Protect yourself
How to avoid "we buy houses" scams.
We're a cash-offer operator telling you how to vet cash-offer operators — including us. If more of the industry did this, it wouldn't need an article.
The red flags
Pressure to sign today. A real offer is still real tomorrow. Urgency is a sales tactic, not a market condition. Non-refundable "good faith" deposits that you pay them. An offer that drops at the last minute without a genuine new problem found at the walkthrough — that's a bait price. Refusing to put their role in writing — a legitimate wholesaler will tell you plainly they intend to assign the contract. Discouraging you from talking to an attorney or your family. Every one of these is a reason to slow down.
The questions that flush out a bad actor
"Are you the end buyer, or will you assign this contract to someone else?" "Is your earnest money deposit real, and where is it held?" "Would I net more by listing with an agent?" "Can I have my attorney review before I sign?" An honest operator answers all four without flinching — and sometimes the honest answer to the third one loses them the deal. That's the test.
What a legitimate as-is offer looks like
Written, with a real earnest money deposit at a title company; a clear closing date you agreed to; no repairs required from you; and language that survives your attorney reading it. In Maryland it comes with the required wholesale disclosure. It doesn't change after you sign unless the walkthrough turns up something genuinely new — and even then it's a conversation, not an ultimatum.
Our own standard
Every review here includes whether listing would net you more, in writing. We disclose our role. We don't pressure. If that costs us a deal to a pushier competitor, so be it — the sellers who come back and refer their neighbors are worth more than the deal we lost.