Scam Alert: How to Spot Fake Home Buyers & Choose a Legitimate Cash Buyer

In this episode, Danny Johnson from Danny Buys Houses in San Antonio, TX, pulls back the curtain on home buying scams. Thinking of selling to a cash buyer? You have to watch out for we buy houses scams! Danny reveals how to dodge fakes who can’t close and pick a legit buyer you can trust. Discover how to choose the right house buyer out of all of the companies that pay cash for houses. With warning signs, real stories, listener Q&A, and a safe next step, this one’s a must for San Antonio homeowners!

What You’ll Learn

• Scam Watch: How fake buyers tie up your house with no cash to back it up.
• Red Flags: Fees upfront, vague answers—run from these tricks.
• Trustworthy Signs: What legit buyers like Danny bring to the table.
• Real Story: How Susan escaped a scammer and sold to Danny fast.
• Sell Safely: Start with a proven cash buyer today.

Key Moments

• Danny warns: Not all cash buyers are real—some are trouble.
• Scam tactics: No money, flipping deals, upfront fees exposed.
• Susan’s close call: From fake buyer to cash in a week with Danny.
• Listener Q&A: Proof of cash, fees, and online checks answered.
• How to sell my house fast in San Antonio: Fill out the fast offer form at DannyBuysHouses.com.

Resources Mentioned

• Website: DannyBuysHouses.com – Get a cash offer in 24 hours from a legit buyer.
• BBB Rating: Danny Buys Houses—A+ since 2015.
• Location: Serving San Antonio, TX, and nearby areas like New Braunfels and Boerne.

Call to Action

Don’t get scammed—sell your house to a trusted buyer! Visit DannyBuysHouses.com and fill out the fast offer form. Danny will call within 24 hours with a fair cash offer, no tricks. Cash in a week, no stress—start with a pro today!

Listener Questions Answered

• Mike (San Antonio): “How do I know they’ve got cash?” Ask for proof—we show it!
• Rosa (New Braunfels): “They want fees—is that normal?” No—run, it’s a scam!
• Tony (Boerne): “Can I check them online?” Yes—BBB and reviews tell the truth!

Connect with Us

• Website: DannyBuysHouses.com
• Questions? Send them to Danny for a future episode!
• Share It: Warn a friend considering a cash sale—share this now.

Coming Up Next

Next episode, Danny dives into another great topic on selling a house for cash in San Antonio—subscribe so you don’t miss it!

Tagline: “Sell smart, stay safe—Danny Buys Houses is the real deal.”

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
Welcome to the Danny Buys Houses podcast.
I'm your host, Danny Johnson, real estateinvestor, cash house buyer in San Antonio, Texas.
Now if you're thinking about selling your house toa cash home buyer, you've got to listen up.
Today, we're talking scams, right? We buy housesscams.
How to spot fake cash home buyers and pick a legitone who can actually close on the

(00:27):
deal. I'll share what to watch out for, what makesa buyer trustworthy, and answer some listener
questions. So stick around. I'm gonna show you howto get started safely.
So let's dive in.
All right. Selling your house for cash soundsgreat, right? Fast, easy, no repairs.
I've been doing it here in San Antonio for over 20years with Danny Buys Houses.

But here's the ugly truth (00:48):
not every cash buyer is legit,
right? Some are scammers, some are just wannabes,right, who can't close.
You know, they'll tie up your house, they'll wasteyour time, and leave you hanging, right?
It's- it's horrible, but it happens. Uh, sellerbeware. All right.
Let's break it down. First, the shady ones. Right?

(01:08):
Some investors don't have the money to buy yourhouse.
I'm just gonna say that. I mean, they just don'thave the-
the, uh, the means to actually buy your house.
They'll say they'll pay cash, but then they don'thave the means to do that, right?
So
they're gonna make you an offer anyway, sign acontract, and scramble to find another investor to flip the
deal to. And it's not that all people, uh, they'recalled wholesalers and

(01:31):
it's called wholesaling where you're getting ahouse and you're- you're putting it under contract to sell
it to another investor.
All right. And- and not all wholesalers are shady,okay?
I just want to say that upfront. Um, it's justthat if- if they're not being
upfront with you about what they're doing, thatthat's what they're going to do, then that is kind of
shady, right? So, um, you got to find out ifthey're actually gonna be the ones

(01:54):
to buy the house, right?
So, you know, if- if they've got no cash, no plan,just hope, if that
second buyer that they do actually find, if theydo find one, falls through, then your deal is
just dead. You're back to square one.
Maybe worse, you know, if you're facingforeclosure on a deadline that requires you to sell a house
fast.

(02:15):
Um, and so that happens, it happens all the time,and so you just got to be careful.
Um,
you know, you know, worse yet, there's some- someare just pure scams, you know.
They ask for unfron- upfront fees, which isusually the sign of the scam, right?
They're gonna try to make money off of thiswithout even doing the deal.
So if- if any cash home buyer's asking you to paysome sort of fee to- to

(02:39):
lock in some kind of offer, whatever,
do not. You know, just turn and walk away because,you know, legit buyers just don't do that, right?
You- you're not gonna... You shouldn't be payingany fees to get an offer on your house, okay?
So,
uh, you know, if they try to push you to sign somesketchy paperwork that you don't fully understand
without, you know, answering questions about it orletting you, you know, if you decide you want to take it

(03:00):
to your attorney and they don't let you do that,you gotta question why, okay?
Um,
so how do you spot a trustworthy one, right?
How do you find the actual legit cash home buyersthat are gonna get the deal done?
So one way is, you know, that,
you know, someone that's legit and able to do ithas a track record, right?
It should not be their first deal that they'reever doing.

(03:21):
They should have a track- track w- record, right?
And one way to find this out is you can check theBetter Business Bureau
and, you know, Danny Buys Houses has been, uh,with an A+ accredited rating
since 2015 on Danny Buys... on, uh, BetterBusiness Bureau.
So the website is bbb.org.
All right. It's triple b dot org, Better BusinessBureau.

(03:43):
Uh, two, usually they're local, right?
A San Antonio buyer who knows the market, not someout-of-state, uh, just voice on the
phone is gonna be much more likely to be a legitperson because you can meet them in person and you can get a
feel for- for them and- and their confidence indoing the deal.
Right? So we always recommend people go withsomeone local in San Antonio.
Uh, three, they have, uh,

(04:05):
you know, online reviews, right? Because, youknow, if you- if you're any kind of business these days,
you're gonna have some online reviews no matterwhat you do.
And you can Google Danny Buys Houses, uh, DannyBuys Houses reviews and you
can see all of ours on the internet there,Facebook, uh, Google, Better Business Bureau.
I think that we got a review on Yelp even.

(04:26):
Um,
all right. So- so check for some- some reviews.
Uh, fourth, they're- they're transparent, right?
No fees, no tricks,
and just a straight offer, right? It's just gonnabe, you know, no funny business.
They're not gonna ask you to do any- anything thatmight seem out of the ordinary.
Uh, five, they close fast. You know, days orweeks, not months.

(04:47):
You know, if they're wanting to put the thingunder contract for three months before they can close it, you
gotta question why. I mean, they're probably gonnabe looking for someone else to buy the house, right?
Not- not actually close on it themselves.
Uh, so if they can't answer,
um, how they're gonna pay or- or how- how they'regonna be able to close quickly, you know, go the other
way. Don't- don't go with someone like that.

(05:08):
Now as an example, I had a call, uh, I'm gonnachange her name here.
Susan, we'll just call her Susan. Last year shesigned with a cash buyer
who promised the moon, big cash, quick close. Butweeks passed and nothing ever happened.
Uh, turned out he was shopping her house toothers, no money. He didn't have the money to actually close.
Uh, and he was just giving her the runaround.

(05:30):
He wouldn't be honest with her about that w- waswhat was happening.
So she called us desperate, right? She just neededthis thing to be done. Uh, we checked it out.
Turns out their offer had ex- you know, his, uh,offer had expired, the contract had expired,
and I don't even know if they- they had paid anyearnest money,
uh, and receeded the contract at his title companyeven.

(05:51):
So I'm not sure that anything was ever even done,but, uh, we checked it out.
We offered cash and we closed in a week.
And she said, "Danny, I wish I had just found youfirst.
(laughs) That would have saved me a ton of time."So that's why we're here, that's what we do.
Uh, and, uh, we ensure the deal- deal just getsdone, right?
So let's head some listener questions.

(06:11):
Uh, first, how do I know that a cash buyer willclose? This is from Mike in San Antonio.
Hey Mike. Uh, ask for the closing agent's name andphone number. All right.
They've got to close the deal somewhere.
If they want to close it at your kitchen table,you know, most of the time that's- that's really not a good
idea. Uh, (laughs) you want someone that's gonnabe using a title company.
So, you know, ask for their- who- who closes theirdeals at the title company, their closing

(06:34):
agent's name and their phone number.
Call them and- and make sure that they've actuallybeen closing deals, right?
And, uh,
you know, even better, walk into that office andask to talk to that person so you know you're actually
talking to somebody that's at the title company,right?
So if they stall and- and they just say, "Trustme," you know, walk away, right?
Because they should be willing to give thatinformation. So that's...

(06:55):
I think that's the-
one of the best ways to do it, to know that you'reworking with somebody that's actually closed because
you're not just hearing them tell you what they'vedone, you're talking to somebody else that's a third
party that's confirming that they've done whatthey say.
So,
um, what if they want me to pay some... Here's thenext one, by the way.
Uh, what if they want me to pay something upfront?That's Rosa in Universal City.

(07:18):
Uh, hey Rosa, yeah, that's a red flag. Don't doit. No real cash buyer charges you fees.
We're, uh... You know,
it-
it just doesn't happen. That's- that's gonna be as- they're just trying to get that money and then they're
done. So don't- don't do that.
Bad news. (laughs) Run the other way. All right.
And, uh, last one here, can I check them outonline?

(07:38):
This is from Tony,
uh, and Shirts. Tony, yeah, yeah, look o- onlineat the real estate
reviews, like I said, Google, Better BusinessBureau, Facebook, uh, see what folks say.
Uh, we've got years and years of happy sellers atDanny Buys Houses.
Uh, even dannybuyshouses.com, there's a Reviewslink there at the top.
Uh, dig a little bit,

(07:59):
uh, it's your house that's on the line, you wantto make sure that you're actually gonna be picking somebody
that's gonna be able to close it. All right? Allright. If you have more questions, send them my way.
Love to- to read them on the episode, next episodeand, uh......
you know, cover that and it helps other peoplethat have those questions that haven't asked it.
So,
uh, always feel free to do that. All right, readyto sell to a legit cash buyer?

(08:21):
Here's how to get started. If you wanna sell tous, dannybuyshouses.com,
uh, there's a fast cash offer form, takes like twominutes. Fill that out and give us info about the house.
We'll give you a call, set up an appointment tocome look at it.
Takes us like 15, 30 minutes to walk through thehouse and we'll make you a cash offer.
There's no obligation, there's no cost, no fee.
Uh, if you do like the offer and we, you know, wecome to an agreement, we'll sign a purchase agreement

(08:46):
that spells that out in writing so you knowexactly in writing what we're agreeing to.
And that gets taken to a title company by us, andtitle company will get all the paperwork
together for closing,
uh, with whatever timeframe works for you, whetherthat be two weeks or
a month or six weeks, whatever you want.
And the closing happens and you sign and, and getpaid, and that's it. All right?

(09:08):
You don't have to fix the house up, you don't haveto wait for a bunch of buyers to come through and make
offers. You just, you know, get it done and bedone with it.
All right, so look, I get it. Selling is a bigmove and you don't wanna get burned by a fake cash
buyer.
You know, you wanna avoid any we buy houses scams,all right?
I started Danny Buys Houses to help, uh, people inSan Antonio and surrounding areas th- who

(09:30):
want a real solution to selling a house that needsrepairs, that doesn't fit the mold for a typical house
going on the market for someone to buy and moveinto, right?
So no scams, no stress, just cash and a done deal.
That's what we deliver here at Danny Buys Houses.
Uh, so head to our website or give us a call,
210-881-7707. Thanks for listening, everyone.

(09:52):
Share this with somebody that's thinking ofselling, uh, you know, to help protect them as well.
Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss anotherepisode.
Uh, this is Danny Johnson from Danny Buys Housessaying take care, sell smart.
See you next time.