How to Avoid a Growing Real Estate Scam

The scammers are out in full force in the real estate world, but you can avoid them by making one simple phone call.

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Right now, there’s a big scam happening throughout the country where renters are being duped into thinking that they can rent a property for a much lower cost than what it would appear to be valued at. This is because scammers are taking pictures of homes that are for sale on the market, gathering the information of these homes, and advertising them as if they’re rentals.

The next thing they do is make an excuse as to why they can’t meet face to face but still encourage the renter to look at the property from the outside and send them their information if they’re interested. Of course, the renter is then selected as the perfect fit for the property. Because the scammer is conveniently out of town, they ask the renter to send their deposit to a certain location and/or bring it to a certain location where they are then handed a set of keys to the house. Of course, the keys to the house don’t work. The renter, then, is left with a set of phony keys and no deposit.

Call a real estate agent to verify any information.

My advice for avoiding this is simple: when you see a ‘For Sale’ sign advertising something that is for rent, make sure you call the real estate agent to verify its information.

If you have any questions about buying or selling, just give me a call or shoot me an email. I’ll be glad to answer them for you.