Unsolicited Signed Purchased Contract Received from Broker

[Josh Prince]

We recently updated the title on a house my family owns (removed dead trustee from title, etc) and then yesterday received a letter including a signed purchase offer from a broker.

The offer was all cash, 5 day inspection, 21 day close and required that we pay a 3.5% commission to the broker who sent it to us. The offer was for land value only, but it was way above market, or at least what I thought the market would be for land value for the house. This place is a total tear down relative to its neighborhood.

After some internet research I found out that the agent, the brokerage and the proposed buyer (who is listed "et al." on the offer) are all the same person.

Does anyone have an idea what is going on here? Is this person looking to tie the house up and then assign to someone else? Is it some kind of scam? Does anyone do this as a technique? From what I saw, I could have signed the offer and sent it back and it would have been binding. This is about 20% above what comps have sold for over the last year.

Thanks in advance!

[Matt Devincenzo]

It sounds like he wants the property and plans on spec building himself if it's a tear down like you say.

Nothing sounds scammy to me. To be a Broker you have to have been an agent first, and nothing precludes an agent from offering on their own purchase. He may have some disclosure requirement as an agent but otherwise everything else is the same.