I can see two angles to this for a fictional villain-later-victim:

• The agent isn't just brokering real estate, the tenants are getting into a franchise agreement with an unsustainable business case. The franchisees are required tu buy oversized junk from the franchise and pay fees on top of that for the use of the trademarks. This might be legal.

• The real estate agent, the bank, and possibly others are accomplices. The idea is to have the buyers sink their life savings into a business, have the business fail, and then have the bank foreclose. Through various hidden fees and transactions, in the end the schemers have the real estate back, plus all the money their victims had. This might be illegal but hard to prove.

I can see two angles to this for a fictional villain-later-victim:

• The agent isn't just brokering real estate, the tenants are getting into a franchise agreement with an unsustainable business case. The franchisees are required tu buy overpriced junk from the franchise and pay fees on top of that for the use of the trademarks. This might be legal.

• The real estate agent, the bank, and possibly others are accomplices. The idea is to have the buyers sink their life savings into a business, have the business fail, and then have the bank foreclose. Through various hidden fees and transactions, in the end the schemers have the real estate back, plus all the money their victims had. This might be illegal but hard to prove.
  (What I had in mind here goes beyond predatory lending, with the agent providing overpriced contractors, etc., to extract more money.)