This is a great article because it will help you how NOT to be a victim or allow yourself to be taken advantage of by unscrupulous people. For those who don’t want to go through the slide show, here is the recap below:
- Fake real estate agents . . . this was big during the mortgage real estate meltdown and unfortunately still exists today. If you need to check out if someone truly is a real estate agent, call me and/or look them up on the Dept. of Real Estate website.
- Fake real estate showings . . . people pretending to be a real estate agent is one-way thieves are getting your personal information. Be sure you always work with someone you know or someone that has been recommended to you. Always try and meet agents in their office so you can check the surroundings.
- Closing day email hacks. Again work with a company that has protections in place that will protect you.
- Rentals that are too good to be true. If ever you know of someone who is looking to rent, call me as I can check out the ownership of the property.
- Foreclosed home rental scam . . . this was prevalent during the mortgage meltdown. Since there were so many foreclosures and empty homes, random people and sometimes unscrupulous real estate agents would pretend they were renting the home scamming so many out of thousands of dollars. As foreclosures start to rise again, we will start to see this type of activity again.
- Discount scams . . . remember cheap things always end up costing more. I am always amazed when a seller or buyer go with a discount real estate agent and then end up having so many issues, losing money or worse getting sued because the agent didn’t do the job correctly. Remember you get what you pay for sometimes trying to save a few thousand dollars ends up costing you 100’s of thousands of dollars.
- Quick fix-flip. If you buy a home that was a flip, please do your inspections. Most times these flips are repaired by handymen and not professionals and while it looks beautiful like a shining apple, it's rotten on the inside and usually without the necessary permits.
- International wire fraud scams. When sending money abroad, be sure it's done through your bank in person and pay whatever fee is charged because you don’t want your accounts wiped out.
- Title fraud. While seniors are usually the victims of this scam, it can happen to anyone. One of the easiest ways to avoid title fraud is by having your home and investments in a trust. I’ll be holding another trust meeting come April, look out for the emails and texts.
- Foreclosure fraud. This was a big one during the mortgage meltdown. I cannot tell you how many people left their homes before they actually had to because some unscrupulous person and real estate agent told them they had to move out when in fact the owner could have lived in their property for many more months.
- The “We Buy Houses” rip-off is a big one. This is like #6 and #7 above BUT with this one sellers ALWAYS leave money on the table. I can tell you story after story where sellers allowed themselves to get caught up with one of these companies only to later realize they could’ve made thousands of dollars and even sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars more than what they ended up selling for.
The most interesting thing about 6, 7, and 11 is that these real estate agents entice you with "no commission" and yet when they turn around to sell the property they bought from you at a steep discounted price, they use a real estate agent to sell it and pays a commission because they know the best way for them to get top dollar is by selling their property through an agent.
Whether some or none of these apply, please be sure to always do your research, talk to an expert, and use people who have your best interest in mind, not theirs. Call me if you have any questions.
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Source: MSN |