Too good to be true?!

[Ethan Blevins]

Good morning all, I recently met someone who is looking to sell his home for $12k cash. I asked for the address and took a look on Zillow and Realtor.com to see what the estimated value is it comes in between $48 - 52k. I asked him why was he willing to sell it for so little and he mentioned needing cash to pay bills and how the property is 3.5 hours away from where he currently lives. I don't have the availability to drive down and check the property out myself. Does anyone have input on how I can find out if this place is a dump and this is too good to be true? 

My thoughts were to pay him the $12k and immediately place it on the open market and take whatever I can get for it. Any input is greatly appreciated as I have never done any real estate deals yet.

Thanks,

Ethan

[Michael Dumler]

@Ethan Blevins more information needs to be gathered before you spend anymore time on this deal. Did the seller even mention the condition of the property? How long has the seller owned it and when was the last time and he even visisted it? I would not feel comfortable buying a property unseen. At the very least, pay someone to drive out to the subject property and take pictures and videos. Also, be mindful of Zillow and Realtor.com estimates, these larger institutions have the tendency to evaluate properties way above market value. To me, there a far too many unknown variables for this deal.