Austin Craigslist – A Real Estate Advertising Sewer

29
Jun

Austin Craigslist – A Real Estate Advertising Sewer

We don’t post ads on Craigslist. I’m not sure why any informed buyer, renter or seller would use Craigslist in Austin anymore, as it’s become a sewer of real estate scams and spammy garbage ads. If that’s not bad enough, Craigslist real estate ads in Austin represent the #1 subject of Ethics Complaints at the Austin Board of Realtors, as agents ignorant of advertising rules and the code of ethics try to market other agents’ listings. In short, the real estate section of Austin Craigslist has become a scourge and a menace to the Austin community.

Before anyone emails me or posts a comment about how great Craigslist is in your community, don’t bother. I know it works well in some communities. And I’m sure there are anecdotal instances of good outcomes and success stories in Austin. But it’s worthless as far as I’m concerned.

A scammer today posted our listing for 6010 Long Champ on Craigslist For Rent at $700/mo. This is a $2,400/mo. home in Westlake, for which the $700 price should have been red flag, yet at least 1 person we know of believed the ad. Later they forwarded the correspondence to us after concluding it was a scam.

Tenant Prospect Responding to Scam Ad (personal info altered/removed as indicated:

Good morning,

My husband and I are interested in seeing this home. The price & location are perfect for us –

Please contact us anytime at {contact info}

The scammer replied with the following (unaltered except is was all blue bold text):

Hello,

God bless you for your interest about my house,yes is still available for rent. I am renting this house to a responsible and neat person or family who has the fear of God and treat my house as his or her own.Presently I and my wife have work for USAID.USAID works in agriculture, democracy & governance, economic growth, the environment, education, health, global partnerships, and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries to provide a better future for all. USAID still faces an uncertain future. In many developing countries, HIV/AIDS and health issues are having a dramatic impact on social cohesiveness and economic strength, blocking the very development goals we seek. Virtually all the new democracies in the world today are fragile; others are democracies more in name than substance. Nearly a quarter of the people living in developing countries, or about one billion people, live in absolute poverty. There are a host of other threats – ranging from terrorism to infectious disease and violent conflict – that challenge us and the developing nations we seek to help.Here is USAID Web address:-www.usaid.gov USAID efforts to foster world-wide economic growth and increased trade,and tackling cross-border issues such as the spread of HIV/AIDS and trafficking in persons.To safe the live of peoples from primitive death that claims the souls of younger ages as a result of casual sex gave us transfer to West Africa and we will be away for 8 years or more and this is why we are actually renting out house,so if you are interested and will take good care of our house then we will be ready to accept you as our future tenant and family friend. If you really impress me by taking good care of our house then you will be allowed to stay as long as you wish okay. This is the address of the Place: 6010 Long Champ Court #105, Austin TX 78746 So get back to me on how you could take care of our house or perhaps experience you have in renting home. Hope you are okay with the price of US$700/month and $500 for security deposit with hydro, heat laundry facilities, air condition and so on. PETS ARE WELCOME!

I am looking forward to hear from you ASAP so that i can forward you an application to fill out and discuss on how to get the house for rent, also are you ready to rent it now or when? Await your reply.

Regards,

The prospect further responded, in earnest:

We are very interested in renting your home. My wife & I keep our home very clean, organized and neat (inside & out).We have a (x) year old {child}, a dog (x years old) & a cat (x years old). We are looking to move in May of this year, but may be able to rent from you sooner.

We are looking for a home in a nice neighborhood with great schools for our {child} to attend. We are looking to rent long term (5 + years) since I am several years out from finishing my engineering degree.

My wife works from home and she enjoys keeping our home nice. She loves to garden/take care of the yard as well.

We would like to know how quickly you need someone. We currently live in {Compass Direction} Austin … and our {child} will not finish {school grade} until May. We are not opposed to commuting her to school if this works out.

We thank you for taking the time to respond.

And, finally, the response from the scammer:

Hello,

You are welcome,It is good to hear from you with this detail. The house is vacant now and all the utilities are included in the month rent. The property was for sale while i was in USA but i decided to lease it when i got transfered to Africa. Below are some questions that I need you to answer ,so that we can discuss further.Like you know,i have the keys and documents to the house here in Africa,You can go check the neighborhood viewing the house from the outside and get back to me for furtherdiscussion. It is available for a long lease as I intend buying a new home on getting back to the state.

RENT APPLICATION FORM

***** Private & Confidential *****

1)Your Full Name________________________

2)Current Address_______________________

3)Phone Number (________)

4)State________________

5)City__________________

6) Zip______________

7)Are you married______________________

8)How many people will be living in the Apartment__________

9)Do you have a pet______________

10)Do you have a car______________________

11)Occupation______________

12)Email Address:_________________

13)How long lease are you looking for______________

14)How soon do you intend moving in________________

15)Reason for relocation___________________

Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file incase of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you. Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the key to you, we do not see yet and only putting everything into Gods hand, so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this. Thanks and God Bless You.

Thankfully, at this point the potential victim decided something was sketchy and starting researching a bit more, found our listing and contact info, and reported the scam to us.

Lesson learned: If you’re buying or renting, and the deal seems to good to be true, and the landlord or seller has poor grammar and is from Africa, it’s a scam. Nothing in Westlake rents for $700.

I had the same thing happen with another rental listing in Central Austin last year, though those people actually contacted me directly, set an appointment, said “we’ll take it” upon seeing it, and only after I started going over the application process and confirming the deposit and rent amounts did they make weird faces and say “we thought it was $700/mo”. They’d apparently driven by and called me from the sign.

After I pressed them on it, they admitted the price “seemed way too good to be true, but we were still hoping …”

Real Estate is particularly vulnerable to scammers on Craigslist, especially rentals. And it’s easy for them to surf Realtor.com. AustinHomeSearch.com or any of the other online real estate sites, download photos and create the scam ad. There is nothing we can do short of plastering an obnoxious watermark with our company name across every MLS photo, and we can’t do that because it violates the terms of the MLS agreement. So we just have to put up with this illegal activity permanently I suppose.

Meanwhile, of all the real listings I have entered entered into Craigslist in the past, none have generated a lead the resulted in a sale or lease. Craigslist just doesn’t work well in Austin for some reason.

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