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Behind on your payments? Don’t fall victim to scams, ask a licensed professional for help!

By
Real Estate Agent with eXp Realty LLC 200311024

ConmanIf you are behind on your payments, you may be looking for any help you can find. But, don’t fall victim to scams, ask a licensed professional for help! You see, every day people are looking for new ways to scam home owners who are in trouble and today I heard of yet another and this one just makes me mad.

What these scammers do is wait for the notice of default list to come out and then approach the homeowners who are in trouble and promise them help getting out from under their mortgage without having to pay them a dime! They tell them, “If  you go to areal estate agent, they are going to charge you 6%-7%, who do you think pays that? It certainly won’t be the bank, you will in the form of a note.”(Of course, as we know this is a lie, but to a home owner who is trouble this sounds pretty convincing.)

They tell the home owner, “You will need to move out, the bank won’t want to do a short sale with someone who is still in the house, they are afraid you are going to stay after the sale.” Then they say, “We will approach the bank with a completely staged home that is sale ready and we will put one of our buyers in and the bank has to say yes because the buyer is already in the house. It is a win-win as our buyer is already in the house. This takes about a total of six months, but you won’t have to pay any more payments and your credit will be saved.”

Here is the problem…

Then this person puts a renter in the property for that six months, all the while the homeowner thinks the payments are being taken care of by the “NEW BUYER”. The scammer is collecting rents on a property that he doesn’t even own. Well, we all know what happens after six months. The property gets foreclosed on, the renters are out, the seller is out and scammers made a good $10,000 and are nowhere to be found because they used a fake name.

This is the call I got today from a lady who was crying on the phone because she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t realize it was ascam until the day after the auction, that is how good these people were. I told her to contact a lawyer and the police immediately as this was a crime. I couldn’t do more than that for her, but I can warn others of this scam. People like this that are willing to take advantage of people when they are already down need to be put in jail for a very, very long time!

Comments(6)

William J. Archambault, Jr.
The Real Estate Investment Institute - Houston, TX

Todd,

"ask a licensed professional" A licensed professional what?

REALTOR? (Most have No training in the field.)

Lawyer?  (Most have No training in the field. May aggravate a little problem in to a BK!)

CPA?  (Most have No training in the field. Can't help, but you'll be well documented for taxes.)

Meaidtor?  (Most have No training in the field. Many weren't in the field 6 months ago.)

In Nevada licensed professional ladies? (Most have No training in the field. Can't help, but when you're... at least you'll have enjoyed it.)

Frankly with out a good referral odds are a Shark could be as good a choice. (Most have No training in the field. But, they've watched allot of infomercials.)

But, like everything you have to chose carefully!

Bill

 

see you soon.

 

Aug 27, 2009 05:43 AM
Tom Braatz Waukesha County Real Estate 262-377-1459
Coldwell Banker - Oconomowoc, WI
Waukesha County Realtor Real Estate agent. SOLD!

Todd

Good information. It is hard for some to ask for help, but if they do ask for it earlier it may be less painful and easier to deal with. Time constraints can be difficult.

Aug 27, 2009 06:09 AM
Liz Loadholt
Liz Loadholt- AgentOwned Realty- Covering SC - Mount Pleasant, SC
Realtor--Broker-in-charge - Trainer--Relocation Director Covering SC

Todd --- unfortunately, this is becoming more & more of an issue. Nice post.

Mama Liz's Signature

Aug 27, 2009 09:44 AM
Wanda Kubat-Nerdin - Wanda Can!
Red Rock Real Estate (435) 632-9374 - St. George, UT
St. George Utah Area Residential Sales Agent

Todd, There seems to be new ways to inflict unecessary damage coming on-line every day and scam artists know that people make poor decisions when under such duress! It makes me mad as well! Thank you for this post!

Aug 27, 2009 10:17 AM
Terry & Bonnie Westbrook
Westbrook Realty Broker-Owner - Grand Rapids, MI
Westbrook Realty - Grand Rapids Forest Hills MI Re

When someone is in trouble another will smell blood and try and take advantage. It doesn't take long for this type of activity to happen. Sellers are so stressed they can be talked into anything.

Aug 27, 2009 02:31 PM
Todd Clark - Retired
eXp Realty LLC - Tigard, OR
Principle Broker Oregon

Yes, this one made me mad, knowing there was nothing I could do and the odds of the people ever being caught were probably slim. I'm guessing they didn't use their real names and if they were contracts, those didn't mean a thing because like I said they probably didn't use their real names.

Aug 27, 2009 08:45 PM