rant on investors taking advantage of newbies

[Miguel G.]

Recently I ran into this guy who I thought was selling his house. When I met him at the house it turned out to be an investor. The house looked good for the price but he was asking a 10% earnest deposit and we had to go with his contract with an 8-day inspection. The guy was demanding a check right there. I told him I only make checks out to title companies.

 Anyway, we signed everything and I went to the title company just to check his wording on his contract. The title company told me even though he wrote an 8-day inspection period he never specified my funds would be refunded and he most likely would force me to go through with the sale if I changed my mind since I could not get my money back.

Something that I learned is if you're a newbie, don't deal with other investors unless you know them personally. A lot of them are just out to get you. Once you have a lot of experience and a good attorney reviewing any contracts, then it should be ok to do business with them. 

[Steve Vaughan]

I agreed with you up until the $10 EMD @Miguel G.  You're not buying lunch.  Put some skin in the game to follow through.  All about you is fine when protecting yourself from predators, but your sellers deserve much better.  They are trusting you to follow through.

We all need to be vigilant when dealing with others.  My colleague @Tracy Selfridge was recently burned by a guy who he was feeding deals to in exchange for experience.  Maybe he would like to share?  I was even recently chaffed by a buyer.    

Most out there are good, some not.  Shady wholesalers seem to be more prominent than others because of their lack of knowledge, barriers to entry, money or regulation, but we all need to have our guard up a little bit.  Thanks for sharing!