Watching the Atlanta local news and there was a story that caught my attention. But before I get to that… a little background: Recently, an agent told me that a home her company manages for rental showed up on Craigslist for rent at a really low price. Their own contract with the owner required them to ask much higher. She asked me if this could possibly be a scam.
This is a common scam on Craiglist and it is wide spread. We assumed that it had to do with luring unsuspecting tenants into wanting to rent this home but in my mind, which works off the premise that things work on the whole in rational ways, the ideal of this scam working was just really bizarre. I mean, who would hand over money for a rental home without seeing it? Apparently people do, otherwise this scam wouldn’t be out there…
Well, in Atlanta, they’ve just arrested a woman who had posted a home on Craigslist she didn’t own for rent and took deposits for this home from all the callers who were interested. The tenants showed up at the house thinking they were going to move in and found instead a bunch of other ‘suckers’ (for lack of a better word) standing around thinking they were moving in as well. As you can imagine, mayhem ensued.
So this scam works on the gullibility of people, their willingness to rent a home they have not even seen, and equally, their willingness to hand over money for such a property to complete strangers. I suppose it’s the ‘steal of a deal’ concept the scammers rely on. People respond to perceived ‘bargains’ in different ways. Old adages and clichés exist for a reason…
1) Trust but verify
2) Caveat Emptor
3) If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
And of course, #4: A fool and his money are soon parted
Craigslist has been under a lot of scrutiny lately regarding ‘other’ types of listings, but in their defense here for real estate, they actually do have a large link at the top of their Rental Page on ‘Avoiding Scams’ and it clearly tells you never to hand money over to someone you have not met, among other common sense things.
So my shameless plug for the real estate industry is this: Working through a real estate company gives you some protection. A licensed real estate broker working as a property manager has a slew of laws and guidelines under which he must operate, the least being honesty, fairness and the above board handling of money. They are also held to strict advertising guidelines. Working with a property manager, there is a better sense that you are not just handing over money to some random stranger who happens to have a key to the house. You know you are dealing with an agent of the owner and everything is on the ‘up and up.’
Of course, check out the Broker first and make sure he’s legit. How? Ask for his Brokerage ID and check it out at the Georgia Real Estate Commission’s site! Remember adage #1: Trust but Verify!
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