Other than getting suckered in with a Nigerian Prince (or variants) scam, is this a common occurrence or did I just lucky/unlucky?

@John Thedford  Nope  why do you think the Nigerian prince scam is so prevelant.

simple criminal intent and activity.. real estate is now the new Nigerian prince scam .... in everything from fake landlords to fake lenders.and facebook is horrid I would never ever in a thousand years do business on facebook ( in the real estate space) simply would not trust anyone who posted on facebook.. to me its bush league at best and at worst is full of criminals looking to scam people.

Last year, I did read that Prince George's County was one of the most profitable areas to flip homes out of the entire country, but I wasn't sure exactly where, since it is such a huge county.

@Jim Cichello, you will be kissing a lot of frogs to find your 'prince'--the broker that folds under negotiating pressure from you won't hold up too well with other brokers.So just go to a 'flat-fee' brokerage, get it listed, and do it basically yourself. 

Property was sourced off-market at a closing prince $200,000 under market value allowing client to cash flow day 1 as well as have equity immediately.

The area is Washington, DC however for future projects Prince George's County MD is a likely target so if you're willing to pass along any contact info for contractors I'd appreciate it.The house is a 3 level duplex in DC about 400 ft2 per level (per tax record) but really they measured from the outside walls it is about 350 a level if you measure interior dimensions. 

I never did.But my dad showed me these mortgage fraud guys way back in the mid 70s  its been going on for decades.. now its just turned into the Nigerian prince schemes.. 

And why has someone mentioned another person as the "master" of creative financing, while I'm still alive as the Lord of Finance, the Prince of Equity, the Coral Wreath of Collateral, the Intuitive Integral Investment Instigator, the Money Master of the Universe and the Pinnacle of Principal ?  

@Kris Haskins  its just another version of the Nigerian prince scams.. run by those who tend to be foreigners.. you can tell by rusty English and unusual wording in sentences etc.