I attended a seminar about 10 years ago and this was taught as a good way to quickly raise capital to then use to invest in real estate. I didn't understand why there would be a need for this, but the way it was explained was that big time investors don't mind paying someone a few thousand bucks to do the legwork of finding a potential investment property, because it allows the investors to focus on the stuff that makes them serious profits.

If I remember correctly, the idea is that you find someone who needs to get out of their house quickly or who doesn't have the means to make the necessary improvements to their home in order to make it competitive with other homes nearby. So you work with them to structure a contract for a cash sale, but don't actually sign the contract. I think you offer them some kind of good faith deposit, and then you shop the contract to investors (presumably who you've already lined up before hand) and they pay you for the lead, then go close the deal with the seller. I'm probably leaving out some details, but I believe that's the overall idea.

It wasn't something I was comfortable with, so I never tried it. As with most "easy money" opportunities I've encountered, it seems like someone is usually getting a bad deal. In this case, it was the seller - it seemed that in order for this to work out, you needed to find desperate sellers so you could take advantage of their situation. I'm not saying it's unethical, as it's not like you're stealing someone's property, but I just felt like it wasn't something I would be comfortable with.