Real estate agents here......

Quote from z2g : The seller however wants a kickback under the table for $50k-60k from the buyer. That's pretty much all I know. Apparently, his agent is in on all this too because he keeps emailing my friend to get him to go with the kickback.

so you have actual e-mails of a real estate agent saying to take the kickback? that sounds like it should make it easy to complain against them to the government

Quote from nizzy1115 : Amateurs, pipes have value. Homes are gutted for their pipes and wire.

Pipes in this part of the US tend to be PVC

Quote from Majide : I thought the seller wouldn't get any money during a short sale...

They sometimes do, but its usually a few K to help them move and relocate and is given by the bank. I purchased a shortsale and i believe the sellers got about $2k although i think that ended up getting eaten by some fees. Its much cheaper and beneficial for the bank to do a short sale than foreclose.

Quote from Sox.at.six : The seller really has no ability to accept any offer or to prioritize an offer in a short sale situation. The bank or whoever owns the mortgage on the property would be the ones who would decide whether or not to accept the offer, they are looking out for their own interests and could care less what the seller wants.

Not completely true. The seller can present whatever offers they want to the bank, it doesn't mean the bank has to accept them. At the point of the short sale, the house is still the sellers and they cannot be forced to accept an offer that they don't want to.

Quote from ALVSGIRLY : Ours is too and there is no way. He may be older than us so he has more saved. I though short sales messed up your credit too just not as bad as foreclosure and they only did it in certain situations. Idk really much about them. Just heard a few things but never actually researched them.

Yeah, even with a $200k income, that is more house then they should be buying. But its that sort of stupidity that crashed the global markets.

Pretty sketchy and sadly not the first time I've heard about this especially with inventory so low. Hopefully he decided to wait things out as more stuff is coming onto the market, at least here in So cal

Quote from slapshot136 : so you have actual e-mails of a real estate agent saying to take the kickback? that sounds like it should make it easy to complain against them to the government

Not the gov but the Real Estate board in Cali. Also the seller could be looking at under the table payment as well as a departure payment from the bank to leave the house. I've heard of payments in the hi 20Ks to leave homes. The paperwork for the house must be a mess.

Quote from BargainSnatcher : Not completely true. The seller can present whatever offers they want to the bank, it doesn't mean the bank has to accept them. At the point of the short sale, the house is still the sellers and they cannot be forced to accept an offer that they don't want to.

Yup the occupant is the one that shows the banks not the agent showing banks all the offers. If that was the case, the highest bid would always win. I'm guessing he wants payment before the offer is even handed over to the banks? B/c once it goes to the bank, he's pretty much cut out from the deal if the bank decided to accept the offer. Is this right?
If the home is worth over 700K to the owner, have him buy the rug or something in the house for $10K-20K, it's just slightly legal but make sure it's in the paperwork not under the table as it can just lead to him taking the money and not selling you the house. At this point, if he's leaving the home, he's losing his down payment and any payment he's made on the home so he's trying to eek out as much money from the home as possible besides the free rent for the past year. Sounds like an asshat of a homeowner but it's what's going on these days.
The market is location dependent and Sillicon Valley is hot as so many new rich millionaires are buying homes.

Personally, I'd tell him to find another home and a better agent who can explain all this to the buyer. It's not just driving you to homes, it's the knowledge that can save/cost you money in the purchase.