Investors: Prevent Scammers from Skimming Your Rents
One of the fastest growing foreclosure related scams affecting real estate investors today is unscrupulous individuals targeting vacant properties and leasing them out right underneath the real owners’ noses. Often these criminals will change locks, impersonate owners or real estate agents and take thousands of dollars from tenants, only to run away with the money and steal their identities, leaving real estate investors facing a big bill and months of headaches trying to evict these renters. It’s bad for the industry and even the giant Freddie Mac has been hit hard by these foreclosure predators. So how can real estate investors protect themselves and their investments? Keeping your properties secure is obviously an essential first step. However, instead of just keeping the grass cut and blinds closed so they don’t look empty and using lockboxes for access consider timers for lights, installing keyless locks and make sure properties are monitored and if possible alarmed. The identity of every caller on ads and those who want to view the property whether directly through real estate investors or via real estate agents should be verified. Caller IDs can be tracked and recorded by using toll free numbers for inbound calls and driving licenses should be requested in person. As many of these scams are now being run using online advertising and Craigslist it can make a lot of sense to set up Google Alerts for specific property addresses you are dealing with or even general rentals in your area. Make sure you aren’t getting stuck with one of these tenants from the get go to by always, always completing walk-throughs on the day of closing and ensuring you have estoppel letters from any lawful tenant occupants.
Crooks are out to steal your rents and jeopardize your deals. Are you prepared?