Mobile Home Purchase Agreement -- Scam???

[Aaron H.]

Hi all,

I was recently introduced to a real estate investment opportunity by an old friend (who claims to be a gap funder/broker). 

He introduced me to a partner of his who claimed he had access to portable mobile home units across the country and in which case I could invest in each rental property for an investment of $10-15k each and receive a residual passive income of approximately $2.5k/month. 

The deal would be a completely turn-key investment, as I would own the note on the mobile unit, and I would not have to do any maintenance, etc as a normal landlord would.

Everything sounded great on paper, but here's where a got overly suspicious:

1) The one-page, loosely written contract he provided did not disclose any address or rental property infornation, nor were there any lease/loan terms or agreements set forth. 

2) The urgency to close the deal. The seller gave me an ultimatum and if I did not sign the paperwork, I would be missing out on a great deal. 

3) The seller wanted me to wire him funds. This was a huge NO -- for obvious reasons. 

4) I would have to wait 65 days in order to receive any funds from my investment. This would allow the owner-financer to settle into their new home, according to the seller.  

5) Most important: I had a real estate attorney, and a good friend of mine, who is a real estate agent, review the contract--both advised me not to proceed. 

In conclusion, this sounded like a very risky deal from the beginning, however, I trusted my friend's judgment and gave him the benefit of the doubt, but it was to no avail as this just sounded too good to be true, and it was. 

Has anyone had any experience with this before? Was I just too overly cautious and missed out on a potentially good deal? 

Better safe than sorry in my opinion... 

Aaron