In the first article in this series we covered how to find out if the owner of the home you are about to rent was in foreclosure and some tricks to use to see if foreclosure might be coming soon, but was not yet filed. And the differences between humans and legal entities owning the rental property. One of the most disturbing things you may find today is the person who wants you to give them first last and security does not own the house they are trying to rent.
In fact some scammer has tried to pull this trick using one of my houses recently.
I listed a home for rent at $895 a month, went through the marketing effort outlined in the eBook 911 For Landlords, and had a number of calls from interested persons right away, but no one rented the house in the first few days and I was at the home on the fourth day when someone drove by and seeing a car parked in the drive way turned around and stopped.
After a brief look through the house they said they wanted it. Since they told me they had seen the advertisement on Craigslist, I assumed'"I know never assume-- they knew the price. I thought they were going to gag when they found out the house was 50 per cent more expensive than they thought. My first impression was they had the address confused and then I got a call from a lady on my VIP Alert List also wanting the house at $600 a month.
She had also seen the ad on craigslist and had gotten my email to the VIP Alert List and apparently figured we were having a HUGE sale on this really nice home with a fenced back yard big enough for road races.
"You're the second person to tell me the house is $600 a month," I said. "It is," she said. "I am looking at the ad right now."
At that point I pulled Craigslist up on the computer put in the parameters of the address and $600 a month and found an ad with a lot of the features I have in my ads and the email used as the address was my name with a number at one of the major email providers.
I called the police because there had been an arrest within the week of someone renting homes he did not own. The lady who called me answered the ad sending an email to the address in the ad. She forwarded tome and I forwarded to the police the response to her email.
It was a long rambling letter purportedly from a minister who was currently in Africa and needed to rent the house and would have someone arrange to pick up the rent.
How to protect yourself from renting a house like this?
First, the usual warning: Anything that looks too good to be true, usually is. While I am and do respect "bargain shoppers," most things that look too cheap are cheap for a reason.
I am not saying forget it if it looks to good to be true, but certainly check it out most carefully.
We have already covered how to determine who owns the house. Probably a quick check with the tax collector will tell you the owner's name. Check the nameof the owner and in this market today, I would ask the landlord to see his driver's license. The legitimate owner may be surprised, but if he owns the house, he is capable of proving it to your satisfaction.
If the story is strange, be careful. I am sure there are real ministers in Africa on a mission or in an adjacent town holding a revival that have houses to rent.
The name on the tax records should be the same as on the lease and the person offering you the lease to sell should also have identification as to his or her authority to act for the home owner in their absence.
As with any other con scheme, if you look savvy and you appear to be intent on checking everything out, it should drive off the con man looking to prey on you. If you have the slightest doubt tell them you want to "close" the contract in your attorney's office and if you have more doubt than that, look for another house.
