The "flee" is official!

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by MamaRed

I've looked on Craigslist, and have seen quite a few possibilities. Down here, there have been a number of stories about people scamming renters through Craigslist. It's made me a little leery of going that route. As a former landlord, can you tell me if there's some go-to way to verify the person offering the house is legally able to do so? Or, is this a SoCal scam that I wouldn't really have to worry about elsewhere?

I know for our area as well Craigslist is 'the place' most property management companies and home owners list their properties nowadays. CL includes all kinds of listings though, both good and bad. Its really no different than a local newspaper ad. You can get scammed just as easily from a local paper telling you an easy way to get rich or trying to show you a place at a ridiculously low price, beach front property in Riverside, etc... Like anything its buyer beware. But that said we've found very nice homes on CL and have sold things on there ourselves without any real problems. Common sense goes the longest way with any kind of financial transaction whether on or offline. If you are looking for a rental/lease property you need to consider CL, botton line. Otherwise you are limiting yourself far too much and missing some great places you would otherwise get to see.

What kind of verification are you looking for beyond pictures of the home, the owner's name and an address? That's all personal information which is verifiable. You can lookup the home's sale history if you like. But the first step would be to check it out which can even be done initially from google maps street view, zillow, realtor.com, etc... I worked in real estate as an appraiser. Most of this stuff is public record.

Derek

[mateo45]

Dunno how common it is up there now, and have never run into this issue personally w/CraigsList, though it doesn't hurt to be cautious anyway. But I would imagine no money is going to change hands at least until meeting (and any demands before that are immediately suspect). So at worst you might be taking some mild risk initially with simply your time and effort. Otherwise, whenever you're finally ready to meet, or leave a deposit (via check) and sign a lease, etc., then you can always make sure you get business cards, phone numbers and addresses that you can verify if you feel the need. BTW, outside the Seattle city limits, tenant/landlord laws in the rest of WA are pretty much the same as CA (excepting the rent-controlled areas like SF).

[MamaRed]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

I know for our area as well Craigslist is 'the place' most property management companies and home owners list their properties nowadays. CL includes all kinds of listings though, both good and bad. Its really no different than a local newspaper ad. You can get scammed just as easily from a local paper telling you an easy way to get rich or trying to show you a place at a ridiculously low price, beach front property in Riverside, etc... Like anything its buyer beware. But that said we've found very nice homes on CL and have sold things on there ourselves without any real problems. Common sense goes the longest way with any kind of financial transaction whether on or offline.

Derek

I looked again this evening and found some more houses. At this point, everybody I called is gone for the weekend - which I take as a plus for me. We'll be heading up Monday, so maybe I can catch something before it's gone.