There has been an insurgence of situations where buyers are not who they say they are.

The new normal has pushed us into a more digital world, where marketing and promoting properties is being done remotely, with less face to face meetings, and even when meetings are necessary they are usually done with masks. Body language, reactions, and facial expressions to determine a buyers interest level and many other indicators, have been removed during the pandemic. Another downside to living in isolation for an extended period of time is that it has proliferated a surge of people who are delusive and have more opportunity to play out elaborate schemes. Purporting to be qualified buyers, these folks are contacting sellers or their agents, showing interest in listings that they are in no way able to purchase. They take it so far as to make offers above the asking price, sign all the paperwork, and then fail to show up with the deposit.

These people are generally very intelligent albeit delusional, and this can make them quite convincing. They wholeheartedly believe in what they are saying and doing, this can cause quite a nuisance. The situation can be made much worse as properties are taken off the market for days or weeks when they are not actually sold to someone who can complete the sale. Unless of course you don't mind being paid in compliments and magic beans; the only real protection from this is having a real estate professional working for you that can vet buyer candidates, qualify them as legitimate, recognize the red flags, and act quickly when something seems amiss.

Early in my career I had one such situation occur: An intelligent and knowledgeable gentleman called me to book a showing of a prestigious property I had for sale in Rosedale. This man knew just about everything with respect to recent sales in the area and had adopted the name of a local entrepreneur. He arrived in a 3 piece suit, he walked up the long driveway on a warm summer day claiming his driver ‘dropped him off’ so he could get the full walk up experience. Nothing in his demeanor suggested anything strange at that point, but red flags started waving, especially when he said he was going to buy the neighboring properties and turn them all into an eco-friendly commune. Needless to say he didn’t get a second visit. 

For The Talented Mr Ripley movie trailer click here. Shot around the Islands in the Bay of Naples (pictured in the blog photo): A Great story of deception and delusion; Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Jude Law & Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the early years is definitely worth a watch.