Why is it that when times get tough, the tough get greedy? That’s tough as in “thugs,” not as in “strong-minded people”. It never fails; markets like this breed some real ugliness, and you need to be on the lookout for scams. The best way to protect yourself is to work with an experienced Realtor with a track record. Evidence of production isn’t absolute proof that your agent knows what he or she is doing, but it does increase your odds that you’re getting prudent advice.

I’m just amazed at some of the scams people try to pull. Same stuff, different day.

Tony and Lila called me a few days ago, very excited about a building lot they’d seen listed for a great price on the MLS. It was a short sale, the listing agent/owner stated, and she’d have a response in 7 days as the private lender was local. Okay, sounds good so far. We had the offer prepared, signed and submitted within 2 hours of seeing the listing. So far, so good.

Red Flag #1 was waved when the agent didn’t sign the offer, instead telling us she would meet with the lender to get the short sale approved. If there’s no executed contract, what is there to approve? When I reminded her we didn’t have a signed offer, suddenly Red Flag #2 shot up the pole: a request to get an estimated settlement statement from our preferred escrow agent that would “show all of the expenses, including some that weren’t related to this transaction.” Huh?

I headed that one off at the pass. When the agent couldn’t produce a signed contract, no estimated settlement statement was prepared. Finally, the agent was forced to send us a signed counteroffer. But, WTH – attached was an Addendum filled with more Red Flags than I can count.

Red Flag #3 was the sudden verbiage everywhere regarding the condition of the property. Okay, we planned to do inspections; but this looked more like an attempt to make the property look very unattractive to a buyer. Would that be the same buyer you were just using, to get in front of your lender?

Red Flag #4, my personal favorite, was that this listing would now be cancelled in the MLS, and future action wouldn’t be reported to the MLS. Why? Because it’s highly suspect to begin with? This stuff won’t slip past an experienced agent.

I quit counting at Red Flag #5, and advised my clients to run this by their attorney before we went any further. No transaction needs to be this convoluted. You make an offer, it gets accepted, and then the listing agent tries to get the lender to agree to a short sale. Once you have an approval, you overturn every rock to be sure it’s the best property for the buyer. We do it every day – it’s not rocket science.

As I told my client, no commission is worth letting them get sucked into a transaction that has so much potential to become an ugly mess. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up; maybe it’s just time for laser hair removal, but I think this deal is bogus. I’ll represent them if they insist on moving forward, but not without their attorney looking it over. I value my time, but I’d rather walk away from a commission than see someone get in to a mess they could have avoided.

Please be careful when selecting an agent to work with. Seems there’s a new scam every day. In this case, I’ve felt from the beginning that this is a seller who is trying to get the lender to reduce the balance, and then she can have a friend walk in and pick it up with a slightly-higher offer. After all, if she hasn’t signed our offer, she can certainly entertain other offers.

A good agent won’t let a buyer be duped by a seller/licensee who tries to avoid signing an offer as a stall tactic, no matter what the reason is. No good can ever come of that.