The real estate industry is highly profitable, which is one of the reasons why many scammers and fake real estate agents are posing as the real ones. As a responsible buyer, seller, or renter, you should be aware of the differences between real and fake real estate agents. However, due to technological advances, some clients tend to miss the differences.
Although it’s an honest mistake, it can cost you a lot of money even if you only made a mistake once. So, if you want to avoid it from happening, you should be familiar with the most common marketing tactics of fake real estate agents. In this article, we’ll help you recognise these marketing tactics to help you become more alert when it comes to real estate matters.
1. Low Price
If you’re planning to buy a property, you should know that it’s hard to find cheap ones that are ideal for your needs and preferences. So, if you finally found one, and it’s at a very low rate, you should doubt its authenticity first before you get all excited.
When you’re validating its authenticity, you should search for other similar properties, preferably around the area where you found the low-rate property you’re eyeing. Once you see that there’s a significant difference between the prices of the two similar properties, it’s best to just move one and look for other options.
However, if you can’t find any similar property, you can also enquire, but be careful when communicating with the real estate agent, especially if you’re unsure of whether the property is legitimate or not.
2. Lack of Proper Documentation
Once you contact the real estate agent, you can ask for proper documentation, and other essentials (such as rental agreements or legal clearances). If they can’t provide proper documentation, it can be the first sign that the property isn’t real, or they don’t have access to the documents.
On the other hand, you can also encounter scammers providing fake documents. So, it’s best if you can insist that they provide a certified true copy. However, some individuals can forge the certification of true copy, so it’s best to consult with a legal expert to ensure the legitimacy of the papers.
3. Misleading Advertising
Nowadays, scammers utilise advanced technology and there are instances when it’s hard to spot whether an advertisement is real. In addition, they use false claims, stolen photos, and fake reviews just to entice their target audience.
So, before you can excited by an advertisement that seems too good to be true, you should do the necessary ways to spot whether it’s fake first. Some of the things you can do to identify its authenticity include conducting a reverse image search, checking the online activities of the “real estate agent”, and ignoring posts with incomplete information.
4. Demanding Upfront and Untraceable Payments
Scammers who are posing as real estate agents often pressure their prospective clients to pay in advance. Usually, they insist that the payment is done through untraceable methods, such as wire transfers.
Once the payment has been made, they will disappear, and you won’t be able to find them anymore. So, before making payments, you should verify the legitimacy of the property and the real estate agent. In addition, there’s no such thing as payments done through wire transfers. Usually, a non-scammer would ask for bank cheques or other traceable payment methods.
5. High-Pressure Sales Tactics
Aside from insisting on paying right away, scammers also use high-pressure sales tactics where they claim that the property has many interested parties. Additionally, there are also instances when they say that the property is only available for a limited time, so you should get it right away.
When you encounter such claims, it’s best to just look for other options instead of taking the risk of diving into a purchase that you’re unsure of.
6. Fake Credentials and Companies
Although scammers posing as real estate against may present websites, names of agencies, or business cards, it doesn’t mean that they’re real. If you’re having doubts about whether the identity documentation they presented is real, there are ways to verify them. These include looking for their names on real estate organisations or affiliations, verifying their licence and registration, and contacting the real estate company for their employment.
Protecting Yourself Against Scams
If you don’t want to encounter scammers posing as real estate agents, you should do thorough research, hire a legit real estate agent or legal adviser, and always ask for references. The more you’re aware of the process, the less the possibility that you’ll encounter these scammers.
Final Thoughts
Nowadays, it’s easier to create fake information and advertisements, especially with the help of AI and other tools. By staying vigilant, and knowing the ways to recognise the common marketing tactics of scammers, you can keep yourself safe from being tricked.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aliana Baraquio is a web content writer working for Bennett Property, a family-owned company offering a full range of property services, including Sales, Leasing, and Development in Sydney’s Northwest. As a writer, she is passionate about providing good quality articles to help readers make the right choice.