Single family homes on craigslist for rent in Charlotte for less than $800 per month, too good to be true? (for sale, apartment)

[Rachel127]

Hi everyone,

So I have been researching housing options in the Charlotte area on craigslist. I have come across quite a few postings for single family homes for rent for less than $800. My question is this, do you think these are real postings? They seem almost too good to be true. I currently live in Phoenix, and you CAN in fact find single family homes for rent for this price, if you go out far enough, is it the same in Charlotte?

Here are some examples of the postings I found on craigslist that seem too good to be true;

Fantastic home for rent {broken link}

this home is a must see. 2-Story {broken link}

1 Story Basement, Bungalow - Charlotte, NC {broken link}

[momtothree]

If no address is given, scam. If an address is given and you can find it on realtor.com for sale, 90% scam. The second one I found on there.
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Don't despair though, I found my last two rentals on craigslist. Just do your due diligence. Look it up on realtor.com, look inside the place regardless if it's occupied or not (common excuse why no tours inside), don't ever send monies unless you can verify they are the owner on charmeck.com property look up etc. Your best options from out of town is a realtor or an appointment community.

[momtothree]

The third one:mod cut

At that price point, they might be for rent but I would contact the realtor.

[businessperson]

Two words: Basement and bungalow are red flags to me. My first guess would be very old home in not so good neighborhood.

[brokensky]

There have been real scams where folks thought they were signing a legit contract, sending money and getting a key for a rental, showed up with their U-Haul, only to find that the home was not the "Landlord's" to rent at all. Big scam.

I have no idea if this is happening in the Charlotte area, but I have seen national reports by legitimate news outlets about this happening in various places across the country.

Just be careful when doing business long distance.

[momtothree]

Oh it's very prevalent here. I called the realtor on two when I was looking for a rental house and was told they were NOT rentals. Now I do the search on realtor.com before I contact the listing. (not a failsafe but it's a step to weed out the scams)

[lovethecarolinas]

Originally Posted by Rachel127

Hi everyone,

So I have been researching housing options in the Charlotte area on craigslist. I have come across quite a few postings for single family homes for rent for less than $800. My question is this, do you think these are real postings? They seem almost too good to be true. I currently live in Phoenix, and you CAN in fact find single family homes for rent for this price, if you go out far enough, is it the same in Charlotte?

Here are some examples of the postings I found on craigslist that seem too good to be true;

Fantastic home for rent

this home is a must see. 2-Story

1 Story Basement, Bungalow - Charlotte, NC

The second one on your list is located in Fort Mill and has only been on the market (For Sale) for a few days. I am very familiar with this area and my advice would be to call the listing agent and ask him if in fact it is a rental. If it is I'd ask him if they are just trying to rent it out until it sells ($800 would be a good deal for this).
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Tread lightly as there is a poster on the York County, SC side who was in a rental only to find out that the property was in foreclosure.

[mudtruckn]

If the price is substantially lower than comparable rentals in the area, it's very likely to be a scam.

Do not send any money without getting to a full tour of the property. A lot of fake apartment listings are Nigerian 419 scams that will get you to send money to them with some sort of story that the landlord is out of the country and they'll mail you the key.

The fake ads can be very realistic looking because the scammer will steal the description and photos from a real listing and simply change the price and contact information.

Tread lightly and remember - too good to be true usually is!

[Energee]

This happened to us when we were selling our last home!

A scammer goes to the MLS, copies photos of your home for sale, takes a bit of the description, then goes to Craigslist and posts your home for rent at and outstanding price. You contact him regarding the rental and he replies that he and his wife are out of town, but you can begin the rental process by filling out attached paperwork. The paperwork asks for your full name, SSN, address, and all other important information. He also asks for one month's rent to hold the rental for you until he returns. We did not realize that this was happening on our home until a lady showed up at the door one night asking if she could see the rental. We were blown away. We had No idea that our house had been listed on Clist. Then, more and more people came by just to see if the house was legitimately for rent. I asked a couple of them to email me the correspondence they'd had with the scammer. They had all received the same email. Luckily, no one that came by had actually given the scammer any information. I would assume others did, though.

It was scary, because the scammer had even gone to Meck Co tax records, found our names on the deed, and was signing the emails from us! Long story short, if it seems too good to be true....check it out and go to the actual home. Knock on the door and talk to the owner/renter in person.

[GoPhils]

Well, all three links in the OP have been "flagged for removal"...