Advertising Renting a home you don't own? Legal or illegal? (property, attorney)
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As to your original question, he can post a property he doesn't own. But not with pictures or an address or a showing promise. He can post the info such as 3/2 etc, pets allowed, etc. to get feelers for the market. No one would know it's not his property or someone else's.
If he did post your info or pics of your home on Craigslist you can flag it by clicking the prohibited link on top. I don't think just one flag will remove it, so if you have other friends flag it, it should automatically delete the posting. You can also try to contact Craigslist but there really is no one to contact, so that is a crap shoot.
I have heard of scams where people go to city hall and present fake papers and get the home in their name, but it seems like more of a fluke since it's such a hard process to buy a legit home.
OP you are way too calm for this situation. I would be raising hell now with anyone and everyone. If you are dealing with a major broker I would imagine they would be open today. Call them now.
WOW. An amazing development over the last 12 hours. The closer from the title company answered my email. Please read and then advise as to my next steps. Thank you very much!
On Feb 13, 2016, at 10:25 AM, I emailed the Title Company:
Hi Lisa,
It was nice meeting you on 2/9/16.
As of 2/13/16 @ 10:30am I still do not have any funds from the seller in my bank account yet. Do you know why that would be the case? When should I expect the money?
Thank you,
XXX
On Saturday, February 13, 2016 9:36 PM, ZZZ of the title company wrote:
Hi XXX,
As of Friday we still had not received the buyer's documents or funds. I will check again on Monday morning but you may want to reach out to your agent. I will let you know what I find out.
Sent from my iPhone
Finally, I wrote around 130am Sunday Morning of 2/14/16
Lisa,
Thanks for taking the time to address my email over the weekend. I really appreciate that.
Who does JS (my/the 'agent') work for? He was the 'agent' (the middleman that worked with both ME and the SELLER), yet his name is mentioned NOWHERE in the closing documents - and he always had somebody from R/N do the 'dotloop' paperwork. To me, JS has been a 'mystery man' for the most part. I have never met him face to face. I asked him to come to the closing at your office on 2/9/16, but he said he was too busy.
Over the last two days he has not returned my phone calls or my emails. Previously he was very good about that, with us talking (and/or emailing each other) 2-3 times per day. This fact, plus the info you shared with me makes me begin to think fraud/scam.
I hope we can email and/or talk tomorrow afternoon.
Dude A said he will buy my house. Closing was set. The closing date was 2/9/16. I signed docs. Money has NOT been wired to me yet.
Dude A, although he does not own my house officially (if ever), has already advertised on the net several places as 'for rent'. When I question him about this - he said he likes to check out the market before commiting . . . Can he legally advertise for rent - a property he doesn't own?
He's advertising and making transactions on something he doesn't own. Isn't that fraud?
Have a friend respond to the cl ad and see of he is trying to collect money or personal info for fraud.
Contact RN brokerage and ask if they know agent.
Look at your state real estate commission Web site and search for licensee info. You can also call the number on your lockbox ( might need to Google name of lockbox model...ie Sentrilock), to get number, and give them the lockbox I'd number and ask who it is assigned to. You can track agent from that.
If it is fraudulent, file a police report, change locks and put a security alert on all 3 credit bureaus.
Did buyer deposit earnest money with title company at start of contract?
Have a friend respond to the cl ad and see of he is trying to collect money or personal info for fraud.
Contact RN brokerage and ask if they know agent.
^^^ He (the so-called agent -- JS -- is was working with) always worked through (as far as getting docs to me electronically) a RN realtor. I know the RN realtor is legit because his name and pic is posted on an R/N website. Why he works with this JS is something for RN to figure out I guess.
Look at your state real estate commission Web site and search for licensee info. You can also call the number on your lockbox ( might need to Google name of lockbox model...ie Sentrilock), to get number, and give them the lockbox I'd number and ask who it is assigned to. You can track agent from that.
^^^ JS said he is the one that put the lockbox on the home. I know the combo to it. Is my best move for the moment NOT to contact JS but to instead FIRST contact those that need to investigate him (R/N for example).
If it is fraudulent, file a police report, change locks and put a security alert on all 3 credit bureaus.
^^^ 'If it is fraudulent' is this meaning 'if it is fraudulent to advertise a home for rent -- that you do NOT own? This has been going on for like 30 days now? I understand 'change locks'. What is meant by a 'security alert'? How and why? Should I contact JS and tell him he has 48 hours to remove his combobox? I'm thinking, "NO". Me just hiring a locksmith. Have the smith cut off the box. Save the box. And then change the lock on my front door.
Did buyer deposit earnest money with title company at start of contract?
^^^ This was the start of the 'fishy-ness' and my stupidity. Orginal sales contract had an earnest deposit of $2K. Then after the inspection come back and I had to lower the price -- they also lowered the earnest money on the new and revised contract to $1k. I asked JS about that. "Oh . . . It is no big deal. It is to save money. It cost 300-400 bucks for each transfer from Germany." That supposively is where the 'buyer' is from. THEN . . . a few weeks later, a new contract with the earnest revised down to ZERO bucks. I was skeptical but I thought, "I want to get rid of this house. The price is fair. The market is COLD. JS has been honest and upfront with me (so I thought). He paid to get the house professionally inspected. He called for two days talking with the city zoning people about renting out a studio attached to the back of my house. I guess that was problematic because it is near Harry Truman's home. That being the case, different zoning laws apply to rentals. He couldn't figure it out. I had my attorney call him. In five minutes, my attorney tells him how to fix this problem. He talks with me about how brilliant my attorney is and how the zoning is no longer an issue. Everything is ready for the sale to go through...' He is working with/through R/N so I figured in spite of the fishiness I was beginning to smell, everything would be alright. 'Look at all he has done already . . . ' was my thought. . . .
Thank you very much for your help. It will be an interesting upcoming week for me and especially for JS...
Surely the contract had some performance clause? He failed...end of contract.
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