Please be sure to read my DISCLAIMER

Claims

Real Estate is one of the few properties that you can buy that can actually INCREASE in value. That's one of the reasons there are so many Business Opp Infomercials dealing with Real Estate. However, those are listed elsewhere.

This Division deals with infomercials (and maybe more) offering Real Estate for sale.

In general, as with all for-profit businesses, in Real Estate, the object is to buy low, sell high.

Remember the line, "If you believe that, I've got this land in ... (or island) I'll sell you" where the "in" is some far-off, distant land? Well, that's based on reality. Decades ago, men would buy large plots in a western wilderness (desert, forest, mountains, you get the idea) in land had just been bought by the US. Then they would sell off parcels to unsuspecting people. Remember, back then, it was next to impossible for the people to get to the property they were buying, so the properties were all purchased, "sight-unseen", with the seller convincing the buyer how great the land would be for various purposes - farming, retirement, etc. The buyer, all excited, would sell or pack up everything they owned, hop a wagon train, and head out to their property. When they got there, they found they had pretty much worthless property. Some "made do". Some had lost everything, sold that land to someone else for "pennies on the dollar", and either moved back from whence they came, or to a nearby town to look for work.

Well, it's been going on the US from the beginning of the US (just after the Revolutionary War, "starring" a name we've heard from history - Patrick Henry) -

• see the Yazoo Land Fraud in Georgia

And it still goes on, today. For example:

• Coshise County, AZ had problems with this as recently as 1980, and have been cleaning up the mess ever since.
• In December, 1984, The New York Times had an article where "Two men have pleaded guilty to bilking thousands of investors in the Netherlands out of as much as $2 billion in what the prosecutor called the largest land fraud in United States history."
• In May, 2006 The Indianapolis Star newspaper had a story from Danville, Indiana "Man Accused of Land Fraud".

and is something to watch out for - see US Postal Inspection Service - Land Fraud Schemes.

I would never say that a given organization engages in land fraud without absolute proof. I'm just saying what the US Postal Inspection Service said:

Suggestions

If you are interested in purchasing real-estate in ANY area, I would suggest you search for it. Just enter the phrase "real estate" (with quotes) and the name of the nearest city or town (ie: "Lafayette, Indiana", "Lafayette, IN", "New Concord, Ohio", "New Concord, OH", etc. - use quotes for the phrase), and see what's listed and the prices. (For some, you MAY wish to skip search results with certain words. Simply add "-word" (quotes not needed for single words), to skip those sites. You can "minus" more than one word. For example:

+"real estate" +("lafayette, indiana" OR "lafayette, in") -apartment -apt

(capitalize "OR") should find all sites with:

• WITH the phrases "real estate" AND "lafayette, indiana"
• OR WITH the phrases "real estate" AND "lafayette, in"
• WITHOUT the words "apartment" and "apt" on the page

I also suggest that you look for members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. They ascribe to a strict Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice (see the " NAR® Code of Ethics: What Does it Mean for Consumers?"), and will use the registered trademarks: REALTOR®, REALTOR-ASSOCIATE®, REALTORS® (all caps or only initial letter cap) including the "®", and/or the following graphic logo:

Real Estate (Buying) Infomercial Links

• National Recreation Properties, Inc. (or NRPI)
  • Erik Estrada and Angel Fire, NM
  • Chuck Woolery and White Bluffs, TX
  • Chuck Woolery and Horseshoe Bay, TX
  • Erik Estrada and Hot Springs Village, AK
  • Erik Estrada and Columbia Lakes, TX

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Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 by Bill Sanders / Full site last modified: July 10, 2006