Buying or selling a home is a major financial (and emotional) undertaking and while doing the work yourself can save you the significant commission rates many real estate agents command, for many, flying solo may not be the way to go and could end up being more costly than a realtor’s commission in the long run. However, the abuse of the real estate sector in the form of land or buildings has long been described as one of the oldest known ways to launder ill-gotten gains. In countries like Germany alone, $30 billion of uncertain origins entered the real estate market in 2017.