As Dave runs both PickRent.com and RentVine.com he runs across email addresses of people that are trying to list homes for lease on his web sites that aren’t theirs to lease.  They aren’t agents for the owner either but instead scammers that hope to have people send them money and never legitimately lease you the property they have advertised. 

So far, I know of two of the properties I have had listed with my property management company, A Vantage Properties, have been “spoofed”.  Both times on Craigslist where they have “stolen” the wording and pictures I had.  Then when someone asked for more details, they sent interior pictures that did not match the style of the home.  Thank goodness, most times when I have a home listed for lease, I put a For Lease by A Vantage Properties sign out front or in the window as most people will drive by a home first.  Though there are some people that are moving to an area and are leasing “long” distance (sight unseen) so maybe the scammers are hoping that someone won’t notice until it is too late. 

So, if you are looking to lease a home, run the email address of the individual you are talking to through this new tool, http://www.pickrent.com/stuff/scammerdatabase.cfm  If you’ve emailed someone that you know is a scammer (you never see inside the home, they are going to mail you the keys from out of country, and other “red flags”), please forward that email address on to Dave by using the “contact us” link on the scammer database page.

Thanks again Dave for helping A Vantage Properties and other property managers, owners, and those looking for homes to lease with more tools to help stay safe from scammers.

Over the years, Dave and I have tossed ideas back and forth.  He’s asked me for opinions.  I’ve asked him for some.  He’s interviewed me when he was working on podcasts.  I’ve provided him with settings when he worked on creating videos for his web sites.  It’s been a good relationship for both of us.  Now I feel like I’ve taken advantage of him.

I’ve always been one that didn’t want to use a template site that looked like everyone elses.  So, I created my own for property management and added widgets and other tools to it over time.  I know enough about coding to be dangerous but not enough to make the site “all it could be.”  Dave came to me and asked if I would be interested in a template site that he would create and give away to property managers.  Since I had been spending a lot of time working on my web site when a new home was added or leased, and internet explorer changed again, I was ready for something new so I talked with Dave about his ideas. 

Dave worked on creating his template using my information as his subject matter.  We talked, he tweaked.  We talked some more, and he tweaked some more and then…. I had a new and improved property management web site for A Vantage Properties. 

Now my A Vantage Properties web site looks good no matter what web browser you use – YEAH!  To add or remove a property only takes a few minutes and a few clicks which is such a great time saver.  Dave even created “help” videos to walk people through on how to make changes to some of the different parts of the site.  I love being able to have rolling pictures in the header showcasing the homes I have available and / or leased.  I enjoy the ability to have a map showing where in the metro area the homes are that I have available. 

Thank you Dave Dugdale and Pick Rent for providing me with tools to stream line my day and web work.  It is greatly appreciated! 

So do you want to see what great widgets are available to you to use a property manager too?  Visit http://www.pickrent.com/widgets/tools.cfm so you can see what tools may be available for you.

Well yesterday I was catching up on some of my Inman News reading and read an article about someone, Sarah Stelmok, that had this happen to her but she followed through with conversting with the rental scammer.  This morning I visited her site and read the dialogue between her and the scammer.  It is very similar in syntax to the emails that have been forwarded to me in the past by others that have been almost “duped” by other scammers.  For that reason, I wanted to add a link to her web site so others could read the dialogue that occured over a period of 3 weeks.  It’s just another tool to look for when the price is too good to be true on a home for lease.

This first link is the beginning of Sarah’s conversation with “Mr. Richie” as she first inquired about the home.  http://sarahiouslyspeaking.com/2009/06/internet-real-estate-scam-update/ 

This second link is more details about how “Mr. Richie” was working to get Sarah to forward funds to him via Western Union, what the application looked like, and when she finally let him know that she was the one that owned the property.  http://sarahiouslyspeaking.com/2009/06/internet-real-estate-scam-update-2/

The one thing that people need to understand is that homeownership is a long term investment.  If you don’t have plans to be in the home, or own the home, longterm (5 years or less), then you may seriously want to consider leasing.  If you plan on living in or owning the home for 5 years or longer, then home ownership may be the thing for you to look into. 

Are you a spreadsheet person?  Jeff loves to create these types of items to help people see the pros and cons before making a big decision.  Part of the spreadsheets are cost analysis.  When doing a spreadsheet for renting vs. buying you need to take into consideration the appreciation for the area as well as many other different factors.  I know when Jeff and I purchased our home we purchased with an eye for reselling but with the plans that we would live here forever, the longterm.

So want to know more about what you need to think about renting vs. buying?  Visit Ilyce Glink’s article on this topic to learn more about what you should take into consideration when making this big decision.  Do not step into it lightly nor ever feel pressured.  What may be right for someone, may not be right for you and your family so always look at all factors to make the best decision you can with the information available.

I talked to Dave Dugdale about this as he’s the owner of the rental listing sites www.RentVine.com and www.PickRent.com.  Dave likes to do research on these types of items and blog or videocast on what he finds.  So, I provided Dave with the contact information for the scammer so he could see what they were doing so he could write about it.  He went even further by creating a Rental Scam Checking Tool so people could check to see if the property they have found is just a really great deal or “too good to be true.”

Dave has put together a videocast describing How to Unmask Rental Scammers.  In this video he has interviewed others who have first hand knowledge of scammers.  They discuss some of the ways these scams work, how far they have gone, and how they can harm innocent people.  You can also learn how to protect yourself by looking the address up in the county assessor’s records (verify the owner’s name) and doing a google search to see if the address is listed somewhere else but listed at a different price or by someone else.  Dave also put together a Rental Scam Detection Tool.

The Rental Scam Detection Tool asks a series of questions to help you determine if that home you found is just a great price or too good to be true.  By taking your answers to the questions, this tool will provide you with a percentage of the home you are interested in possibly being a scam.  At the end of the “check” you can specific addresses against a database of email addresses used by scammers.

Even though I wasn’t happy having one of the properties I work with used in a rental scam, I’m glad that it helped Dave in look at this in a way to help others.  Because I think it is a great tool, I’ve added it to the www.AVantageProperties.com web site as well as links to the county assessors in my area to provide people more tools to help them keep from becoming a victim of a Rental Scam.

So, the next time that you see something on Craigslist that may be too good to be true, it just may be.  Beware of the scammer.  Oh, and if you find a listing that is a scam, make sure that you flag it on Craigslist so they can do their research on it.