HUGE Craigslist rental scams in Asheville area - panic-time for me!! (Charlotte: rentals, condo)

[islandersmb]

I want to send a shout-out to everyone I can about the scams I have found on Craigslist over the past few days.
I mean *CONFIRMED* that the houses are absolutely NOT for rent, at all.... but the people posting the ads are using data from realty websites and posting "for rent" ads on Craigslist.

Personally, I'm in a panic, b/c I will be moving to Asheville in early July, and I was hoping to find a rental that isn't managed by a property management company (more personal, less cold when renting from an individual) - but - unfortunately things have changed since I last moved 6 years ago through a long-distance transaction *sigh*. It looks like I will have to go through a management company after all, just for peace of mind. How discouraging... and how awful for the honest people who want to rent houses w/out using a management company... the scams (and SPAM) are going to kill trust for great sites like craigslist. Bummer.

Okay - off my soapbox, and the end to my little rant.
Good luck to all!

[RVT]

They do this all over. 1: If the rent is way under what you would expect, it's a scam. 2: Won't meet face to face? Scam. 3: Ask you to go to some web site and do a credit check? Scam.

[Catbirds]

Try The Citizen Times Asheville. This is the local paper. I hate to hear about Craigslist scams. I don't know what the purpose would be for crooks to do that. I rented out a little apt. I had thru Craigslist about 3 years ago. Someone sent me an email that said they were from England and wanted to rent it. There was something fishy about it but can't remember what made me suspicious. Seems I wrote them and ask specific questions and they never wrote back.

[islandersmb]

I didn't have much luck with the online listings through the Times, but Mountain Xpress seems promising, though limited selection, and I just found a site called Moderator cut: no competing sites, please that I will check out a little more this morning. I'll be back with an update on that one in a couple days.
Thanks!

[Catbirds]

Originally Posted by islandersmb

I didn't have much luck with the online listings through the Times, but Mountain Xpress seems promising, though limited selection, and I just found a site called Moderator cut: no competing sites, please that I will check out a little more this morning. I'll be back with an update on that one in a couple days.
Thanks!

Good Luck with your next adventure

[CRock]

I have a total of 4 rentals and use Charlotte and Asheville Craigslist exclusively. I have also sold lots and lots of stuff on CL. I do get my fair share of email scammers and phishers. However they are pretty easy to spot.

To conclude if the listing is bogus, ask specific questions about the property and its location. Try to talk live with the person. Get a phone number and you call them. If they do not reply to your request for a phone # you have your answer! The scammers access public data about properties and cut, copy, paste. Most likely they are not even on the continent and will not know specifics about the properties. Don't give up on CL, but there are lots of other sites out there, just google house for rent in Asheville.

Good Luck,

Chuck

[chauninc]

It's the opposite too, we have a condo we are trying to rent. All we get is spam too.

[blueridgemama]

Try the iwanna ads for wnc.

[livninctry]

We listed our house for rent with CL and found a great renter. Stick with it and you will find what you are looking for.

[islandersmb]

Thank you, everyone, for your encouraging words! I took a little break, and found two possibilities when I went back to the search. One in particular looks great, although it is available now, and moving day isn't until early July... but one can hope, right? I figure that as time goes by, more rentals should become available for my moving time frame. Fingers crossed, and still using CL for my search, albeit very cautiously