How to Protect Yourself From Real Estate Scammers

Thursday, March 13, 2014

How to Protect Yourself From Real Estate Scammers

Looking to buy or sell a home in Connecticut? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (203) 727-8621 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today I'm going to give you a short warning about fraudulent home listings that are put on Craigslist. As a real estate agent this is very troubling because it hurts our business, but the most devastating thing happening here is that our clients are being taken advantage of.

What these scammers are doing is finding real listings (most often rental listings) and posting them on Craigslist or Facebook at ridiculously cheap prices. When buyers contact these scam artists about the intriguing properties, they then tell the buyers to send all their information over to them including, address, phone number, and social security number. They will also ask for a deposit or first month's rent which they will ask for you to wire into an account.

Obviously, if it's too good to be true, it probably is.

What you can do to protect yourself:

Go to Google, Zillow, Trulia, or any other major real estate website and type in the address of the property on Craigslist to verify the owner and also if it is really for sale or not.
Your best option is to simply hire a realtor for your real estate needs. We know how to detect these scams and will absolutely not allow any fraudulent activity within our businesses or within our industry.

People have tried listing my properties to scam people, so I just wanted to make sure all of my customers are aware that people are out there doing this sort of thing. Always double check a property, or ask a realtor about it if you need to. I don't want your hard-earned dollars to be pocketed by crooks.

Once again, if you need any assistance from me, or are looking to buy or sell in the Newtown area, please call me at (203) 727-8621 or email me at Andy.Sachs@CBMoves.com

About Andy

As one of the Nation's top 1% performing real estate agents, my team and I pride ourselves on the results we generate for our clients. Having spent several successful years in corporate America in sales, marketing, new product development, licensing, branding and management I was able to successfully translate these skills into real estate sales. My background is fundamentally different than the average agent. I treat my clients and their homes with a personal touch while also understanding how to fully market and promote them.

Andy Sachs
The Around Town Team
Keller Williams

Newtown, Connecticut

203-727-8621
AndySachs@Kw.com
thearoundtownteam.com

Andy Sachs and The Around Town Team Testimonials

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testimonials from happy clients

Christine - “He strategically priced my house and that definitely exceeded my expectations."

Cathy - "I really like Andy because he does a good job, he’s thorough, and he’s too the point. He was successful in selling our home for about the asking price and he was willing to meet the contractor when we needed repairs since we were 2 and a half hours away. We had a good experience and I would highly recommend Andy to anyone that needs a Realtor!"

Joe - "We had really good results with Andy. He was very honest about what my house was worth and he was always involved. He kept me up-to-date with weekly emails about who was looking at my property and the statistics on how they were looking at it. I was never in the dark! He is one the best agents I’ve ever met!"

Ashley - "I couldn’t have asked for a better real estate agent. Andy is very knowledgeable in his field and he really helped us find our dream home. He was always willing to work around our schedule and the communication was always open. It was a delightful experience to have worked with the Around Town Team, they are one of the best!"

Mike - "Andy did anything I could have possibly wanted. He would met us when we needed him to meet us and he always made himself available to us. Andy really helped us through every step of the process, including all of the paperwork. He did a great job and I’d give his number to anyone!"

TJ - "It was pretty seamless form the time we started working with Andy, he really understood what we were looking for and was able to work within the budget we had in place. He was able to work around our schedule and he really looked out for our best interested. When we had our bid thrown out, Andy guided us through that process and was able to help us from a comparable home that still met our criteria. It was a really good decision that we listened to Andy’s advice."

Chris - "They were excellent! When we were selling, we listed it on a Monday and it was sold that Tuesday! When we were purchasing we were looking for foreclosures so he had to take me out multiple times to look at homes. We ended up looking at a lot of houses that we didn’t end up getting but it never deterred him, he just kept going and finding more for me to look at."

Kara - "I was able to sell my condo and purchase a new home, and it was seamless with Andy’s help. He was able to recommend people to me, like a lawyer or a mortgage broker. Whenever I called him, he answered right away. When we were closing on the new house, we had some issues with the seller, and he was immediately on the phone and alleviating that issue. He is a fabulous real estate agent to work with, and I would highly recommend him to anyone!"