RENTAL SCAMS....BE AWARE!

Beware of renting an apartment that's not for rent

Published 11:10 p.m., Wednesday, July 27, 2011

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Here's a scam that local police tell us is all too common, and it's been a good deal more common since websites like Craigslist appeared on the scene.

It's the apartment rental scam, and it goes like this: You're looking for an apartment in, say Fairfield, so you log onto New York Craigslist>Fairfield>Housing>apts by owner. You see just the perfect place, complete with pictures and dozens of amenities -- pool, spa, Jacuzzi, mood fountain, the works.

So you email the landlord. When the "landlord" replies, he tells you that he's out of the country "on business" and there are five other people "just dying" to get the place, but you can nail it down by wiring him $2,500.

So, you give him a call, naturally, and he still sounds pretty convincing. You drive by the place to check it out, and it seems on the up and up.

So, you wire the "landlord" the $2,500 and you call him for a meeting so you can get the key.

When the day and time arrives to meet him, he's nowhere to be found. You call him on his cellphone. Disconnected.

You knock on the door and, to your surprise, someone is living there with no intention of moving out anytime soon. And, the occupant tells you the name of the real landlord, which is different than the guy you're dealing with.

You're out $2,500, and there's nothing anyone can do to get your money back.

"We get these complaints all the time," said Sgt. Sue Lussier of the Fairfield Police Department. "First of all, never complete a transaction like that without meeting the landlord in person."

She said it's also a good idea to check websites like www.visionappraisal.com to see if your "landlord" really does, in fact, own the place. It's also an excellent idea to rent through a real estate broker.

As for the five other people "just dying" to rent the place, she warns: "Actually, if you check, there are dozens and dozens of apartments for rent in Fairfield alone, so don't feel under pressure to wire anyone money," she said.

"Also, in the first place, you should never be wiring anyone any money," Lussier said. "Once you do that, the money is theirs, and there's nothing we can do about it. A lot of times they'll tell you that they're in Africa doing missionary work."

To make matters worse, the scammer will tell you, "Look, I just want to make sure you have $2,500 so I know you're not wasting my time. So wire any of your friends the money using MailGram, and email me a scan of the receipt."

But the way MoneyGram works, once he has a copy of the receipt, he can intercept the cash at any MoneyGram outlet in the world, and you're out the $2,500.

In many instances, scammers will simply pirate information off a legitimate Craigslist ad, as well as the pictures, and just substitute their own contact information. Also, beware of spelling and grammatical mistakes, which could be a tip off that you're dealing with an overseas operation.

Unfortunately, people looking for an apartment are often from out-of-town, so they're more vulnerable to the apartment scam.

We'd like to add that renting from a classified ad in the newspaper is always a much safer bet, because the person placing the ad with us (or another paper) is leaving a paper trail (a canceled check or credit card record) that makes it easier for law enforcement to track down the suspect.

We learned about this after getting in touch with a scam victim who found out she was had after wiring money to secure an apartment in Fairfield. When she went to collect the key, the guy she wired the money to was nowhere to be found, and there was someone living in what was supposed to be her new pad.

"If they say they're out of the country, it's always a scam," Lussier said. "We get these complaints all the time. And there's not much we can do for the victims."

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Beware-of-renting-an-apartment-that-s-not-for-rent-1619104.php#ixzz1TSCX1UxM

Who To List With??

7 qualities of a top listing agent

REThink Real Estate
By Tara-Nicholle Nelson
Inman News™

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Q: I'm preparing to list my home, and am starting to research listing agents to represent me. Besides being comfortable with my broker, what is the most important quality I need from them: negotiating skills or marketing skills? Both are very important to me. Frankly, I'm afraid of being "roughed up" by aggressive buyers in this market. --Michelle
A: You're spot on, Michelle. Both marketing and negotiating will be uber-important to have in the broker or agent you choose to list your home and get it sold.
Some might see marketing as the most important because, to put it plainly, if your home is not exposed widely and aggressively to prospective buyers, you'll never have the buyer viewings and offer(s) that must come in for you to even be faced with the high-class problem of negotiating the price and terms of a sale.
However, I don't see marketing skills as the requirement so much as your listing agent having a clear, comprehensive marketing plan that she is able to present to you with case studies or specimens of marketing she's done for recent properties somewhat similar to yours. It's critical that an agent's marketing plan for your home include details such as:

• how she would help you prepare or stage your property for sale;
• what her plans are for listing the property on the local multiple listing service(s) and publicizing it to other brokers;
• what onsite marketing she would recommend (i.e., yard signage and/or open houses); and
• how and where she would place your home's listing online, down to which sites she'd list it on and how many pictures she would include.

All essential.
But negotiating is essential too -- especially if you're very concerned about being bullied or taken advantage of.
Ultimately, though, when it comes to negotiations, you're going to be faced with making the ultimate decisions about what your bottom-line price and other terms are, including whether you're able to offer incentives like closing-cost credits or whether you can afford to contribute to any repairs the buyer's inspectors require.
What I suspect you want is to feel like you're protected, which will come from having an agent you trust who's "got your back," but also has the experience and knowledge of local standard negotiating practices and buyer psychology that comes only with experience -- and I mean recent experience getting homes sold in today's market climate.
I cannot emphasize enough that one efficient method of finding such a listing agent is to get referrals! Look to any family members, friends, work colleagues and neighbors whose homes are on the market now and ask them if they would strongly recommend their agent, and why.
If it's tough to get referrals, go into the various online real estate websites and their local discussion boards, and see which local agents are giving sensible, knowledgeable answers to consumers' questions in those forums. During your interview process, ask for references -- and call them! Speak to their recent past seller clients, to see how happy they were with the agents' service.
And I'd suggest you look for several other items beyond marketing and negotiating skills, or even trustworthiness and experience.
If I were listing my home one of my top priorities would be to find an agent who seems to have nailed the art and science of pricing their listings -- I'd want to find an agent whose listings regularly sold quickly, relative to other homes in the area, and for sales prices that were at, near or even above the asking prices.
That's an agent whose pricing recommendations you can trust, and an agent who likely has another strong skill you need: the skill of being able to have frank, tough conversations with their clients about what their homes are worth, and can support those list-price recommendations with facts and sound reasoning.
I'd also prioritize an agent with strong relationships: with their past clients; with mortgage professionals; with other agents in the area; with property preparation vendors (like stagers, painters, handymen/women, landscapers and such); with inspectors, engineers and contractors; and with local escrow companies.
And, if I were listing my home as a short sale, I would absolutely limit my listing agent search to agents who have a strong, proven track record of getting short sales closed -- ideally short sales that involved the same bank or banks as my mortgage lender.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of questions to ask and traits to seek in your listing agent candidates, but these are certainly where my top priorities would lie.