if that’s true, the scheme could kinda work. you pitch it to the unreasonable seller as “hey, i’ll pay your asking price, just let me make payments.” You don’t even have to clarify an interest rate, you just say, split it by 360, or whatever number you guys can agree on. you split it into 360 payments, you’re actually paying a small fraction of the asking price, once it’s divided into interest and principal, plus you’ll get to deduct the interest portion on your taxes. I was reading a study on reading and mathematical illiteracy and innumeracy …there are an astonishing percentage of low-functioning mental dullards out there… it’s not that farfetched that this could work. Under normal circs, an agent might explain interest to the seller. but the seller just wants the high price to go through, right, gets paid a bigger commission than off a smaller price, in fact, I could offer to pay the agent’s commission, make it 5% down, i’ll cover the commission.
heck, can you offer a side payment tot he realtor? if the agent represents both parties, can you also say, if you can figure out how to explain why this is a good deal to the seller, I’ll pay you 5 grand cash on the side? Anything illegal or unethical about that?