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I am a new college graduate without any renting experience so bear with me. I emailed an apartment posting and I asked to see the apartment in the next few days. However, the person replied that the last showing was yesterday and that it would be best for me to fill out an application, pay for the first month's rent and have a deposit to the property manager's account because the apartment may not be available when the next showing time comes around.
The whole thing seems a bit fishy as the listing does not have the specific apartment number, just the address of the apartment. Finally, the number was a pinger number so I could not actually reach the person by phone. What should I do in this circumstance? Is this obviously a scam?
Did you happen to find this on Craig's List? There are a lot of scams for rentals ( and other things) on Craig's List and I believe this is one of them
Why don't you call some local property managers? They will be able to show you their rentals and help you thru the whole rental process. Or you can look at some the corporate owned complexes.
Good luck in your search, just be careful..if it sounds to good to be true it is.
This is full of red flags. Do not ever send money for a place that you have not been inside. EVER!
I personally do not trust Social media sites for renting. You should look through the local paper, or look up rental agency's in your local phone book. Otherwise you could be a victim of a scam. And, once you send your money in you are SOL.
Deal with realtor/mgt people that have offices and show you the apartments in person. Be careful. and, you might even check with your local law enforcement, they like to catch these scammers.
I personally have no problem with Craigslist. The good scammers will be on every site anyway, even paid advertising sites. You just need to use common sense and you'll be fine.
I don't know whether it is a scam or not, but I can tell that if they are genuine, they are people you don't want to rent from. The customer service is totally lacking and before you rent is when customer service is at its very best. No service before renting means total lack of service after renting.
Move on to the next building and a different landlord or different management company.
Personally, I would never rent a unit I had not seen, and I want lots of paperwork before I hand over any money.
Some big apartment buildings keep a display unit to show and then you get the next available unit. That's not a scam, but many tenants are disappointed when they find that the paint, carpet, and decorating touches are not the same quality as what they were shown.
Protect yourself. Everything in writing and see what you will be getting.
I'll admit I only read the first sentence of that article.
"A woman who sent her rent check to a realtor in Nigeria is now homeless and trying to avoid living out of her car."
And I'd argue that it was this person's stupidity, and not a craiglist scam that left them homeless.
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