There is no need to engage in criminal acts and to defraud sellers by artificially inflating numbers, that's probably what brokers or REA would be more likely to do, since their commission would be larger the greater the amount of transaction was.

Google LLC announced Aug. 15 plans to invest more than $1 billion in Texas this year, its latest strategic goal focused on supporting cloud and data center infrastructure.Some of that investment will go directly into the technology giant’s data center campuses in Red Oak and Midlothian, both south of Dallas, which are helping the company meet the increasing demand for cloud and artificial intelligence services.

In your second example where your company enters into a purchase contract with your father for $135k and then he assigns the contract to you for $150k, I'm guessing (since you mention getting a mortgage for this transaction) that what you're hoping it will do is create an artificially high sales price so you can get a mortgage on the higher amount (i.e. $150k vs $135k). 

Use that number as your comparison for what it would cost if you bought a multifamily rental.Second, mortgage rates are higher than they were (and more where they'd normally be, the last ~15 years had them artificially low) and house prices are higher, so don't look at what people did 10 years ago. 

Which then leads to the fed keeping rates artificially higher than they should be.

I can see doing this for kids or close relatives but strangers.. dont think so.. to me its just another one of those totally grey areas  that maybe legal but ethics come into play.. artificially raising someones credit ?? 

Thinking of ways to artificially leverage with cash only.

Final point, for those savvy investors or second-home buyers who can find the pockets of Colorado that do allow them, you're getting an STR in a market where competition is artificially capped.

Lack of user-friendly platforms to facilitate transactions could be artificially constraining the market.

I'm an outpatient internal medicine physician here in the Bay Area.