It always makes me so mad when people take advantage of other people and rip them off. I get so angry that it makes my skin boil when I find out that someone has done something so wrong to someone. The rental industry has really risen due to many things happening in our economy. So, once again, the vultures will always be out there looking to make easy money off some unsuspecting person. And, this may be all the money they have for a while...they have been saving up for first month's rent, last month's rent and a deposit. In some cases, this could be a substantial amount of money...easy money for those out there trying to make money by basically STEALING from some non-suspecting renter. UGH!!! I get so mad at these types of people.
Here are some scenarios I have seen and I am sure there are more, but please beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing. Just keep some of these in mind when you are out there looking for a rental.
1-If the rental seems TOO GOOD to be TRUE...it probably is. This means if the rental rate is below normal for the neighborhood...BEWARE! You may see a 3 bedroom home in Rancho Cucamonga renting for $1000 and if you go some of the rental sites, you may see it should really be renting for $2,500 a month...be careful! You can go to rentbits.com to check out what the average rental prices are for homes in your area.
2. You may get an email if you applied for a Craigslist rental. Be careful if it has misspellings, too many words capitalized, does it start out with Dear Madam or Sir? Is there anything in the email that references the UK, cashier's check, Nigeria, God, Reverend, Pastor, etc? Is the email from an email provider that is FREE such as yahoo, AOL, hotmail, gmail etc? If the email you received has many of these items, it could be a scam.
3. Another scam is on a free classifieds site and the rental price is LOW again. Scammer tells renter that he is out of the country on business and asks the prospective renter to wire him money to HOLD the house for them. And bingo...the money is gone, and no house is really available to rent.
4. One more scam I have heard of is the scammer will say they own a house and they don't. They tell the prospective renter they will take a deposit to hold it for them until they can get a key to get inside as they lost their only key. And, wooolaaaaa the deposit is never to be seen again. Nor is the house or the scammer.
5. Be leary of ads on Craigslist. I am not saying they all are bad, many are legit, however, please be careful. I recently heard of a lady who advertised her house on Craigslist, took deposits for several tenants and then held off their move in days for various reasons and they never saw their money again.
Please use your heads and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Also, if the prospective land lord does not call you back and only wants to communicate via email...be careful. Don't pay with a money order or CASHIER'S Check. Make sure you walk through the home with the property manager or owner as well. Verify that they really do own the property...you can check with the County Recorder or local realtor.
Please spend your money wisely and if you have doubts or something makes you feel that uneasy feeling-you should walk away.
If I can help you find a home in the Inland Empire, please let me know. Buying and selling homes is my speciality!
Joan Patterson, B.A., G.R.I., Realtor, License #01431647
Keller Williams Realty
http://inlandempirerealestate.kwrealty.com
951-204-1864
No comments:
Post a Comment