Are there scammers in Realtor.com? (appraised, 1%, investment, property)

[evilnewbie]

It was a strange person I was talking to... I called him because I saw this really cheap property that was "being sold" 1% of what it was appraised for... anyway I call him up and he quickly said it was "under contract" which is weird because I haven't even told him the NAME of the property yet... He tells me he has lots of land for "investment" and by "talking to me" he could tell that I am an investor (I am not)... anyhow, I told him I am looking for an empty plot of land to build on and he replies that his firm specializes in "land to build homes on" but a few minutes before that it was a firm that specializes in "land for investors"... anyhow he wanted me to email him so that he can "send" his listings... well, long story short, I decided not to email him since this smells badly like a scam... but then this guy is on realtor.com which I thought was weird, don't they check who posts their stuff online?

[TexasHorseLady]

Realtor.com pulls their information from the MLS. So any property that is listed on the MLS is going to be there - they don't "screen" the MLS listings, it would be pretty much impossible for them to do so nationwide.

There are bad apples in every field. You may have happened on one in the real estate industry. (Yes, we do have them, and, yes, they do give us the creeps, too.)

[Brandon Hoffman]

Upon reading your post, my first instinct is he is not necessarily a scammer but he does sound like scum. Then I thought a little more, and he could have had someone dumping a property and it could very well being under contract (don't see many at 1% of appraised value so he probably knew the one you mentioned if it's legit." If you have questions don't hesitate to call the local LLR. I think your initial reaction is correct and I do encourage you to report him if he isn't on the up and up.

[middle-aged mom]

It sounds like he had a single listing and it sold.

Too bad he was more interested in talking than listening to what you want.

[EllenArlingtonPark]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Realtor.com pulls their information from the MLS. So any property that is listed on the MLS is going to be there - they don't "screen" the MLS listings, it would be pretty much impossible for them to do so nationwide.

There are bad apples in every field. You may have happened on one in the real estate industry. (Yes, we do have them, and, yes, they do give us the creeps, too.)

Thanks.