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Fraud, in general, is one of those unfortunate realities we’re all familiar with and fraud in real estate is certainly nothing new. Lately, however, the scammers and fraudsters have been working extra hard to find creative ways to take advantage of homeowners. If only they could channel all of that energy, creativity, and industriousness into something positive, they might do great things but in the meantime, it’s something we need to keep on our radar to avoid falling victim to their schemes.
I believe education is the best first line of defense against this type of risk so in an effort to you help you protect yourself and the people you care about, here’s a quick rundown of the three biggest scams targeting homeowners right now:
Scam #1: Fraudulently Selling Someone Else’s Property
How it works:
- Fraudsters impersonate property owners, typically using fake ID documentation to get past title company checks and balances.
- They either sell the property for-sale-by-owner or they hire a broker who lists and sells it, believing they are working with the actual seller.
- The fraudsters provide their own wiring instructions to the title company and, once the transaction closes, they disappear with the proceeds of the sale.
- By the time the fraud is discovered, the buyers have lost their funds and hold an invalid deed to the property.
Who they target:
- Properties which are owned outright – when a home is in the process of being sold, anyone holding a lien against the home (a mortgage company for example) must be contacted by the title company for a release. This increases the chances of the fraud being discovered prior to the sale occurring so homes that are free and clear are more commonly targeted.
- Vacant land is where this scam was first seen, and continues to be the most common type of property targeted with this type of scam because buyers can easily visit and walk the property without the step of having to gain access to a dwelling.
- Vacant homes, short-term rentals and second homes – anything where the seller is unlikely to present during the process, especially if the fraudsters are able to gain access to the home.
- Long-term rentals are at risk too – fraudsters use the excuse of not disturbing the tenants to avoid providing access to the property, and aim to sell the home to an investor.
How to protect yourself:
- Consider recording a Deed of Trust listing yourself, or better yet, an entity you control that isn’t easily linked to your name, as the lender. This creates evidence of a lien against the property and could be for a small nominal amount. Title companies typically require lien holders to sign off releasing their lien against a property before they’ll allow ownership to transfer to a new buyer. The goal here is to trigger notice from the title company to you as a lien holder, during the fraudulent transaction, before it closes. I have to say it – be sure to explore this option with an attorney to make sure it’s done properly without creating a larger title problem later.
- Setup a Google alert and a Zillow search for your property address to increase the chances you’re notified if it’s being marketed online.
- Take communications, especially mailed correspondence, from title companies seriously. If you receive something that looks suspicious, give me a call or contact the title company’s main office number after finding it online. Avoid using the contact information provided in the letter, or replying to emails directly, as they may also be fraudulent.
- Check to see if the county where the property is located has a fraud alert system you can register your address with. Boulder County offers this as a resource: https://bouldercounty.gov/records/recording/propertyalert/. They will notify you when anything is recorded in the public records matching your property address and many of the front-range counties offer something similar. These likely won’t alert you until after the sale has occurred, but at least you would find out relatively quickly after it happened.
Scam #2: The Unsolicited Quick-Closing, Cash Offer
How it works:
- Someone who is looking to purchase a home for substantially less than market value, identifies an at-risk homeowner. A common term for these types of buyers are “predatory buyers” or “predatory investors”.
- The buyer contacts the homeowner directly and offers to buy the home with an uncommonly quick closing, no inspections, and will pay in cash.
- They convince a homeowner to sell their home, typically by leveraging fear and/or creating urgency.
- After closing, the home is often resold for market value, earning the predatory buyer a substantial profit that could have been realized by the original homeowner.
Who they target:
- People in financial distress
- The elderly
- People whose primary language is not English
- Anyone who might be easily pressured into making a quick decision
- People who are unfamiliar with the real estate market or how the process typically works
Two things to note with this one:
- Just because a seller is taken advantage of, doesn’t mean anything illegal occurred. If the seller is not working with a broker, they fail to do proper due diligence, and they agree to sell their home, unless the buyer makes a material mis-representation, there may not be any recourse for the seller.
- There are legitimate real estate brokers and companies that offer easy sale options to sellers. Their goal is to facilitate a seller’s ability to relocate by purchasing the home from the seller, freeing up the equity which the seller can then use to buy a replacement property. These sales tend to have significantly higher costs to the seller meaning they often net less than they would in the open market. However, it’s not a fraudulent process if the seller is fully informed up front.
How to protect yourself:
- Beware of “We’ll buy your home for cash now” mailings and advertisements. The best first line of defense is to contact a reputable broker who can help make sure the homeowner is getting a fair deal. This is something I do fairly regularly and it’s as easy as running a market analysis so we can compare the offer to what the property would likely be able to sell for on the open market. From there, the homeowner can make an educated, fully-informed decision.
Scam #3: Wire Fraud During a Transaction
How it works:
- Scammers hack, spoof, or otherwise impersonate the phone numbers and email addresses of the buyers, sellers, brokers, title people, transaction coordinators, and/or lenders in a transaction.
- At some point, generally near the end of the transaction, substitute wiring instructions for the title company, or for the seller, with a set that points to their own account.
- They most commonly try to divert either the buyer’s down payment being sent to the title company for closing, or the seller’s proceeds coming from the title company after closing.
- Once the money is wired to the fraudster’s account, it is almost impossible to recover because, once a wire is received, it cannot be recalled like an ACH can be. Wires are used to transfer money in real estate because they are immediately verifiable as actual funds that can’t be counterfeited. This, unfortunately, is also what makes them vulnerable to fraud because fraudsters are able to withdraw or transfer the funds out of the account as soon as they arrive.
Who they target:
- Buyers and Sellers actively engaged in a real estate transaction
- This one also targets anyone wiring money from individuals to corporations
How to protect yourself:
- The best protection against this type of fraud is working with a trusted team. Having a reputable, experienced broker and title company in your corner, who know what red flags to help you look for and who have processes in place to help limit this risk, is vitally important.
- Wire fraud also takes many forms outside of real estate so, as a general rule, avoid wiring money to anyone without multiple levels of redundant, independent verification of where the money is being sent and why. If you’re not sure about a request or situation, get someone you know and trust, to take a look at it with you before you do anything involving actual funds.
Hopefully you or no one you know never encounters anything like this. If you ever have questions about anything real estate related or you receive something by mail, email, text message, carrier pigeon, smoke signal, etc. that looks fishy (or phishy!) don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m always happy to help.
Be well friends!
Scott
