Chattanooga Real Estate Blog

Just read the following article in a Career Institute Newsletter.  Food for thought for you FSBO’s.

This scam targets people who try to sell their homes without real estate agents. The scam comes into play after a seller gets an offer.

“All the scams have the same thing, in that it’s someone you don’t know sending you money, asking you to send money back,” said Cindy Harding, a vice president and bank fraud expert.

Police in Sugar Grove, Ill., say two residents were targeted after listing their homes on forsalebyowner.com. They each received an offer, the scammer sent a large check as a down payment, then instructed the homeowners to send a portion of that money to a real estate broker. The problem is, the broker doesn’t exist and the down payment check turned out to be a fake.

“Anyone can make a check look like whatever they want, so it’s no big deal to give people a piece of paper that’s worthless,” said Harding.

There’s an easy way to avoid falling victim to this scam. Jim Bolin with Carol Jones Realtors says you should never conduct a real estate transaction without a contract.

“It could be letter of intent, where there is an amount of money deposited in an escrow account that will be held under laws of the state until closing, but you’d never accept money up front and hold money yourself,” said Bolin.

And whether you’re selling your home or something much smaller, Harding says always be suspicious.