Site unseen and no inspection

[Katherine Roberts]

Hi,

Is it normal for a real estate broker to send you an off market deal and expect you to decide whether you want to buy it site unseen and without an inspection? They said there’s no way to get the down payment back unless there is an issue with the title. This seems incredibly sketchy to me. Is this standard practice???

This would be our first property so we’re not going to move forward because the risk is too much, but I’m just trying to figure out if this is common 

[Crystal Smith]

Quote from @Katherine Roberts:

Hi,

Is it normal for a real estate broker to send you an off market deal and expect you to decide whether you want to buy it site unseen and without an inspection? They said there’s no way to get the down payment back unless there is an issue with the title. This seems incredibly sketchy to me. Is this standard practice???

This would be our first property so we’re not going to move forward because the risk is too much, but I’m just trying to figure out if this is common 

It depends. We get a lot of off-market deals sent our way from various people and companies. For the most part, we always recommend inspecting an off-market property before making an offer or having someone you trust inspect it. But there are some cases where we have dealers that send us properties first because it meets our criteria & because we have dealt with them for years. If you haven't established that level of trust then you must go see it.  It's your business & you need to protect it.