June 1, 2023 • 5 mins
Joe found a great article (which you can get HERE) talking about how to spot and avoid a rental scam. Several listeners chimed in with the fact that they had been scammed as well!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I understand having brought up the fact that two
of my three chillens who happened to be looking to relocate,
have gotten hit with rental scams recently. Both of them
actually appealed to me. They said, Dad, what do you
think about this?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah, and we got a couple of tecks saying, hey,
me too, and somebody who said my niece got taken
for eight hundred dollars last week. So how do these
things work?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
They're absolutely freaking rampant right now. So I came across
a great article how can you tell if a rental
property listing is a scam? I thought it was good.
I sent it to all my kids. Here are the signs.
Number one, they don't want to meet you in person
never a good sign. Even if you're not able to
meet in person, you should always be able to request
a real time video walk through of the rentals so
you know the property exists, and a good landlord, I
(00:44):
want to meet you either digitally or in person anyway,
And I have a feeling this whole digital stuff is
like COVID really meet in person?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Okay, So I'm not sure I'm following this. So so, yeah,
where do people even look for rentals world. I would
have looked in the classified it's been that's been that
long since. But yeah, and then you find a place
that says for rent a two bedroom, one bath, nice location,
right corner of fourth and D. And then you exactly
(01:13):
call the number and say, hey, I would look to
look at it, and they say we want.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
They say, essentially, well, hey, it's super in demand, we
realize the rates, the rent's great. You got to get
us a security deposit right now, and then were going
to make an appointment to look through it to make
sure you want it. But it's going to be snatched
up in the next you know.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Whatever, which is true with actual apartments, so I can
see how that would work.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, And on the flip side, scammers typically don't want
to meet you since they don't want you to be
able to report them or what they look like or
get a picture or anything like that. So if the scam,
if somebody says, yeah, be happy to rent it to you,
no need for us to get together, just forget it.
I mean, that's such a red flag. Here's another one.
They want you to move in immediately without ever seeing
the property again. Hurry up, hurry up, it's easy for
(01:59):
someone to say they have property fake and online listing,
so it's best to see the property in person. I'd
say it's absolutely required make sure the place is available.
In most rental scams, the individual advertising the property doesn't
actually have any way to access the inside of the property.
If a landlord instructs you to inspect the property by
walking around the outside at your convenience, this is almost
certainly a scam.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Wow, so you're walking around somebody else's place. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah. If you're in the unfortunate position of needing a
place immediately, be extra careful. Properties that are available right
away can be scams or the sign of a disorganized landlord.
At pest A number three, they ask for rent or
a security deposit before signing a lease, a parent sign
that the apartment you're looking at as a scam is
if they do that, repeating the headline. As a potential runner,
(02:46):
you should never be asked to give a large sum
of money before seeing and having all parties sign a lease.
Application fees, which are used to cover the cost of
background checks, are an acceptable fee to pay before signing
a lease. First months rent or security deposit, however, is
and the application fee should be very minor, never mail
or wire money if you haven't signed the lease.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So I suppose this only works when you've got a
market as hot as this one is, where houses sell
and places rent so fast that because I've been looking
around at houses kind of casually because I would like
to buy a house, they go so fast. Right, your
first concern is will it still be there by tomorrow?
(03:27):
If I wait till tomorrow to look at it.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Here's how they bait the hook, and this is a
point number four to look out for. The price is
too good if you see, oh my god, this place
is great and it is so affordable.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Sorry.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Red flag properties like this can be a bait and
switch situation, where the owners using a low rent price
to lure in potential runners before suddenly taking the listing
off the market and replacing it with a similar, more
costly unit. The incentive to act fast before it's gone
can cause renders to sign a lease quickly despite the
change in price. Let's see the listing has typos, poor grammar,
(04:01):
or excessive punctuation, or beware of rental listings that are
full of errors.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, and too many serious landlords?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, I mean yeah, serious landlords or property managers will
take the time to write a decent listing and proofread
it too. Number six, there's no tenant screening process. Oh no,
you'll do. You sound like an ice personal rent to.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You man, You have some scale leverage as a renter
right now, I've come to learn because they'd love it
if I left the place I'm in right now, because
they'd rent it out for several hundred dollars more. Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So if landlord does not require rental application and credit check,
you should consider this a red flag. Landlord is either
unconcerned about picking a good tenant because it's a scam,
or unconcerned because they're inexperienced. Either way, be suspicious. And
seven they want you to sign an incomplete lease. That's
another sign of a scam. One reason why every renter
needs to read through the new lease to see if
it's complete or not, Otherwise they'll fill in the blanks
(04:58):
with all sorts of crap you can't accept. So we'll
post this article for you at Armstrong Andngetti dot com
under hot links. It has ways to avoid rental scams.
What to do if you're a victim of a rental scam,
and various other hints. And it's very very good. Like
I said, I sent it to all my kids.
So I understand having brought up the fact that two
of my three chillens who happened to be looking to relocate,
have gotten hit with rental scams recently. Both of them
actually appealed to me. They said, Dad, what do you
think about this?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah, and we got a couple of tecks saying, hey,
me too, and somebody who said my niece got taken
for eight hundred dollars last week. So how do these
things work?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
They're absolutely freaking rampant right now. So I came across
a great article how can you tell if a rental
property listing is a scam? I thought it was good.
I sent it to all my kids. Here are the signs.
Number one, they don't want to meet you in person
never a good sign. Even if you're not able to
meet in person, you should always be able to request
a real time video walk through of the rentals so
you know the property exists, and a good landlord, I
(00:44):
want to meet you either digitally or in person anyway,
And I have a feeling this whole digital stuff is
like COVID really meet in person?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Okay, So I'm not sure I'm following this. So so, yeah,
where do people even look for rentals world. I would
have looked in the classified it's been that's been that
long since. But yeah, and then you find a place
that says for rent a two bedroom, one bath, nice location,
right corner of fourth and D. And then you exactly
(01:13):
call the number and say, hey, I would look to
look at it, and they say we want.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
They say, essentially, well, hey, it's super in demand, we
realize the rates, the rent's great. You got to get
us a security deposit right now, and then were going
to make an appointment to look through it to make
sure you want it. But it's going to be snatched
up in the next you know.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Whatever, which is true with actual apartments, so I can
see how that would work.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, And on the flip side, scammers typically don't want
to meet you since they don't want you to be
able to report them or what they look like or
get a picture or anything like that. So if the scam,
if somebody says, yeah, be happy to rent it to you,
no need for us to get together, just forget it.
I mean, that's such a red flag. Here's another one.
They want you to move in immediately without ever seeing
the property again. Hurry up, hurry up, it's easy for
(01:59):
someone to say they have property fake and online listing,
so it's best to see the property in person. I'd
say it's absolutely required make sure the place is available.
In most rental scams, the individual advertising the property doesn't
actually have any way to access the inside of the property.
If a landlord instructs you to inspect the property by
walking around the outside at your convenience, this is almost
certainly a scam.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Wow, so you're walking around somebody else's place. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah. If you're in the unfortunate position of needing a
place immediately, be extra careful. Properties that are available right
away can be scams or the sign of a disorganized landlord.
At pest A number three, they ask for rent or
a security deposit before signing a lease, a parent sign
that the apartment you're looking at as a scam is
if they do that, repeating the headline. As a potential runner,
(02:46):
you should never be asked to give a large sum
of money before seeing and having all parties sign a lease.
Application fees, which are used to cover the cost of
background checks, are an acceptable fee to pay before signing
a lease. First months rent or security deposit, however, is
and the application fee should be very minor, never mail
or wire money if you haven't signed the lease.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So I suppose this only works when you've got a
market as hot as this one is, where houses sell
and places rent so fast that because I've been looking
around at houses kind of casually because I would like
to buy a house, they go so fast. Right, your
first concern is will it still be there by tomorrow?
(03:27):
If I wait till tomorrow to look at it.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Here's how they bait the hook, and this is a
point number four to look out for. The price is
too good if you see, oh my god, this place
is great and it is so affordable.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Sorry.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Red flag properties like this can be a bait and
switch situation, where the owners using a low rent price
to lure in potential runners before suddenly taking the listing
off the market and replacing it with a similar, more
costly unit. The incentive to act fast before it's gone
can cause renders to sign a lease quickly despite the
change in price. Let's see the listing has typos, poor grammar,
(04:01):
or excessive punctuation, or beware of rental listings that are
full of errors.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, and too many serious landlords?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, I mean yeah, serious landlords or property managers will
take the time to write a decent listing and proofread
it too. Number six, there's no tenant screening process. Oh no,
you'll do. You sound like an ice personal rent to.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You man, You have some scale leverage as a renter
right now, I've come to learn because they'd love it
if I left the place I'm in right now, because
they'd rent it out for several hundred dollars more. Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So if landlord does not require rental application and credit check,
you should consider this a red flag. Landlord is either
unconcerned about picking a good tenant because it's a scam,
or unconcerned because they're inexperienced. Either way, be suspicious. And
seven they want you to sign an incomplete lease. That's
another sign of a scam. One reason why every renter
needs to read through the new lease to see if
it's complete or not, Otherwise they'll fill in the blanks
(04:58):
with all sorts of crap you can't accept. So we'll
post this article for you at Armstrong Andngetti dot com
under hot links. It has ways to avoid rental scams.
What to do if you're a victim of a rental scam,
and various other hints. And it's very very good. Like
I said, I sent it to all my kids.
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