In the case of the HUD-1 form, this is one of those rare occurrences where our "free enterprise and small government" southern neighbour has "out governmented" us ;) In Canada the closing attorney would prepare a Letter of Arrangement which serves {more or less} the same purpose.

It is the company site for:Allen, Williford & Seale They appear to be a large scale, commercial and government oriented appraisal company.

My guess is that give it a few years and government red tape will make a good idea too costly or time consuming to implement on a reasonable scale, although I hope I am wrong.

I think the government spends too much time telling us what we can and cannot do.If the referral fee is illegal, what would keep the agent from hiring you to go put up their sign for $500?

I've found my mentors through my local rental association, REIAs and through a free government program called SCORE (www.SBA.gov).If you haven't already checked it out, here's a link to The Ultimate Beginner's Guide http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing on BP - it's great.Truly, Steph

The CA government restricts brokers on how much of other peoples money they can lend, if you were indeed talking with a broker.

I'm not an attorney, but I would guess that it's perfectly legal -- HUD-1 settlement sheets (and the RESPA laws that would often govern things like this) are only required to come into play on deals where the buyer is using a government-backed form of financing.

You can't work in a government job requiring you to be a U.S. citizen (which is most government jobs), gun rights are reduced.... just to name a few.

Perhaps it was missed, criminal activity may allow the government to seize the property, it's not a bank foreclosure, the government takes it, auctions it off, pays liens off and sends the equity or ill gotten gains through the justice department funding operations.Call the Sheriff's Dept or county court records to see what the status is, if any, if there are such issues, you can't get anything from that sale.

Since you're in northern VA and you have studied Middle East, I would say you could do well contracting for the government.