Selling A House? Beware Of Fake Home Sellers
As if selling Potomac Maryland real estate wasn’t already hard enough right now. Selling real estate gets even more challenging when the supposed buyer is just making offers on properties that they can not, and will not actually purchase.
A phantom buyer typically make offers on the most expensive homes in a given market. Before even seeing the house, this guy makes offers, sets up appointments for inspections, and then never shows up. In his offers he claims that he will provide a substantial earnest money deposit, but then never actually sends the money.
Why does he do this? Perhaps he really think he will magically come up with the money to buy the , or maybe he’s just desperate for attention. I can’t comprehend why he does this, but I do know that it really makes things more difficult for people trying to sell. Property sellers get excited to finally get an offer, especially on these high end homes, but then get devastated when they realize that they have wasted their time and don’t really have a legitimate offer.
While this practice of writing fake offers is unethical, there is nothing illegal about it. This is a huge waste of time for sellers of Redmond Washington Real Estate, especially when they start packing things up preparing to move out after closing.
There has been plenty of experiences where fake home buyers have conned potential sellers and their real estate agents. In 2007 a real estate agent thought he had it made when he aquired a new client who claimed to be a famous rapper.They got a contract accepted on one of the biggest, and most expensive, Utah Homes for Sale. “Baby Bash” and his girlfriend even celebrated the “new purchase” with the sellers of the house. The title company involved also wasted lots of time preparing paperwork for closing and waiting for the money to be wired. In this instance, earnest money was never given when the offer was made.
How do you prevent wasting your time and efforts on phoney buyers? Even if the offer is for a cash deal, demand a significant earnest money payment. These fake buyers aren’t going to risk their money when they know that they aren’t actually going to end up buying the house. Watch out for things that seem fishy. Don’t count the house as sold, until the money actually goes through. If an offer seems to good to be true, it probably is.
Tags: fake buyers, home buying scams, home selling
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