This is part of a series of RPG characters, creatures, items, adventure ideas, and locations inspired by random entries from Wikipedia. The material I create may grow distant from its roots.
Today we have double escrow, a real estate transaction. The wikipedia article is so thin we need to do a little more investigation.
According to this article, when a property is sold, there’s normally one escrow, and it’s between the buyer and the seller. But let’s say the buyer plans to flip the house or otherwise sell it after some minor work. Let’s further say that the buyer finds someone interested in this property before it’s even sold. In that case, they’d set up a “double escrow” involving two sales: one to the intermediary buyer, and another immediately thereafter, literally on the same day, to the final buyer.
The wikipedia article includes some intriguingly sketchy statements, such as “Double escrows are totally legal[citation needed]” and “Many title firms in escrow states refuse to close double escrows, complaining about covert dealings and corrupt appraisals and loans.[citation needed]“. Sounds like a Fiasco.
(Thanks to Brian Liberge for help with this concept.)
‘Mafias del Mundo: Ndrangheta’ by Eneas de Troya on Flickr (CC-BY)
“Sal, shut up and listen. Vinnie’s got us in deep shit again.
“He says he found a property. A ‘nice little out of the way place,’ ‘just needs a little work,’ he says. It’s a shit-hole, Sal. It’s a god-damned wreck on the end of a dingy little road, with a cement swimming pool that’s god-damned empty, Sal. It’s got a god-damned crack in it the size of the San Andreas.
“But here’s the kicker, Sal, the big ol’ Vinnie-sized kicker. He’s already sold it, he says. And to who? To Millie May fucking Hopkins, Sal. Yeah, “Military Grade” Millie May. The boss’s fucking aunt. He says she’ll love it.
“No, no, Sal. He put a double escrow on it. I know, I know, somehow he managed it. Or somebody told him. They’re closing in a week, Sal. God himself couldn’t fix up this place in a week, Sal. We….
“Sal. No, Sal. We can’t do that, Sal. We can’t walk up to Millie May Hopkins and tell her to shut her whore mouth. We….
“She what? You know she did? You’re absolutely sure about that, Sal? Well, yeah, if that’s true, we could threaten to…but Sal, who’s going to do it?
“Oh…them.”