they turned over.
Maybe the world of commercial real estate is so different that I don't even understand that this is not an unusual practice. Maybe fraud and dishonesty is so rare in that realm that this kind of scam is unthinkable. I just can't imagine a typical residential Realtor doing something like this; but perhaps we have become too cynical - been made too cautious and suspicious by years of dealing with foreclosure and short sale scam artists.
I can't help but imagine the look on the O&E Insurance rep's face when s/he heard these stories. Oh, and by he way, I've got this great deal on a building in downtown Detroit for only $15,000 - that's only $1,000 a floor. Bring cash.
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