How to avoid cash home buyer scams in Tampa Bay (4 red flags on the contract).

The "cash buyer" landscape in Tampa Bay has a wholesaler problem. The number of yard signs, postcards, and Facebook ads that say "we buy houses for cash" outnumber the actual cash buyers by about ten to one. Most of those signs are wholesalers. They get a contract on your Brandon house for $200,000 with no plan to close, then run around trying to sell that contract to a real investor for $215,000 before the closing date. If they can't find a backup buyer, they walk. You lose three weeks and start over.

The good news is you can spot a wholesaler in 60 seconds if you know what to look for. The whole game shows up on the contract. Here are the four red flags.

Red flag 1: A contract assignability clause

This is the single biggest tell. Real cash buyers buy houses in their own name (or in their company's name) and the deed transfers to them on closing day. Wholesalers need the contract to be assignable, which means they have the legal right to transfer your contract to a third party before closing.

What it looks like in the contract: phrases like "and/or assigns," "buyer reserves the right to assign," or a clause titled "Assignment" giving the buyer sole discretion to transfer the contract.

What to do: ask the buyer to add a non-assignable clause. Real buyers say yes. Wholesalers stall, push back, or quietly disappear. If the buyer refuses to make the contract non-assignable, they're telling you exactly what they are. Here's what a real cash offer looks like next to a wholesaler one.

Red flag 2: No proof of funds (or vague proof)

Any real cash buyer can send you proof of funds in five minutes. It's a recent bank statement, a letter from their bank, or a statement from a hard-money lender that confirms they have the cash on hand to close. The dollar amount on it should equal or exceed the offer.

Wholesaler workarounds you'll hear:

• "We have funding partners we work with."
• "Our investor network covers it."
• "We don't share that until we're under contract."
• A document that says "up to $5,000,000 available" but isn't on bank letterhead.

None of these count. Ask for a real bank statement or a real letter from a real institution. If they can't produce one, they don't have the money. A real buyer also names the title company they'll close at, which is another data point you can verify in 30 seconds.

Red flag 3: A vague or open-ended closing date

The contract should specify a closing date, not a closing window. "On or before May 15" is fine. "Within 60 days of acceptance" with no firm date is not. Wholesalers want long, fuzzy windows because they need time to shop your contract around.

What's reasonable on a Tampa Bay cash close:

• 7 to 14 days on a clean-title deal in Hillsborough or Pinellas. This is what we typically write.
• 14 to 21 days if there's a lien, probate, or out-of-state heirs.
• 30 days max on anything complicated.

If a buyer asks for 45, 60, or 90 days, ask why. The honest answers are rare (a 1031 exchange or a specific personal timeline). The dishonest answers are wholesalers buying time. The realistic Tampa Bay cash-sale timeline is here.

Red flag 4: Earnest money flowing the wrong way

Earnest money goes from buyer to escrow. Always. It's the buyer's deposit, held by the title company, that compensates you if the buyer walks for a non-contractual reason. Standard amounts on a Tampa Bay cash deal:

• $1,000 to $5,000 typical.
• $5,000 to $10,000 on a strong-commitment deal.
• $0 if the buyer is "trusted" and you agreed (we don't recommend it).

The variant that should set off alarms: a buyer who asks you to send them any money. There is no version of a real cash deal in which a homeowner pays a "processing fee," "title application fee," or "lien search deposit" to the buyer. None. If anyone asks you to wire them money to "secure the transaction," hang up. It's a scam, full stop.

Equally suspicious: a buyer who hands you a $10,000 earnest money check directly. The check goes to the title company's escrow account, not to you. A buyer waving a personal check at you is theater, not commitment.

The 90-second protection script

Before you sign anything, ask the buyer these three questions and watch the response:

1. "Can you send me proof of funds today?"
2. "What's the name of the title company we'll close at, and can I call them?"
3. "Can we make this contract non-assignable?"

A real buyer answers yes-yes-yes inside 24 hours. A wholesaler hesitates, redirects, or quietly stops returning calls. The questions cost nothing and they save you weeks of wasted time. We use them ourselves when we have to validate a competing offer for a seller who's comparing us to someone else.

One more thing: the local tell

Real Tampa Bay cash buyers have a footprint. They've closed deals in Hillsborough, Pinellas, or Pasco that show up in public records. Their LLC is registered with sunbiz.org. Their phone number isn't an 800 number from out of state. They can show up to your kitchen table inside 48 hours. The buyer who can't say what county they last bought in is probably not a buyer at all.

If you want a buyer who passes all four checks on the first call, that's literally what we built the company to be. Drop your address here and we'll send you proof of funds, the title company we close at, and a non-assignable contract before you have to ask.

Frequently asked questions