![]() Layne recommends using to verify an agent’s credentials and license. “Many people don’t understand how agents get paid, but when it comes to the sale of a home, the seller takes care of both the selling agent’s fee and the buyer’s agent’s fee,” said Seema Layne, a partner on the Kaufman Realty Team at Keller Williams Boston Southwest. Home shoppers also should be on the lookout for unscrupulous agents, including those who ask clients to pay them upfront to work with them. It can be concerning “if someone’s pressuring you to do something and you don’t have the ability to read the documents, and slow down, and make sure that the T’s are crossed and the I’s are dotted,” she said. She also warned against sellers who pressure buyers to rush into a transaction. “So, if you think you’re getting a deal that’s too good to be true, it probably is.” “The market’s really hot right now, and it’s hard to find a true deal in a market like this,” she said. ![]() Helman said renters and buyers also should be extremely careful about unrealistic prices and great deals. There are other red flags buyers and renters should be aware of before making payments to anyone, the attorney general’s office advises, including poorly written ads and requests for cash payments, which aren’t traceable. On its website, the attorney general’s office advises consumers never to “send a wire transfer, cashier’s check, or funds transfer to someone you’ve only met online” and not to “disclose your Social Security number or PayPal information to someone you’ve only met online.”įoy agreed: “Never send money or sign a contract having your whole conversation over text or e-mail. Helman said her company uses a secure website and phone calls to ensure that the money is going to the right place. Jilliene Helman, CEO of RealtyMogul, a crowdfunding investment platform, said that buyers should always verify instructions when wiring money and that those instructions should never come via e-mail. Scammers intercept e-mails intended for buyers or renters and tell them to wire the money elsewhere or through a different method, often citing technology issues, Foy said. The attorney general’s office calls for “inspecting an apartment carefully before signing a lease or paying a deposit.”Īnother common scam relates to phishing and wire fraud. Healey’s office told the Globe last week that it has received several such complaints, but despite the shift to virtual tours early on in the pandemic, there has not been an increase in real estate fraud overall, even though it is easier for con artists to scam prospective buyers with no face-to-face meetings. ![]() “This scam is the rental market equivalent of catfishing, and while it’s not new, we want the public to be aware of the increased risks during the pandemic,” Maura Healey, Massachusetts attorney general, said in an online statement in 2020.
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