It's another one of those firsts . . . This one is important.

I had another one of those "I've seen everything moments" yesterday, and this one is really important if you list houses. A buyer called about a listing I have in my area. He asked typical questions and promised to drive by the house. Nothing unusual there. 

A little while later, he called again. This time, he wanted a little more information, and he asked about the roof. I gave him the info I had. A short while later, he called again and wanted to know the owner's name and where he lived. I told him that information is available in the tax records, but I gave it to him anyway.

He called a fourth time a few hours later and told me he had lied about his name. It wasn't what he said it was, but it was something else. Then he told me he wasn't interested in the house, but he was a contractor who was looking to replace the roof.

It seems that an individual from PA had called him and asked for an estimate. He said he was the owner and needed to have the roof replaced before he moved in. From the listing photos, he could see it was vacant, and of course the listing said it was vacant. 

He found the contractor on Thumbtack.com. When a contractor accepts a lead on Thumbtack, he/she is billed $90 for the lead. The individual sent the contractor out to measure the roof and asked for an estimate. When the contractor went out, he noticed my real estate sign in the yard.

The contractor went ahead and measured the roof and worked up an estimate. At that point, the individual accepted the estimate and said to do the work. There were a few other things that tipped the contractor off about the individual, but up until he decided to do the work, it was feasible that it was real. The contractor purposely gave him a high estimate to see if he was legitimate. After talking to me a couple times, he really got suspicious about the scammer.

The scammer was going to pay his deposit for the work by way of credit card. This is where the contractor new it was a scam. The individual asked for the contractor's merchant account number so he could transfer the money into his account. The reality is, he was going to drain the contractor's account.

I was able to track the scammer to a housing complex in Norrisville, PA. This morning, I contacted the authorities and filled them in on the scam. If you have homes listed, you may want to put a notice somewhere visible to alert contractors that you are not soliciting estimates for any work. Someone could conceivably start a project on a home you have listed before he realizes it is a scam. The home may end up damaged and there will surely be questions about liability. 

 

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Give me a call, or email me for all your real estate needs, and let's make something amazing happen. 

mikecooper@cbginc.net, 888-722-6029

Cell: 540-336-5522

 

Real Estate Sales and Property Management         

 

 

(Disclaimer:  All grammatical mistakes, punctuation breakdowns and misspellings are purely for your amusement and entertainment.   Feel free to cackle.)