WARNING... WARNING... WARNING... WARNING... WARNING...
I have removed all of my craigslist.com postings and will only be posting them there again through "Postlests.com".
If you do not find my ads at "IRentHomes.NET", "Zillow.com", "HotPads.com", "Rentals.com" or another site thru "Postlets.com", please contact me directly thru my website http://IRentHomes.NET . Thanks, The REAL Boone Fowler.
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As many of us know and or have heard Craig’s List Can be a great place to find things. For instance one of the fastest and best ways in the universe to find a scammer, liar, cheat, or thief is by looking at three quarters of the real estate / rental ads listed there. Just in case you did not know this... There are Scammers currently using Craigslist.com trying to steal Real Estate Agents/Realtors good names and business.
For instance, I recently had someone hijack 20 of my listings and post them under a similar email address. The scammer replied to the prospective tenants that they just had to move to Africa in a hurry and they loved their house and it was a loss to let it go for so much under the average rents, but they had to do it... “All you have to do is wire me the 1st months’ rent and you can move it.” LOVE IT, not! You can image my surprise when I started to receive calls from people stupid enough to actually send the scammers money. Thank goodness that there are some smart people who dug a bit deeper and called wondering why I was renting the same place for 3 or 4 hundred more a month, then accusing me of running a scam. Nice. Of course I have filed complaints with Craigslist.com, and ICCC about this but they do not seem to be doing anything and Craigslist is continuing to let scammers lie and steal. It’s a wonder a legitimate agent can conduct any business at all.
And yet we real estate professionals persist in placing ads on this notorious site... why? Is it the prodigious number of hits, the “free” factor, the fact we actually get calls... YES, that sort of sums it up. We actually get calls. Poop!
So, what can we do to quash the piracy of our listings? I have some ideas...
1.) PLEASE DO NOT POST AN AD WITHOUT A PICTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS CARD SO PEOPLE KNOW IT’S YOU. - As you may have noticed I have started placing my photo business card on all of my listings, even here on Zillow.
2.) I have removed all of my craigslist.com postings and will only be posting there through trusted intermediaries like MLS, Zillow, and Postlets.
3.) And I place disclaimers like this in my ads... “If you do not find my ads at "IRentHomes.NET", "Zillow.com", "HotPads.com", "Rentals.com" or another site thru "Postlets.com", please contact me thru my website http://IRentHomes.NET”
In short, if you have to post thru the evil free real-estate scammer empire, PLEASE USE COMMON SENSE. AND FOR HEAVENS SAKE, DO NOT SEND ANYONE INFO AND/OR MONEY IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THEM OR THEY CAN NOT PROVE THEY ARE WHO THEY SAY THEY ARE.
Thanks,
Boone Fowler, PMP
