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Hi
We are moving from the MidWest to the DC area and hunting for a place. Just checking with everyone here... I see some ads on craigslist that are very very cheap (for example, 4-bedroom 2 bathroom single house under $1000/mo including all utilities in Silver Spring). I sent an inquiry to a couple of those ads and got responses. Incidentally, both say, the places are ready to move in, I just need to fill in the application. But the owners/landlords are already out of town--they had to go in a hurry because of new job or some sort, once they review my application and they accept it, then they will send the keys and documents to me.
Does it look like a scam?
Frankly, the first one seemed very legit--so this alone, I would believe. But the second one was so weirdly written, that I got a suspicion on the first one as well.
Any word of caution/thoughts?
Also, both messages have been flagged for removal on Craigslist. I don't know what this means... it looks like anyone can flag a message to remove, so just them being removed alone doesn't say very much to me...but again, I'd appreciate any comments/info.
When I was moving here and perusing craigslist I stayed away from anything in all caps and anything that required me to send money. Also, if it sounded too good to be true it probably was. I live in Silver Spring and ended up in house (I needed a fenced yard for my lab) off of Dale Dr for $1500, and now I am in my second house (I needed a garage) for $1925.
Yes they are 100% scams. Never ever ever put down any money sight unseen and never believe anyone who is too "in a hurry" to show you the place. And follow the "if it's too good to be true, it probably is" rule. I used non-craigslist sources from reputable real estate sites and even those were full of scams. Some are so good that they will only go a little bit below market (like a one bedroom in dupont for $1500 when they are usually around $1800) but then follow with the "I can't show you it because I am out of town but give me $500 and I will hold it for you and show you when I come back next week and give you your money back if you don't like it."
So they can be very sophisticated. But with some practice you can start to tell the scams from legit ads without even e-mailing them. If worse comes to worse, go with a larger management company like Gables, Vornado, Bernstein, etc.
Anyone who believes these ads are legit, I've got a bridge over the Potomac I'm interested in selling you.
First, $1,000 for a large house in a close-in suburb is absurdly cheap for this area. That would even be cheap for a place in the outlying suburbs, much less a town on the border of DC like Silver Spring. Any landlord willing to rent for this low would be doing an act of charity, essentially. If your budget is $1,000 for 4 bedrooms close to DC, you need to change your expectations because this area is just too expensive for that.
Second, not only is the landlord offering you an insane deal, he doesn't even care to meet the people he'd be renting to, to make sure they're not psychos? That screams scam.
Finally, on top of that, it's a huge "coincidence" that multiple ads are giving the same story about being out of town? Give me a break.
Forget the scam issue for a second. Even if these ads were legit, you'd be willing to sign a lease and be locked into a place you've never actually visited? If that's your plan, I urge you to rethink. Moving from across the country sight unseen could be a terrible terrible mistake. Even if the place actually exists and isn't a scam, how would you know the place isn't a dump with broken appliances and an inattentive landlord unless you visit? Do you know how easy it is to make a place look nice on the Internet when it is nothing but? How would you know the neighborhood isn't dangerous? What would you do if you show up and find that all these problems exist--break your lease?
Do whatever it takes to physically visit your new home before you sign on the dotted line.
Yes, they are scams. I had a property listed for rent on Craigslist recently, and twice my ad was 'hijacked' and listed on the site for 1/3 of the asking rent. I tried emailing it and got a response that the owners had relocated to somewhere in Africa and were looking for tenants in a hurry. Try looking thoroughly on Craigslist for the same property at the more realistic price.
I live in Silver Spring and there is no way a 4 Bedroom house would cost under $1,000 per month. You would struggle to find 1 bedroom apartments for that price in and around Silver Spring.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sequon
Hi
We are moving from the MidWest to the DC area and hunting for a place. Just checking with everyone here... I see some ads on craigslist that are very very cheap (for example, 4-bedroom 2 bathroom single house under $1000/mo including all utilities in Silver Spring). I sent an inquiry to a couple of those ads and got responses. Incidentally, both say, the places are ready to move in, I just need to fill in the application. But the owners/landlords are already out of town--they had to go in a hurry because of new job or some sort, once they review my application and they accept it, then they will send the keys and documents to me.
Does it look like a scam?
Frankly, the first one seemed very legit--so this alone, I would believe. But the second one was so weirdly written, that I got a suspicion on the first one as well.
Any word of caution/thoughts?
Also, both messages have been flagged for removal on Craigslist. I don't know what this means... it looks like anyone can flag a message to remove, so just them being removed alone doesn't say very much to me...but again, I'd appreciate any comments/info.
There are a lot of scams. A lot of them are copy-pasted from earlier scams (same language and everything). My brother was hoping this 2-bedroom apartment near the Clarendon metro for $900 was legit. The landlord "lived in Thailand" and was in a hurry to rent it out, but wasn't concerned about the money. He just wanted a God-fearing client.
Of course we budget at least 2-3 times more than that to rent houses like that.
I initially smelled a scam from the ads, but sent the email, kind of out of curiosity, to see what they would do next. Anyway, it's clear---If it is too good to be true, then it is.
(just to update)
Actually I searched the property on Zillow and saw it "for rent," so I called the number and the person the other side had no idea about the owner having moved away...so of course, everyone here was right.
So I just said I might have been confused and continued to ask about the house and such. The actual rent was about as twice high as the scam. Anyway, the description of the house was good enough so I made an appointment to see the place.
I can empathize since I definitely wanted these scams to be real apartments.
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