Distressed Homeowners Beware of those We'll Buy Your House Ad's

Homeowners who are in financial distress here in York Pa and the rest of the country have been seeing a lot of advertising lately about buying homes for cash. Though these offers may seem legitimate and some may be, the vast majority of these companies are in my opinion scamming the distressed homeowner who is going through a financial crisis due to the downturn in the economy the last 3 years.

What homeowners must realize and question is how could a person offer to buy a home that the current homeowner is "under water" meaning the home is worth less than what they currently owe on it and then resell it and make money on it? As a homeowner if you have equity in the property why would you not want to put that in your pocket instead put it in someone else's, especially in this current economic climate?

What the intent is by these companies is to not only scam the homeowner but defraud the lender who has the mortgage on the property. How do they do that? They offer the homeowner to buy the property and write an contract on the home for x amount of dollars. The company has no real intention to buy it. What they will do is "shortsale" the property at the lower price and then put it on the market for sale at a much higher price than the contract price looking for a buyer willing to pay what really is fair market value. Once they find a buyer who is willing to purchase the property at the higher price they arrange a settlement date that will coincide with the 1st and 2nd contracts and settle on both concurrently. This settlement which we call a "double flip" they transfer the property from the current owner then to the buyer the company has found and the difference between the 1st contract and the 2nd contract that was written is pocketed by the company. This is done with very little money ever transferred by the investment company.

You say what is wrong with that? The lender who holds the mortgage was never aware of the 2nd contract and was lead to believe the companies 1st contract was fair market value, which in fact it was not. So in my opinion this is fraud committed on the lender and ultimately the american consumer and taxpayer who has paid billions with bailout money loaned to these institutions.

So if someone comes to you to buy your house for cash or you respond to one of those billboards you see out there, steer away from these companies. It will be only a matter of time to they get caught.
Labels: Buy Your House For Cash, Foreclosures, Selling Homes york pa, Shortsales, We Buy Houses, York PA, York Pa Real Estate