Advice on off-market purchase?

[Brian Harris]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I have been wanting to buy a place in NC for STR / personal use a couple times a year to visit my family. We saw an off-market listing on Facebook in a local market type of group. 2 red flags right there, but wanted to see how people would deal with this. My mom spoke with the guy (she lives near there, I'm on the other side of the USA) and was going to meet with him tomorrow. He claims he's selling for his friend who has medical issues. This feels like a major scam, but is a super nice looking property so I'm torn. Of course I told her don't give him any money, we'll find a way to verify that this person can sell the property.

Sketch scam or protect ourselves and find out?

Thanks so much, I am new to all this and don't want to waste time or money.