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The lack of transparency makes these deals ripe for fraud. I have heard anecdotes from people I trust of their realtor offering to generate a fake offer (by sol
by jackyinger 5y ago
The lack of transparency makes these deals ripe for fraud. I have heard anecdotes from people I trust of their realtor offering to generate a fake offer (by soliciting one from a third party) to drive up the escalation clause.
Where there is money and little oversight there is bound to be fraud. It grinds my gears to think about this because I bought a house and the escalation clause went to the maximum. Now do you think that was purely coincidence?
- josho 5y agoIf you have a good realtor they will confirm the competing offer exists. Eg. my realtor called up the selling realtor and asked for the name of the realtor that submitted a competing offer. My realtor called the competing realtor to confirm they had a client that submitted an offer. Yes, of course the two other realtors could conspire together. But, now instead of one dodgy realtor you have 2 and the probabilities go down further. Is there fraud, I'm sure there is. But, I don't think it's a significant factor in the market.
- Spivak 5y agoEscalation clauses are dumb anyway. If you tell me “I’m willing to pay you up to 100k for your house” then my offer just became $100k.
- lotsofpulp 5y agoYou can require proof of competing offers in your escalation clause.
- charcircuit 5y agoJust get the realtor or some random person to bid $99,999.99