I hadn’t thought about taking it through escrow..makes sense to me. Practically speaking, has anyone ever heard of something like this happening?

Hypothetical:

Seller…bought house for 200K, current comps suggest 800K value, but the market has frozen up and I am the only bidder at 600K…they are happy to just get out of the deal with 400K profit, but they don’t want to blow the comps for their neighbors.

Independent third-party (lender’s) appraiser comes in and appraises house at 800K.

Bank lends me 800K, I transfer it to seller, seller rebates me 200K at escrow table. I live in the house for 10+ years and make my mortgage payments on time. All on the up and up, right?

These are all just questions I have…trust me–I don’t want to buy a house anytime soon…the wife is bitching at me though and I am trying to find a method to justify buying…not likely in my mind 😉