Every year I work with a few buyers who pay cash for real estate. So far I have not run into anything weird. As a Realtor® I am not required to report it I am suspicious that a buyer is laundering money, but am encouraged to do so. That is hard to do because I also owe my clients ‘confidentiality”.
Buying real estate is a great way to launder money. Suspicious activity includes people who buy property for cash without looking at it and people who pay way too much cash for a property that doesn’t seem to be desirable or worth what is being paid for it.
The cash buyers I typically work with are pulling money out of investment accounts or retirement accounts and they usually supply me with some kind of a letter from a financial institution stating that they have the money.
Money laundering usually involves “shell corporations”, rather than individuals.
Actual cash in paper currency is not accepted by title closing companies.
People who are selling real estate especially investment property rarely take an interest in the buyer and many investment property buyers do so through a corporation. Which makes sense. I guess I am writing this just to put the idea on everyone’s radar.
