Avoid being swindled in a Real Estate transaction

Real Estate fraud is a crime that consists of deceiving a person who is interested in buying, renting or selling a property so that you invest your money in deceptive offers or make deposits without any type of guarantees. It lends itself to identity theft, money theft, and does a lot of damage.

We will tell you everything you need to know so that you do not fall into the hands of these criminals. The first rule that you should keep in mind when buying or renting a property is summarized as follows: if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t, so be careful. Like any industry, the real estate industry attracts a large number of scammers who seek to deceive potential buyers and tenants. Luckily there are ways to protect yourself against these Real Estate scams.

To help you identify these scams, here we will give you a summary of the most common scams in the real estate sector:

1. Fake Listings: These scams take advantage of online marketplaces by copying a real listing for a property and posting it on another website , pretending to be an agent or owner of the property. These scammers often try to ask you for bail money or some other type of advance payment, they may ask you to transfer or deposit money while the contract is being drafted. Some pretend to be the owners of the property and the stories they use seem very real, such as “I want to sell on my own, or rent my property on my own and thus avoid the expense of a realtor, I am moving to the US and I urgently need to sell or rent my property”.

We must be very careful, because the stories certainly look very real. Hundreds of people have fallen for this fraud, in Puerto Rico and yes, the reality is that they continue to fall unfortunately.

1. Internet scams: Someone contacts you from abroad and asks you about a property you have advertised, usually by email. In the process they ask for your personal and bank details, which they will later use to steal your identity and leave your account at 0.
2. Unreal Property Sales: Some criminals pose as Real Estate Agents and owners of the alleged property they are selling. They show you the property from the outside, you usually see it in the sales of plots, which they are selling because they are going to build a new urbanization so that you can separate your plot and so they ask you for a deposit to reserve, they make you sign a contract to make it look like a real transaction, in the end they disappear with your money and locating them is almost impossible.
3. Rental scams: They are more common than we think and can be hard to spot. When you are looking for your new property, a house or an apartment to rent, watch out for the following red flags to avoid future rental scams, one of them is that the price is very low compared to the market, the market ask for $1000 and they ask you for $400, supposedly it is because the owner is the one who is renting, the phones are mostly from the US or abroad and they ask you for an advance without showing you the property beforehand.
4. Public nuisance property fraud: Criminals pose as real estate brokers offering these public nuisance properties, fill out contracts and ask you to a deposit, but this sale is not real. Unfortunately, there are numerous ways in which criminals can defraud you. However, there are some signs that you should take into account to alert yourself to a possible Real Estate scam, we will talk about the following:
5. These scammers ask you for down payments before visiting the property or signing any agreements.
   

1. The Real Estate company or broker appears to be very recent or of dubious provenance.
2. The cost of the property may be well below market value.
3. The ads do not present photos of the interior and exterior of the property, be careful on some occasions they do.
4. The information published about the property tends to be very vague and confusing.
5. The seller insists that it is not necessary to sign a purchase-sale contract.
6. The real estate agency has no offices or they are very difficult to locate.
7. They require you to make quick buying decisions.
8. You find it very difficult to communicate with the seller.
9. The property information does not match what the seller describes.

If you have the experience of working with a trusted broker, do not hesitate to go to this person, whenever you want carry out any procedure, be it buying, selling or renting a property. In this way you will avoid falling into the temptation of looking at offers that are flashy or that are very doubtful, generating any type of suspicion. This person will help you see things in a better way or from another point of view and verify if it is real or not.

How can we avoid being a victim of real estate fraud?

The best advice to give you is that it will not always be easy to spot real estate fraud, especially since these scammers sometimes follow different behavior patterns. However, it is possible to stay safe if you take into consideration some of these measures and precautions that we will let you know about:

1. Research the real estate company that is offering you that property, check the contact information, the testimonials of clients who have worked with them , its website, website, social networks and confirms that the company is legitimate and reliable.
2. Request information from the seller, if you are going to buy directly with the owner of the property, request the title of the property, a copy of the deeds of buy-sell before proceeding with any negotiation.
3. Visit the property: Make sure the property meets what is being offered in the ad.
4. Neighbor Interview: Ask the people who live next door about the owner of this property or the broker who is listing the property . It is important to verify that it is a real owner, this information will help you determine if it is a trustworthy person.
5. Don’t hand over personal documents without being sure: Many scammers demand that you give them your personal information, without guarantee, so avoid giving out personal information before to start the process of that purchase-sale.
6. Avoid making transactions without guarantees: Under no circumstances make deposits if there is no contract that is legally valid to ensure that your money reaches trustworthy hands and transparently.
7. Do not give in to pressure: If you feel that they are pushing you too hard to make a payment or try to convince you that another person is interested in the property and that you must move quickly, it is definitely not safe and do not act under any type of pressure, it is best to look for another option to buy.
8. Don’t chase the seller: The person who is genuinely interested in selling or renting the property to you should maintain an open line of contact with you. If you find it very difficult to contact the seller, especially by phone it can be a red flag for a possible scam.
9. Avoid any Real Estate fraud by acquiring a new home through a reliable company: The importance of a trusted Real Estate broker, performs a previous research, choose a broker that represents you, whether selling your property having great relevance, because selling a property the Real Estate broker will prevent you from falling into the hands of these scammers, since they will become that barrier when you decide buy or rent a property. The broker is your eyes in this type of transaction, he is the person who will be in charge of investigating and ensuring that everything is fine. 

The world of Real Estate is very small, we all know each other, we protect each other in order to protect our clients, that It is the basis that they are part of the good for this great industry, that figure of the Real Estate broker is extremely important in a real estate transaction.