# Interesting new scam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 30, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-scam/390169 "2007-01-30T21:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-scam/390169/1 "2007-01-30T21:32:01Z")
I got a piece of mail today. That’s snail mail, in my mail box, delivered by USPS. It was address to me as [First Initial Middle Initial Last name] and [Address] in that ‘script font’ that looks like handwriting. No return address. My initial response was to toss it but I opened it instead. There’s a pretty simple letter inside I’ll quote the entirety of it (I assume it isn’t copyrighted). > [@](#): > > Hello, > My wife and I are new to [my hometown] and wish to purchase a house in [my neighborhood]. > > We are 80 years old - not investors or real estate agents. > > If you are thinking of putting your home on the market in the next six months, give us a call [phone number] - promptly. If your home meets our wants and we can agree on a price, we’ll purchase it now - you can stay for some months if you wish. > > If you have a firm price in mind, fine. If not, you can hire an appraiser. In any event, we will hire an appraiser. We can then add the two appraisals together, divide by 2 and subtract 3%. > > This way we will pay 3% less, you will receive 3% more than if you sold it through a realtor - less a few hundred for a real estate attorney. The letter is then ‘signed’ with a [name], signed as in cursive font printout I Googled the phone number which led me to a person in my hometown, but not the same person that ‘signed’ the letter. [Veromi.net](http://Veromi.net) give a listing for the number, but it doesn’t give me any information without paying. The local Online Parcel Information System doesn’t have a listing for that name or address, but the address is probably for a local apartment complex. Anyway, the only reason it intrigued me so much is that I _am_ interested in selling my house in about 6 months, and I don’t think this is a home an 80 year old would want to buy, although the neighborhood is filled with older people, who buys a house at 80years old and claims not to be an investor? How should I proceed? I can toss it in the garbage or call the number on the letter. I think I might call the number and ask for [Google Name] (not the name from the letter). Then confront the dude on what the scam is. Is there anything illegal about sending such a letter? Can I report him to a better business bureau or local law enforcement or something? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-scam/390169/2 "2007-01-30T21:35:20Z")
You appraise your house as being worth $150,000. My appraiser says it’s worth $15,000. Add those two together, divide by two, subtract 3%, and my but that’s a colossal ripoff. An exaggeration, of course. If you want to sell your house, find a reputable realtor in your area to sell it for you. If you want to buy a house, find a reputable realtor to find one for you. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-scam/390169/3 "2007-01-30T21:41:56Z")
I’d say your instincts are correct and it’s probably a scam. My guess is that they would use a bogus appraiser to drive down the price. You know who investigates these types of things? [The FBI (white collar crime divison).](http://www.fbi.gov/whitecollarcrime.htm) If I was you, and I felt particularly helpful / ornery, I would contact your local FBI office (available through that link) and tell them about the letter you got. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-scam/390169/4 "2007-01-30T21:47:25Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] You appraise your house as being worth $150,000. My appraiser says it’s worth $15,000. Add those two together, divide by two, subtract 3%, and my but that’s a colossal ripoff. An exaggeration, of course. If you want to sell your house, find a reputable realtor in your area to sell it for you. If you want to buy a house, find a reputable realtor to find one for you. [/QUOTE] Yes, obviously I’m not going to sell my house to this clown. I was mostly wondering if anyone had seen this scam before. **Doctor Who** , I am feeling kind of ornery having worked all night long. I think I’ll report him, then call him to tell him I reported him. Of course, there’s probably nothing illegal with proposing this kind of thing. You’d have to be pretty stupid to sign some sort of contract before the appraisals, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-scam/390169/5 "2007-01-30T22:01:56Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] You appraise your house as being worth $150,000. My appraiser says it’s worth $15,000. Add those two together, divide by two, subtract 3%, and my but that’s a colossal ripoff. An exaggeration, of course. [/QUOTE] Maybe you could find an equally corrupt appraiser and get your house appraised at $5,000,000. ($5,000,000 + $0)/2 - 3% = $2.45 Million. It would be amusing if you had a simultaneous appraisal revealing. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-scam/390169/6 "2007-02-01T18:44:12Z")
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict] Maybe you could find an equally corrupt appraiser and get your house appraised at $5,000,000. ($5,000,000 + $0)/2 - 3% = $2.45 Million. It would be amusing if you had a simultaneous appraisal revealing. [/QUOTE] Interesting strategy. The letter doesn’t say that _I_ have to get an appraiser at all. I can just state my price. So… $5million sounds good to me. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-new-scam/390169/7 "2007-02-01T19:09:06Z")
I’m a real estate agent (commercial not residential), but I really have a difficult time thinking that a pair of octogenarians are so wound up about wanting to bypass a RE agent that they would use a mass marketing campaign like this. Typically 80 year olds are the ones who might need an agent’s services the most. I suspect it’s an information gathering scheme for predatory investors or lenders of some kind. In addition a lot of these “get rich quick in RE” schemes are parallel to this type of marketing, where you are looking to find desperate sellers willing to sell at a loss. Try [www.zabasearch.com](http://www.zabasearch.com) for an initial search. The first tier search is free.