Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2018 · 12 posts · 5 votes
I'm somewhat of a newbie investor. I've bought a handful of properties at the tax deed and foreclosure auctions in Jacksonville and have been looking to start working with wholesalers. Unfortunately, out of all the honest and hard-working wholesalers out there, I ended up doing my first pseudo-deal with a scammer. I wanted to share this awful experience I recently had when buying 2 leads off of a Tampa Bay, Florida wholesaler, DeMarcus Dorch. Hopefully this hasn't happened to anyone else, but even if it doesn't apply to you, take my bad experience as a reminder to do as much due diligence as possible.
Real Estate Agent · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2018 · 416 posts · 396 votes
6y
@Javier Lara the OP was scammed. Would I have done the same thing she did? Absolutely not, but a scam is a scam. A vulture took advantage of a newbie’s eagerness. There is no room on BP for victim blaming.
@Monica Silvestre I’m sorry that has happened to you. The bright side is that he didn’t take you for more money. Make sure you learn from this mistake!
Real Estate Agent · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2018 · 416 posts · 396 votes
6y
@Javier Lara the OP was scammed. Would I have done the same thing she did? Absolutely not, but a scam is a scam. A vulture took advantage of a newbie’s eagerness. There is no room on BP for victim blaming.
@Monica Silvestre I’m sorry that has happened to you. The bright side is that he didn’t take you for more money. Make sure you learn from this mistake!
Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
I don't know if this guy qualifies as a wholesaler. It's very unlikely he ever has a house under contract, the scam seems to involve him playing the role of wholesaler and fake seller to get a fee. This puts him more in league with the Nigerian prince scammers than wholesalers. The silver lining I suppose is you only lost $1000, this is a relatively cheap lesson in real estate, investors frequently lose more than that on bad flip projects.
@Javier Lara If trying to purchase investment properties is greedy, then call me Ebenezer Scrooge. You are probably not going to enjoy this website very much...
I am sorry to hear what happened, I hope you find a way to get your money back.
Last month I was buying a property from a wholesaler that was pending on MLS. I had 5k out for earnest money, luckily at a title company. I assumed that he had a contract from the seller and I even asked the title company if his underlying was legitimate and they said yes. Closing kept on being delayed due to not being able to get a payoff amount for one of the mortgages. (3 weeks) Things were starting to seem a little fishy. Next thing I notice is the property moved to sold on MLS.
I am not sure if the wholesalers forged signatures on the contract they sent to title or what. Either way, I have decided I will always keep earnest money at title, unless it is a wholesaler I have done business with or they are licensed.