How are they getting these prices?!?! How are they getting these loans?!?

**ron826** · 08-29-2008, 07:20 AM

I have several houses for sale in south florida and the market is D E A D. Occasionally, i've noticed houses selling at boom day prices, like 890 square foot fixer uppers going for $230K ...most of these are financed with balloon loans and I decided they are just running some kind of scam using straw buyers. Recently one sold for $245K , who just recently bought it from the original owner for $150K, days after it closed the first time, people started working on it, I couldn't believe it , because the house is a borderline tear down. a few weeks after that it sold again for $245K with 1% down financed through american sterling bank!!!(I think it's a real bank) How are they doing this?....I can't get half that for twice as much house.

**minnesota-mls** · 09-01-2008, 01:05 PM

Thanks so much for your post. And I must admit, I do not know a lot about your local Florida real estate market, however I wanted to offer my two cents based on our real estate market and home sales here in Minneapolis.

Generally speaking, if you have your properties listed for sale with a top real estate agent in your area, he or she is going to do all they can do to get it sold for you.

If you are seeing mysterious single family home, towhome, or condo sales pop up on the MLS, or sales showing up as pending, I wouldn't put too much faith in that.

It's hard to say exactly what could be going on with those properties, but a person can never rule out some sort of fraudulent activity.

If I were you, I would have your realtor do a market analysis on those homes that sold. Find out exactly what they are worth.

And of course price your properties that are for sale competitively as well. Long story short...I wouldn't again put much faith in those transactions.

I hope this information helps out, and best of luck on getting your homes sold. As long as they are priced correctly and in good condition, they will eventually sell.

**austinki** · 09-07-2008, 02:11 AM

Yeah it sounds fishy to me. I was in florida recently and that market is dead. Maybe the 245k buyers are simply foolish out of towners and think they are getting a great deal.