Take More Care in Tough Times
By John N. Frank
It’s always important to be vigilant in your business dealings and to be on the look out for unscrupulous clients and vendors, but maybe more so in tough times that bring out flim-flam artists preying on people in difficult situations.
Real estate pros I spoke with this week in Sacramento mentioned two schemes they think their fellow professionals should be aware of.
The first involves unscrupulous lenders. One panel member said she has had potential clients come to her saying they planned to buy a second house and to then walk away from the underwater mortgage on their first home. They claimed a lender had told them they could get a mortgage for the new house while their credit was still clean and then walk away from the first loan with no repercussions. She refused to deal with them and warned others to be on the lookout for that.
A second scam involves training classes that promise big results but don’t deliver. One participant in our REALTOR® magazine reader panel noted he had paid $3,000 to a trainer promising to help him navigate the changing world of real estate technology only to have the trainer fail to deliver any training.
The bottom line: Deals that seem too good to be true probably are. And before you sign over money to anyone, get references from others who have used that service.
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