The lottery is a scam.

Lots of scams out there.

Not sure about you, but I really wouldn't want to invest my money with a W-2 employee who has to devote 40-60 hours a week to something other than Real Estate.

I know a few syndicators whose investors lost a total of several hundred thousand dollars to wire scams.

I was advertising a rental near a marina and has so many scammy applicants, but one that always will stand out is someone who was trying to scam me to rent it to him so he could subrent it. 

Chances are this is a scam, and the last thing you would want is sending your valuable info to someone sketchy. 

I Googled  the name of the "real estate guru" and the word 'scam' and found a thread about him on Bigger Pockets.

Wise is several steps ahead of myself as his own broker and "The REI King of Ohio", how we do things as a no BS, zero fluff, right to the point with ridiculous amounts of knowing our sh#t, helping the "average Jane/Joe" without layers of hidden scams, no, I don't know of anyone else.

Check your state laws before you attempt this though, many have limits intended to protect homeowners in foreclosure from scams (e.g., here in Maryland it is called the Protection of Homeowners in Foreclosure Act)

If that home was constructed at the time of contract then this is ethically on par with a scam.