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What Are the Most Common Real Estate Scams and How Can You Stay Safe?
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May 2, 2025
Unfortunately, scams have become a part of everyday life—especially in real estate. From rental fraud to fake listings and title scams, it’s more important than ever to know what to watch for. In this video, we’re talking about the top real estate scams and how to protect yourself from financial loss and legal headaches. You can learn more about Common Real Estate Scams and How to Avoid Them through our blog here: 👉 https://real-estate-crunch.com/common-real-estate-scams-and-how-to-avoid-them/ #RealEstateCrunch #RealEstateTips #HousingMarket #RentalScams #TitleFraud #HomeBuyingTips #RealEstateInvesting #StayInformed
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[Music]
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hi this is Anita from Real Estate Crunch
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you know we live in a world where
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unfortunately scams or scamming has
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become all too common it is all too much
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a part of our everyday lives but nowhere
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is this more critical than in the world
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of real estate
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everything from real estate fraud is
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rising to rental fraud to other types of
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scams so today we're going to talk a
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little bit about some of the scams and
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how you can avoid them one of them of
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course is rental
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scams you know how to spot a rental scam
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well there's a couple things you can
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look for the rent is unusually low
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compared to similar properties in the
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area the landlord is unwilling to meet
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in person or show the property you're
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asked to send money before even seeing
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the property and there's pressure to act
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quickly to secure the deal and the
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listing contains vague or inconsistent
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details you know so really to avoid such
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a scam always visit the property in
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person before you actually make any
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payment and meet the landlord and make
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sure the landlord is the person who can
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actually rent you the property have the
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landlord's identity and understand that
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he is the he or she is the owner use
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reputable rental platforms that verify
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listings and also be cautious of
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landlords request uh payments via wire
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transfer saying you better act quickly
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now or this is going to go or if they
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want you know cryptoc currency something
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like that and you can also check public
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records if you're not sure and confirm
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that the landlord is who they say they
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are um you know another thing is wire
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fraud in real estate transaction
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actually involves where cyber criminals
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they are tracking into email
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communications and then suddenly they'll
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change a bank account or something else
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like that we've actually had this happen
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to us a couple times i've had this
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happen to me personally not that I paid
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into it we've caught it and we've we've
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you know really told in my own business
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that we do we've told our customers that
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if you ever get a notice of a change in
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a bank account or bank account and you
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know suddenly someone's asking you to
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pay in Poland which I've had happen to
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me you know please notify us immediately
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and they do and then we call and we talk
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on the phone and then we we've been able
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to stop it but you need to be very
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vigilant with this does happen you know
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you receive an email or a text message
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being told to pay into this and this
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account um it appears to be slightly
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different than maybe what you got before
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really really check the email address in
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fact it could be almost the same email
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address with a slightly misspelled uh
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word that that's happened too um there
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could be some urgency in the message do
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this right now and it can contain typos
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or other type of errors this is why
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again it's important that you sort of
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meet the people in person you you know
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have them you know confirm this is the
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account you need to pay into uh this is
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you know that you really know that this
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is the proper account that you deal
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directly with your real estate agent you
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make sure that they know that it is or
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an escrow officer you know and get on
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the phone and call them and make sure
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this is correct do not rely solely on
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email instruction for financial
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transactions because this can happen
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it's happened like I said before to me
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use multifac factor um authentication
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for email accounts involved in real
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estate transactions and be skeptical of
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last minute changes to wiring
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instructions if before you were supposed
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to pay to a bank in California and
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suddenly now they're saying to oh pay to
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this bank in New York be very careful of
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that call somebody find out why are you
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making this change the other one is
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title fraud and you know the title fraud
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occurs when a scammer forges documents
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to claim property ownership then takes
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out loans against it or attempts to sell
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it you know how to spot title fraud is
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you stop receiving property tax bills or
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mortgage statements you receive
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unexpected for foreclosure notices you
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know for maybe your own property and
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there are unauthorized changes in
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property ownership records ways that you
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can avoid title fraud is you can
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regularly check your property records
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for unauthorized changes uh purchase
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title insurance to protect against these
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type of fraudulent claims use strong
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passwords and security measures to
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protect personal information and
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consider you know setting up property
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alerts with your local or registry
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office if um you're able to do that set
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it up if there's any changes being made
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that they automatically alert you just
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like the bank will there's also
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foreclosure relief scams where home
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owners that are facing foreclosure are
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often targeted by scammers who promise
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to help them save their homes in
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exchange for upfront fees you know these
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scammers you know either disappear with
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the money or they use deceptive tactics
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to take ownership of the property so you
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need to be really careful of this if
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you're looking at foreclosure do not pay
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anybody any type of money you know you
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know this could be like a company might
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say to you "We guarantee we're going to
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stop the foreclosure regardless of
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whatever the circumstances are." You're
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asked to sign over the deed to your
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property to them the company charges
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high upfront fees before providing any
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service and you're pressured to sign
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documents quickly without any type of
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review without talking to a lawyer
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anything like that how you can avoid
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this is quite simple you need to work
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directly with your mortgage lender or
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HUD approved housing counselor avoid
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companies that require any type of
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upfront fee or payment foreclosure
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assistance never sign over your property
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deed without consulting a proper
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attorney and be wary of offers that
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sound too good to be true because
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usually if they sound too good to be
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true they are too good to be true
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there's also home improvement scams and
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you know I recently heard of a friend of
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mine who had this where he was fixing
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his driveway and got so distressed when
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he saw the bill was double or triple of
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what he had that he literally died of a
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heart attack right there he was so angry
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you know make sure that the people that
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you're hiring to do work for you are
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actually not scammers that they're
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approve people that they're honest that
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they're people that will won't try to
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scam you for something some of the
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things to spot could be like you know
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maybe the the contractor demands full
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payment upfront uh the business lacks
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proper licensing or insurance they
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refuse to provide a written contract or
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the price is significantly lower than
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the competitors so you think you're
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getting a deal and often has this
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limited time offer and like I said you
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know maybe they do one thing but then
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they say "Oh but if there's these extras
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you're going to have to pay." And then
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you get the bill and it's three times
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higher than if you if you hired somebody
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else you know do your research verify
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the contractor look online reviews are
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not always the best because people can
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fake online reviews they can get their
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friends to give fake online reviews find
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a detailed contract you know have a
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detailed contract outline you know costs
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materials uh projected time frames all
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of those things avoid cash payments and
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always use traceable payment methods and
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you know so you can do all of those type
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of things and tell them that you
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disagree with it you know then go from
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there and get a lawyer or someone to
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help you with it sometimes if you just
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really tell them hey I disagree with
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these unplanned repairs that it
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significantly increased my cost and I
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will take this matter to an attorney a
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lot of times they may just disappear and
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say "Look I don't want to mess with
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this." And and and that's that will be
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the end of it another thing could be
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fake real estate agents or fake listings
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i find this is such a fascinating one
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recently I was reading something where
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somebody was talking about how their son
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was buying and selling their property on
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eBay and the person they sell it to now
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won't leave and it just seemed like a
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very messy thing i don't know if it was
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eBay or some other site you know
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generite like eBay doesn't allow you to
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buy and sell property you can actually
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use eBay to find uh people to you know
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that may be interested in your property
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but you can't do the real estate deal
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over it you need to basically do this
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you know deal in person they do not
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allow this you know some of the things
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to spot for a fake real estate agent is
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they lack proper credentials or a
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license they ask for payment upfront
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before showing you a property their
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online presence inconsistent or lacks
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reviews and they use high pressure
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tactics to push a sale you know you can
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avoid this by verify the agents license
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with your um state real estate
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commission if you're really not sure on
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this work with reputable real estate
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firms and referrals from trusted sources
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you know a lot of times your friends can
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be the best source ever if you know
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someone who recently bought or sold
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property you could ask them "Hey who do
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you work with?" Uh be skeptical deals
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that seem to good to be true you know
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another scam is a real estate investment
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scam where somebody's offering you an
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opportunity promising high returns with
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little risk they will convince you know
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the investor to buy into non-existent
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properties to take you know to fake or
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fake real estate projects you know the
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investment can guarantee extremely high
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returns with minimal risks there's
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pressure to invest quickly the uh seller
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lacks verifiable credentials
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again this goes back to everything that
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if something seems way too good to be
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true it probably is good too good to be
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true you need to do your research you
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need to check people out you need to
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make sure that they are who they say
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they are you need to check the bank
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accounts you need to check all the other
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information just to make sure you're not
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being scammed you need to protect
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yourself because scamming is very real
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there are people that are just set up
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and that's all they're set up to do is
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just try to scam you so you need to find
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a way to really be able to protect
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yourself from all of this if you would
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like to be able to learn more about this
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we've written a blog on this called
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common real estate scams and how to
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avoid them we will put a link in the
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description below for you to be able to
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check that out if you'd like to check it
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out if you have had somebody scam you
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you've lost money i am really sorry
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about that but it's something real which
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is really happening
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today so you need to understand all of
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these things i cannot emphasize enough
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to check everything check bank accounts
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check your real estate agent check
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everything that you're doing
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specifically as you you want to make
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sure that whatever money you're giving
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them is being protected and that you are
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buying exactly what you think you are
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this is Anita from Real Estate Crunch
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thank you so much for being part of our
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community we hope if you're not that
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you'll press the subscribe button and
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join with us we'd love to have you join
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with us thank you
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[Music]
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