Sellers & Realtors Beware
As if home sellers didn’t have enough to worry about, now they have to beware of one more thing: scam artists who post their home as a rental on Craigslist.
A couple who was trying to sell their Massachusetts home had a few would-be tenants show up at their front door saying they saw their home listed for rent on Craigslist.
Someone had taken the for-sale listing from the couple’s Realtor’s Web site and pasted it into a Craigslist ad requesting that interested tenants send $950 to rent the house and that the keys would be mailed to them.
The homeowners were interviewed on the evening news this week and when asked what should be done to fraudster, the husband said, “His typing fingers should be cut off.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t a new scam. The National Association of Realtors warned its members about such scams back in March. The trade association said listing information and photos were being copied from Realtor.com and used to trick prospective renters.