Dont respond: Ignore suspicious emails, letters, house visits, phone calls or SMS press delete. Now, I'm sure there have been other odd things happening in our vast Real Estate industry. These tips will help to protect yourself against scammers. But moving is such a hassle, and you just don’t have time to. You’ve found your ideal house, and you’re ready to go. The result, of course, was the arrest of the broker. 3: The moving company holds your items hostage. However, "The problem was they weren't his", says Michael Pollick in his story about this incident ("Real estate broker accused of stealing competitor signs"), and he writes that the broker had 37 of his competitors' signs in his trunk.
#Current real estate scams full#
In another strange case, and perhaps a sign of the fierce competition amongst Real Estate Agents, a broker in Florida was caught with a trunk full of Realtor signs. AG Harris also reminded the public that it is illegal to charge an up-front fee for mortgage modifications services in the state of California, and that this should raise a red flag if someone asks you for money upfront (Harris said these cases should be reported to the California Department of Justice). Harris, warns homeowners to be "skeptical of third party phone solicitations and do not give your personal financial information to a solicitor such as your bank account number, social security number or even the name of the bank that is servicing your mortgage", and that "only the financial institution servicing your mortgage can help you get mortgage relief available from the settlement agreement". If you receive calls from someone claiming that they can help you receive a piece of the $25 billion national mortgage settlement (between Government housing agencies and the nation’s top banks), you could be getting duped by "phone solicitations from scam artists who offer to get them assistance", writes Leslie Berkman in her article, "Attorney General warns of mortgage settlement scams".īerkman, in discussing the warning put forth by California Attorney General Kamala D. Hope all is well, and glad to have you with me.Īs we always like to do our fair share of Public Service, this installment serves as a Scam Advisory notice for the general home owning public, as well as a different kind of Scam involving Realtor-on-Realtor crime.