As a licensed real estate agent in two states, I've got some familiarity with the topics at play in this article and discussion, but I'm not really clear on the

As a licensed real estate agent in two states, I've got some familiarity with the topics at play in this article and discussion, but I'm not really clear on the point of the article. Can real estate be used to hide ill-gotten gains? Sure, as I'm sure plenty of other schemes can as well. What's interesting is that this article makes no mention of FIRPTA (IE: when they sell it they are going to get taxed on it) and each of the examples they give seem to be of someone who was eventually arrested or sanctioned (IE: the system is working as expected). Escrow has come up several times in this discussion, as have the responsibilities of buyers and sellers... so look, at least in the two states where I do business, the selection of an escrow company is the mutual agreement of buyer and seller. In fact in some places a real estate agent can even act as your closing agent in place of an escrow company, if that's really what you want. Escrow is there to act as a neutral third party, and so long as you have proof of funds to close, it's generally irrelevant to them where those funds came from so long as it meets the conditions of the contract. Several people in this thread have voiced the opinion that escrow should have greater responsibilities related to KYC, but that would be a significant shift in their responsibilities and really opens some interesting cans of worms. If you have reason to suspect your escrow company is operating in a questionable way, there are state agencies to provide oversight. What's maybe the more interesting angle to the topics of this article are the number of parties working to make real estate a completely automated process, IE: I click a button and I magically buy a property. As it stands, transactions generally have a lot of humans eyes on them, and when things don't look right (IE: fraud) it's that human attention that flags things, and I'm not sure (even as a former software engineer) how technology would have flagged some of the scenarios I've encountered. Regarding people who were able to do the paperwork yourself and get the transaction through to a successful closing without issue, go buy a lottery ticket because your story is not typical - there's a reason why real estate agents and real estate attorneys exist. I spend an insane number of hours each week handholding buyers and sellers through complex transactions. The paperwork is the "easy" part, and it can still get you sued if someone forgets a checkbox. Water rights, property boundaries, zoning, feasibility, trade fixtures... it's incredible how many things I have to assist with, and there's absolutely no such thing as a "typical" transaction.