With the incredible low housing prices in today’s market and the pinch on the economy putting a number of homeowners in a precarious position, gives way to scammers. When you are surfing the web looking for homes to buy, foreclosures, or discounted properties, beware! Last night I had a client call me in complete excitement. He had found a townhome in Lakeville for $6,600.00! I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard about it! I checked the MLS system where home listings are posted for Realtor use. What I found was that the home in question had been sold in 2006 for $190,000, but was NOT currently listed with a licensed real estate agent.
I called my client to ask more details about where he had found this amazing deal online. Bargain Network. Apparently, for a $10 weekly fee, you can be first to receive the foreclosed listings from this site. WRONG! They will surely take your credit card information, as well as your $10 a week, but the information they are giving you is anything but listed bargains.
After speaking with teammates on The Minnesota Real Estate Team, I discovered that a few other agents had similar situations come up. One agent even had strangers approach her sellers (before any of the listing paperwork had been signed) stating that these strangers had seen the home for sale on bargain.com and they had cash ready to buy it right now! The seller was baffled! The buyers claimed the home was listed for $57,000. The home in question was about to be listed for sale for hundreds of thousands more.
Another team member had actually paid for the service to find out more of what it entailed. So here is the scoop….
The homes on the site are not listed for sale. If a select few of them are, they are not listed with anyone who represents bargain.com. The site is syphoning information from default notices from somewhere. The site shows the list price for what is in arrears, whether it be taxes or past due amounts on the mortgages. What the site does not seem to take into account is the balance on the existing mortgage, OR the fact that nearly all of the homes listed on the site have no knowledge they are there.
Moral of the story is “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.” Anytime you have to pay a premium or reoccurring fee in order to obtain information from a website, chances are you are being scammed. Check with your Realtor to find the properties that are in foreclosure or being offered at discount prices.
There are great deals to be had out there, but there are also people willing to take advantage of others. Don’t get discouraged, if you are realistic about the deal you are looking for, you will find it with the help of a Realtor.
