We all know how greatly the internet has improved the real estate business. I couldn’t imagine being a real estate agent before the use of modern technology. Unfortunately, along with these advances comes the opportunity for a con artist to take advantage of an unsuspecting victim.
I’ve only heard on these types of scams, but luckily I’ve never encountered one; until the other day. I received an online lead through my website. A potential buyer was requesting information on a house in Riverdale, NY. At first, I was rather excited when I discovered that this was a $1.3 million property. I called this gentleman up and it turned out he was interested in renting the house. That was disappointing. Typically, I don’t do rentals. In almost all cases I explain to the renter that rentals are not an area I cover and that they would get much better service from one of our other agents in the office. But this gentleman was extremely pleasant so I decided to look up the property to see if I can help him. Well, I searched the MLS several times and couldn’t find a rental listing for this property anywhere. I called the man back and asked for more details. He said that it was advertised for $1,500 on Trulia.com. This raised a MAJOR red flag. Remember, we’re talking about a 4,000 square foot mansion in Riverdale, NY that is listed at $1.3 million. This house wouldn’t rent for less than $5,000 per month. He admitted that it didn’t sound right, but figured he would look into it. He told me he talked to a guy that said he was the listing agent. That didn’t check out as the listing agent was a woman. He said that this man asked him to FedEx the first month’s rent of $1,500 to him and then he would mail back the key. At this point it was clear that this was a scam. I tried to call the man to confront him; it was an Alabama phone number. Of course, I got his voicemail. I advised the gentleman to file a complaint. I’m sure that won’t accomplish much but I figured it was at least worth an attempt to try to protect others from the same scam.
Please believe me that I’m not trying to use this event as a reason to promote my business. That would be tacky and unprofessional. However, this is one of the many reasons you should seek professional representation when selling, or searching, for a new home.
This 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house sits on .33 acres and is 1400 square feet. However, that square footage doesn’t include a full finished basement. The backyard is huge and leads to a beautiful brook. The property also comes with lake rights, playground, beach and access to the clubhouse. The community is known as Continental Village. This is part of the Lakeland Central School District.
