We live in a free market economy, and any such requirements would probably at least violate some basic fiduciary obligations of the realtor if not some antitrust laws and possibly even some basic constitutional rights.

It's sad, but there are a lot of criminal scumbags out there and the law does very little to them, even if they're caught!

So, I certainly would NOT count on the owners buying the property back.Many states have passed laws regarding these "equity stripping" deals.

I make a very good living here and am not trying to become a real estate investor to get out of debt but am rather coming here with a fairly important amount of cash in the bank that I would like to invest in real estate.I would like to participate in your forum and start building a network because laws and possibilities in the US are very different from what I used to deal with in France and I would like to avoid the most common mistakes right from the start.If I can help with my knowledge of real estate in France or Cuisine tips, it will be my pleasure.

Of course all American taxpayers, and their grandchilren will be paying for your (and lots of others) mistakes.So although all of us on this site claim to be pure capitalists, we will be happy participants in the SOCIALIZATION of the mistakes of people who spend more time researching the purchase of a $20K automobile than a $200K house!

State laws and the insurance companies protect board members unless their actions are egregious.

I have a listing that I referred to my brother-in-law.

Well our legal system is setup on case law and statutes, and at least I know for Texas, that the case law says that I don't have to put any earnest money to make the contract valid.Should I still practice Covering Your Assets (CYA) even if the law is behind me?

There are trusts but not something that the law calls a land trust.There are contracts for deeds or land contracts where you transfer economic title but not legal title.

Its a bit challenging for me to analyze all this info because I live in Montreal, Canada and our laws and system is a bit different.