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MissMee


Kate Spade

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Okay, so you may or may not know that we have both of our houses on the market so we can move to TX asap. Not that it's totally relevant, but we have a ton of interest on our house even though we have it priced a little high for the market.  Still, interest is interest, so long as people are coming through.

Yesterday I got an email from a man from possibly London who wanted more info on our house.  I sent him links to it thru realtor.com and thru the service who listed it for us on MLS (it's still FSBO, technically).  He says he has 3 boys and wants to move to the States where there are good schools and plenty of activities.  Fine, our house/area fit the bill perfectly.  He wanted to know how much fully furnished, and we gave him a price.  I suggested that, if he's interested, he should contact the lawyer we use (and gave him the name) to draw up some papers for an offer.    I figured at that point if he's a Nigerian scammer or something, he'd just tell me he wants to just pay me cash or whatever.  Nope.  He asked if I'd draw up the paperwork for him and send it so that he could send "the funds."  I forwarded it to my husband and asked him to call the phone number the man provided.

So, what do you think?  I'm still a little wary, esp since this guy's not in the country and hasn't seen the house in person (there are 30 pix online, so at least that gives you a feel of the home).  It's possible he researched the town online and did some google maps thing or whatever, but it still seems too "easy."

Is there something I should know?  I know all the stuff w/ the fake bank checks, Western Union, etc.  I've looked up real estate scams, but most involve people offering to sell you investment properties, etc.  What am I missing????  And, for any people in/from foreign countries, is there a special protocol for overseas real estate transactions?


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Cricket


Gucci

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Scam.  There's no way I would do this without a lawyer, or someone well versed in international real estate transactions.  It's too good to be true!  Good luck!

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Aurora


Marc Jacobs

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Yeah something isn't sounding right with this at all. I'd have to get a Realtor involved and a lawyer before doing anything else.

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MissMee


Kate Spade

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I've told him everything will be going thru a lawyer, including any wired money he needs to send. I emailed him the forms to fill out (offer and P&S) and asked him to fax them to me (an efax number) and at that point I'd give him wiring instructions to the lawyer's office.

Anything else I should do to cover my ass?

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The only rule is don't be boring and dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in.  Paris Hilton
twinkle_star


Kenneth Cole

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There was just a piece on the Today show about mystery shopping scams where people sign up and are sent a check which they're told to deposit and mystery shop Western Union, wire $x and keep $x as their fee. They do and then weeks later they find out the initial check was fake and they owe the bank the $. I'm not sure if this could tie into your situation but I know that I was shocked as it seemed so safe - they had a check!

Good luck!

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D


Hermes

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I personally think it's fishy, but as long as your atty. is taking care of everything, you should be ok. 



-- Edited by D on Wednesday 25th of March 2009 08:20:26 AM

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nightshade


Nine West

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Posts: 48
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We sold a vacation house to a couple who were living in Ireland (although his mom was in our country and went through the house for him). We used a realtor and lawyer and there were no problems except that it took quite a while to close as the lawyer would not accept faxed documents and everything had to be snail-mailed back and forth.

Good luck.

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