Technology has come to revolutionize almost every industry including the real estate market. With the help of the internet, property owners have been able to create good property listings and market their units efficiently to attract potential tenants.
Although online marketing has increased awareness of properties among potential renters specifically through social media platforms, it has also made property owners and renters the target of online scammers.
What do rental scams look like and how can you prevent them?
As property scamming can affect the long-term performance of your rental property negatively, you need to know the ways to recognize and avoid such rental scams. In this guide, our team from SGI Property Management Phoenix has put together the various steps to identify these scams so that you can ensure the safety of your property as well as your tenants.
What Does a Property Scam Look Like?
Here are some of the steps that explain the process property scammers go through to trick the potential tenants:
Picking the Ideal Property For The Scam
The higher the level of maintenance of your property, the more susceptible it becomes for the scammers to use it for their bad purpose. The property scammers use appealing pictures of your property and pose as the owner of the property to attract the potential tenants.
Masquerading as the Property Owner
Once they post a fake advertisement with the pictures of your property, the scammers put their number as the contact person. When a potential renter reaches out, the scammers present themselves as the property owner.
They confidently answer the questions of the tenants, making the tenant feel secure with the information they receive. The scammer will ask all the right questions, requesting the tenant to go through all the typical procedures of renting a property.
Requesting Payment From a Potential Renter
Scammers often create a sense of urgency for the tenants to make payments in order to secure the property. This process usually involves requesting a deposit from the potential tenants.
After receiving the money, the scammers cease all forms of communication with the prospective tenant as they only use one phone number to maintain all communication during that time. They will immediately block the contact and become unreachable for the tenant.
The Realization That It Was a Scam All Along
Since the tenants will not be able to reach out to the owner, some of them will immediately suspect that they have been scammed off their money. They will track down the address of the property, making it potentially dangerous for the real landlords.
Sometimes, the scammed renter may not have realized that they have been scammed of their money and ask for a refund. As the real landlord, you will have to explain that you are not the scammer and haven’t received any money from them.
As a landlord, you might be asking yourself how this situation concerns you as you had nothing to do with the scam. Should you be going to great lengths to protect others?
To understand this, you need to realize the impact this can have on your rental business once several renters have been scammed. This can create a negative image of your rental property chasing away the renters who have been already leasing your space.
Can a Landlord Protect Their Property From a Scam?
With all these potential scamming issues, how can you ensure renters can trust your property guaranteeing the success of your property investment?
The answer lies in partnering with an experienced and reputable property management company such as SGI Property Management. You can rely on SGI Property Management Phoenix to deal with fake ads and scams on the internet. We have the expertise to search deeply to locate possible scams on the internet.
Once identified, our team of professional experts will work quickly and efficiently to ensure that the fake advertisement is removed from the internet. We will handle all property marketing and advertising for you, ensuring that the potential renters will visit the websites or follow our social media accounts to appreciate what your property has to offer.
In addition to this, we will manage all the additional needs of your property including rent collection, lease preparation and administration, walk-through inspections, repairs and evictions if deemed necessary. With our assistance, not only will your property be free from scammers but also be in good condition all year long.
With SGI as your property manager, you can be assured that your potential renters will not be scammed.
Conclusion
Rental property scammers have been tarnishing the names of property owners by using their property photos and scamming the tenants. Potential renters have made payments to these scammers only to later realize they have lost their money.
To deal with this issue effectively, you can trust SGI Property Management Phoenix to take care of your property. Our property experts in the area are working tirelessly to meet the needs of our clients in various areas. By partnering with our company, you ensure that your property will be scam free, guaranteeing the success of your property.
Our clients, with whom we have worked for years, can attest to the quality of our professional services for property management. Contact SGI Property Management today to learn more!
