Is this legal?

[Nicole Pettis]

Hello everyone! 

Need some advice, because I am not sure what to think of this. I have an "investor" who says he has money to invest. But it turns out he doesn't.

What he is doing is he is finding properties in Milwaukee and asking me to go look at them..he is in Chicago. Take photos and send him the "report". I was about to do that with a property he is "looking at" to come and find out, he just wants to upload the photos on to his site and say its FSBO and find a buyer to "flip" it to.

He's not buying said property. Or at least he won't until he has an end buyer.

In my opinion this is completely unethical. He doesn't own the properties, he's just taking listings off certain sites, adding the photos to his site and saying they are for sale. 

Needless to say, I am severing ties with him. However I just wanted to get others thoughts on this practice.

Thank you!

[Matt Devincenzo]

In short- no it is not legal, he is brokering without a license.

If he wants to wholesale he has to have equitable interest in the property which means he needs to be in contract in order to sell his rights to the property. Personally I'd report him and his website to the state licensing board/real estate commission. He's the kind of person that gives the industry a bad name.