If you’ve lived in America and own a house, you’ll get texts, postcards, even the occasional email - maybe you’ll see a sign offering the same. Sometimes even if you don’t own property, you’ll get something intended for somebody else. These ads are for places willing to take your dwelling off your hands, regardless of its state - just get in touch with them.

They offer a certain amount of money, sometimes sight unseen. They visit your house, maybe look at it, and offer an amount lower than their initial estimate.

Now, unlike most items on this site, these people do genuinely buy houses and give the owners money. The problem is that they are extremely predatory, with high-pressure sales tactics and predatory contracts. The given price is always far lower than the property is worth - often 30-40% of what the owners could get for it going with an actual real estate agent. Sometimes they provide false information to get the owner to sell. For example, a ProPublica piece mentions a woman who was told that the city she lived in would evict her for her horder tendencies - she would later find out that the city had resources to help with the problem and would not do that.

These companies often reach out for the desperate, the elderly, people who are not in a right mental state to actually sell anything. They don’t go for people who are solvent, who are not underwater with their mortgages.

How to protect yourself
Always go with a licensed real estate agent. There are many out there that can handle sales of places that are less than ideal - and they want to sell it for a good amount because that’s how they get their money.

If you do happen to let one of these companies talk to you, do not sign an offer unless you can take it to someone who can read it over and make sure there aren’t any predatory clauses. Like regular scammers who run off with your hard-earned money, these people specialize in rushing you to do something you might regret. Emotional manipulation is not limited to scammers - high-pressure salespeople use some of the same tactics that scammers do.