Scam Alert: How to Spot Fake Home Buyers & Choose a Legitimate Cash Buyer

Welcome to the Danny Buys Houses podcast.

I'm your host, Danny Johnson, real estate
investor, cash house buyer in San Antonio, Texas.

Now if you're thinking about selling your house to
a cash home buyer, you've got to listen up.

Today, we're talking scams, right? We buy houses
scams.

How to spot fake cash home buyers and pick a legit
one who can actually close on the

deal. I'll share what to watch out for, what makes
a buyer trustworthy, and answer some listener

questions. So stick around. I'm gonna show you how
to get started safely.

So let's dive in.

All right. Selling your house for cash sounds
great, right? Fast, easy, no repairs.

I've been doing it here in San Antonio for over 20
years with Danny Buys Houses.

But here's the ugly truth: not every cash buyer is
legit,

right? Some are scammers, some are just wannabes,
right, who can't close.

You know, they'll tie up your house, they'll waste
your time, and leave you hanging, right?

It's- it's horrible, but it happens. Uh, seller
beware. All right.

Let's break it down. First, the shady ones. Right?

Some investors don't have the money to buy your
house.

I'm just gonna say that. I mean, they just don't
have the-

the, uh, the means to actually buy your house.

They'll say they'll pay cash, but then they don't
have the means to do that, right?

So

they're gonna make you an offer anyway, sign a
contract, and scramble to find another investor to
flip the

deal to. And it's not that all people, uh, they're
called wholesalers and

it's called wholesaling where you're getting a
house and you're- you're putting it under contract
to sell

it to another investor.

All right. And- and not all wholesalers are shady,
okay?

I just want to say that upfront. Um, it's just
that if- if they're not being

upfront with you about what they're doing, that
that's what they're going to do, then that is kind
of

shady, right? So, um, you got to find out if
they're actually gonna be the ones

to buy the house, right?

So, you know, if- if they've got no cash, no plan,
just hope, if that

second buyer that they do actually find, if they
do find one, falls through, then your deal is

just dead. You're back to square one.

Maybe worse, you know, if you're facing
foreclosure on a deadline that requires you to
sell a house

fast.

Um, and so that happens, it happens all the time,
and so you just got to be careful.

Um,

you know, you know, worse yet, there's some- some
are just pure scams, you know.

They ask for unfron- upfront fees, which is
usually the sign of the scam, right?

They're gonna try to make money off of this
without even doing the deal.

So if- if any cash home buyer's asking you to pay
some sort of fee to- to

lock in some kind of offer, whatever,

do not. You know, just turn and walk away because,
you know, legit buyers just don't do that, right?

You- you're not gonna... You shouldn't be paying
any fees to get an offer on your house, okay?

So,

uh, you know, if they try to push you to sign some
sketchy paperwork that you don't fully understand

without, you know, answering questions about it or
letting you, you know, if you decide you want to
take it

to your attorney and they don't let you do that,
you gotta question why, okay?

Um,

so how do you spot a trustworthy one, right?

How do you find the actual legit cash home buyers
that are gonna get the deal done?

So one way is, you know, that,

you know, someone that's legit and able to do it
has a track record, right?

It should not be their first deal that they're
ever doing.

They should have a track- track w- record, right?

And one way to find this out is you can check the
Better Business Bureau

and, you know, Danny Buys Houses has been, uh,
with an A+ accredited rating

since 2015 on Danny Buys... on, uh, Better
Business Bureau.

So the website is bbb.org.

All right. It's triple b dot org, Better Business
Bureau.

Uh, two, usually they're local, right?

A San Antonio buyer who knows the market, not some
out-of-state, uh, just voice on the

phone is gonna be much more likely to be a legit
person because you can meet them in person and you
can get a

feel for- for them and- and their confidence in
doing the deal.

Right? So we always recommend people go with
someone local in San Antonio.

Uh, three, they have, uh,

you know, online reviews, right? Because, you
know, if you- if you're any kind of business these
days,

you're gonna have some online reviews no matter
what you do.

And you can Google Danny Buys Houses, uh, Danny
Buys Houses reviews and you

can see all of ours on the internet there,
Facebook, uh, Google, Better Business Bureau.

I think that we got a review on Yelp even.

Um,

all right. So- so check for some- some reviews.

Uh, fourth, they're- they're transparent, right?

No fees, no tricks,

and just a straight offer, right? It's just gonna
be, you know, no funny business.

They're not gonna ask you to do any- anything that
might seem out of the ordinary.

Uh, five, they close fast. You know, days or
weeks, not months.

You know, if they're wanting to put the thing
under contract for three months before they can
close it, you

gotta question why. I mean, they're probably gonna
be looking for someone else to buy the house,
right?

Not- not actually close on it themselves.

Uh, so if they can't answer,

um, how they're gonna pay or- or how- how they're
gonna be able to close quickly, you know, go the
other

way. Don't- don't go with someone like that.

Now as an example, I had a call, uh, I'm gonna
change her name here.

Susan, we'll just call her Susan. Last year she
signed with a cash buyer

who promised the moon, big cash, quick close. But
weeks passed and nothing ever happened.

Uh, turned out he was shopping her house to
others, no money. He didn't have the money to
actually close.

Uh, and he was just giving her the runaround.

He wouldn't be honest with her about that w- was
what was happening.

So she called us desperate, right? She just needed
this thing to be done. Uh, we checked it out.

Turns out their offer had ex- you know, his, uh,
offer had expired, the contract had expired,

and I don't even know if they- they had paid any
earnest money,

uh, and receeded the contract at his title company
even.

So I'm not sure that anything was ever even done,
but, uh, we checked it out.

We offered cash and we closed in a week.

And she said, "Danny, I wish I had just found you
first.

(laughs) That would have saved me a ton of time."
So that's why we're here, that's what we do.

Uh, and, uh, we ensure the deal- deal just gets
done, right?

So let's head some listener questions.

Uh, first, how do I know that a cash buyer will
close? This is from Mike in San Antonio.

Hey Mike. Uh, ask for the closing agent's name and
phone number. All right.

They've got to close the deal somewhere.

If they want to close it at your kitchen table,
you know, most of the time that's- that's really
not a good

idea. Uh, (laughs) you want someone that's gonna
be using a title company.

So, you know, ask for their- who- who closes their
deals at the title company, their closing

agent's name and their phone number.

Call them and- and make sure that they've actually
been closing deals, right?

And, uh,

you know, even better, walk into that office and
ask to talk to that person so you know you're
actually

talking to somebody that's at the title company,
right?

So if they stall and- and they just say, "Trust
me," you know, walk away, right?

Because they should be willing to give that
information. So that's...

I think that's the-

one of the best ways to do it, to know that you're
working with somebody that's actually closed
because

you're not just hearing them tell you what they've
done, you're talking to somebody else that's a
third

party that's confirming that they've done what
they say.

So,

um, what if they want me to pay some... Here's the
next one, by the way.

Uh, what if they want me to pay something upfront?
That's Rosa in Universal City.

Uh, hey Rosa, yeah, that's a red flag. Don't do
it. No real cash buyer charges you fees.

We're, uh... You know,

it-

it just doesn't happen. That's- that's gonna be a
s- they're just trying to get that money and then
they're

done. So don't- don't do that.

Bad news. (laughs) Run the other way. All right.

And, uh, last one here, can I check them out
online?

This is from Tony,

uh, and Shirts. Tony, yeah, yeah, look o- online
at the real estate

reviews, like I said, Google, Better Business
Bureau, Facebook, uh, see what folks say.

Uh, we've got years and years of happy sellers at
Danny Buys Houses.

Uh, even dannybuyshouses.com, there's a Reviews
link there at the top.

Uh, dig a little bit,

uh, it's your house that's on the line, you want
to make sure that you're actually gonna be picking
somebody

that's gonna be able to close it. All right? All
right. If you have more questions, send them my
way.

Love to- to read them on the episode, next episode
and, uh......

you know, cover that and it helps other people
that have those questions that haven't asked it.

So,

uh, always feel free to do that. All right, ready
to sell to a legit cash buyer?

Here's how to get started. If you wanna sell to
us, dannybuyshouses.com,

uh, there's a fast cash offer form, takes like two
minutes. Fill that out and give us info about the
house.

We'll give you a call, set up an appointment to
come look at it.

Takes us like 15, 30 minutes to walk through the
house and we'll make you a cash offer.

There's no obligation, there's no cost, no fee.

Uh, if you do like the offer and we, you know, we
come to an agreement, we'll sign a purchase
agreement

that spells that out in writing so you know
exactly in writing what we're agreeing to.

And that gets taken to a title company by us, and
title company will get all the paperwork

together for closing,

uh, with whatever timeframe works for you, whether
that be two weeks or

a month or six weeks, whatever you want.

And the closing happens and you sign and, and get
paid, and that's it. All right?

You don't have to fix the house up, you don't have
to wait for a bunch of buyers to come through and
make

offers. You just, you know, get it done and be
done with it.

All right, so look, I get it. Selling is a big
move and you don't wanna get burned by a fake cash

buyer.

You know, you wanna avoid any we buy houses scams,
all right?

I started Danny Buys Houses to help, uh, people in
San Antonio and surrounding areas th- who

want a real solution to selling a house that needs
repairs, that doesn't fit the mold for a typical
house

going on the market for someone to buy and move
into, right?

So no scams, no stress, just cash and a done deal.

That's what we deliver here at Danny Buys Houses.

Uh, so head to our website or give us a call,

210-881-7707. Thanks for listening, everyone.

Share this with somebody that's thinking of
selling, uh, you know, to help protect them as
well.

Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss another
episode.

Uh, this is Danny Johnson from Danny Buys Houses
saying take care, sell smart.

See you next time.