Daisy, Caramel's Blog

Another Craigslist scam...

Daisy, Caramel Sue (MOOVEST.com) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:17:11 -0500

http://www.kolnkgin.com/home/headlines/19799179.html (link to story)

Another Craigslist scam has hit the Capital City, this time preying on renters.

A few weeks ago, a home in the Highlands area was seen on the free classifieds website, offering a great rental deal for families looking for a new home.

Imagine searching for a new home to rent, and finding that three-bedroom, two-stall garage, split-level dream for a mere $700 a month.

That's exactly what happened to several Capital City residents, who thought this home in the Highlands was up for rent; finding out they were almost scammed.

"People were knocking on our doors. People were driving by pointing at the house," said Jeff Yarpe, a current tenant.

Yarpe is one of the current tenants of the home. He said in the past few weeks he's seen numerous people interested, but didn't even know it was up for rent.

"I called my landlord today, and found out it was some Craigslist scam," said Yarpe.

The ad for the home was copied directly from another Web site. Word for word, it described the house on the corner. The only difference was the price.

Kelly Cook, the actual landlord said the home rents for $1,050, not the $700 listed on Craigslist.

He said seeing his property involved in a scam makes him frustrated.

"Something that's yours, that's a personal thing like that, you should be able to control solely. When someone else is controlling that asset for you, without your permission, it just infuriates you, and makes you feel helpless at the same time," said Cook.

After making initial email contact with the alleged owner, one possible renter was told to send $600 to the United Kingdom in exchange for keys.

By the third e-mail, the english had become broken and the grammar unorganized, leading interested renters to believe they could be on their way to being scammed.

Kelly Cook said incidents like this are unfortunate.

"I just feel bad for all the other people these scam artists are doing the same thing to. Apparently Craigslist is doing nothing about it," said Cook.

Kelly Cook reccomends renters use Web sites like www.moovest.com , where landlords pay to advertise their property.

He also said never send money to a stranger without receiving something like home keys first.

Inviting all agents - welcome to MOOVEST.com

Daisy, Caramel Sue (MOOVEST.com) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:30:07 -0500

MOOVEST.com is a new real estate website designed to match investors and sellers of tenant occupied homes. MOOVEST.com also offers general and rental properties. Best of all, registration and listings are all free! Custom searches, free flyers, and becoming a preferred agent in your area, are a few of many benefits.

We're new and growing. This a chance to climb aboard and become part of what we hope will be a very successful marketing resource.

Free Real Estate Listings for 2008
Tenant-Occupied Real Estate
Rental Properties
Client / Agent Matching
Free Flyers
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Commercial Listings Coming Soon
Mortgage and Cashflow Calculators
MOOVAGENT - Become a Preferred Regional Agent
Featured Listings
Advertising Space Available

"MOOVEST.com - a strange name for a great site!"

Mooving Real Estate in a Down Market

Daisy, Caramel Sue (MOOVEST.com) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:19:42 -0500

"MOOVEST.com : A strange name...but a great site"

Scottsdale, AZ - July 11, 2008 As temperatures soar well over the 100 degree mark, a small group of real estate professionals are counting on their new company to do the same.

When considering real estate, bovine (more commonly known as cattle), don't usually spring to mind, yet those are the mascots of MOOVEST.com. "We wanted something both unusual and memorable," says Dave Segrove, Vice President of Marketing for MOOVEST.com. "Using a plain old name, with a plain old design didn't allow us to stand out from an already crowded field. Though we're dealing with a serious subject, we wanted a visit to our site to be a memorable one; something a little different than people are used to."

As one of their catch-phrases states "strange name...but a great site", MOOVEST.com certainly is different. Yet the site offers a valuable (and free) service to anyone with real estate needs. "Our niche is the tenant occupied real estate market," explains Kelly Cook, CEO of MOOVEST.com. "There are very few resources out there for people who simply want to buy a property that already has a tenant in it. It's a great investment and we're there to help."

Understanding that a niche site is a two-edged sword, Cook goes on to explain "in order to provide a full range of solutions for our clients, MOOVEST.com supports general real estate, rental properties and commercial listings. So anyone who becomes a MOOVEST customer doesn't need to ask themselves whether their property meets all the criteria to be listed on the site."

To simplify matters, MOOVEST.com allows users to move their listings from one site category to another. "Let's say you have a rental property that is currently vacant," explains Segrove. "It should be listed in the general real estate section of the site. But when you lease it out, then it's a tenant-occupied real estate listing. We knew that people were not going to want to go back and forth, entering and re-entering properties, so we allow our customers to move properties between categories with one click."

One of the most attractive features of the site is that it's free. "As we grow our database of listings, we may begin charging a small fee to sellers," says Rosi Khazoom, Vice President of Sales, "but we're trying to provide as much for free as possible. The site even has a free flyer option so that agents and clients can print a listing in a format that is ready to circulate."

Real estate professionals can also sign up to be part of the "MOOVAGENT" service, which connects potential buyers with a real estate agent in the area they're searching in. "We know we won't have properties everywhere that someone might be interested in," Khazoom explains, "so we offer our visitors an option to connect with an agent who can find exactly what they're looking for."

Still in its infancy, MOOVEST.com has the right features and the enthusiastic support of a dedicated team. "We're inviting everyone, whether an agent or for sale by owner to check out the site and list their property. It's free and it's easy." Concludes Cook. "People need all the help they can get, and we're here for them."

The MOOVEST.com team might be on to something and, unlike many other sites, theirs is genuinely an interesting one to visit.

For more information, or to schedule an interview, please contact info@moovest.com, Tel : 800-276-5320.

MOOVEST.com PO BOX 28512 Scottsdale, Arizona 85255 USA www.Moovest.com