Prospective renters and landlords alike scroll through seemingly endless property listings trying to find the perfect place to rent or invest in. If you’ve found yourself in this scenario, it’s important to make sure you know what to look out for in scam listings.
Here are three of the top red flags to be aware of when looking through property listings:
- Low-quality or missing pictures. Genuine sellers want to advertise their properties effectively. If you find a listing at a great price that doesn’t have any pictures or has pictures that are very low in quality, move on. These listings are typically scams or are trying to cover up major issues with the property.
- Poor grammar in the description. Property listings that have been written by a professional real estate agent will be free of grammatical errors. Poor grammar is often indicative of someone who doesn’t care much about selling the property, which is not a good sign when looking for a place to rent or invest in.
- Inability to see the property. If you’ve started communicating with the property seller and they are pushing you to close on the property without seeing it first, you should look elsewhere. You should always check out a property before renting or investing, so you get a better idea of what you are getting into. Many scams involve closing on properties without letting you see them.
Whether you’re a renter or landlord, we here at Thornburg & Associates, Inc. want to help you out by finding quality property listings that are transparent and easy to understand. We have several listings available and will help you find exactly what you’re looking for, so reach out to our team today.