Make Sure You Research Your Future Landlord!
I want to alert you all to a couple of situations that have occured lately on the North Shore. Both cases were a direct result of Craigslist advertising. As a Realtor, I find Craigslist to be a very good way to advertise my clients properties. It is unfortunate that it has become a breeding ground for scam artist of all levels.
The first case has been very well exposed by the local media. A man that was evicted from an apartment in Beverly decided to advertise the unit himself on craigslist and used his spare key to show prospective buyers the property. He took first, last and security deposit from multiple applicants and has yet to be found. RENTER BEWARE!
Next we have a more sophisticated scam where the predator takes a home that is listed "for sale" and puts them up as "for rent". As you may imagine the monthly fee is at a "too good to be true" price. They go as far as to set up an e-mail account that matches the names on the deed (public record) to respond to. One claimed that they were the owners and were called overseas for an extended amount of time. They welcome people to view the property from the outside but, they were not using the sales agent as a rental agent and they could not be there to show the inside. Of course this is sent with a rental application attached, "just in case".
Make sure that you are dealing with the owner of record before handing over any money or finacial information.
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