The Texas Real Estate Commission has recently received enough complaints against a group in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to issue a warning to area Realtors. The individuals named in the complaints represent themselves as real estate agents and brokerage companies but do not hold Texas real estate licenses. And they are scamming people out of thousands of dollars.
According to TREC, "The public should be aware, owners of real property, tenants, buyers, and investors claim to have lost large sums of money related to the group's real estate schemes. Among other things, the complainants allege that the group takes and keeps deposits for properties over which they have no authority or no control. They allegedly do not pay rent to property owners on property they claim to manage for those owners, or take large security deposits from tenants and then keep the money. They take deposits or earnest money on properties that they claim are available for a short sale but in reality are days away from foreclosure. Apparently, much of the solicitation of potential victims has been conducted through www.craigslist.com. " Anyone can verify whether a person actually holds a Texas real estate license by searching their name on TREC's website at http://www.trec.state.tx.us/. Agents with reputable companies can typically be found on web sites that include their photo to verify that they are who they say they are.
The TREC alert also adds, "The group allegedly hires unsuspecting people to perform real estate brokerage services, such as showing real properties for sale or lease and writing contracts or leases, and misrepresents to the “employees” that a real estate license is not required in order to perform those services. These employees are also apparently solicited via craigslist. " [where: 75230]
4 comments:
One thing that I would always do in similar situations like this is to always double check. If I'd get a real estate agent or company, I'd probably contact the state board and see if they are accredited or licensed to be a real estate company. That is one way to do it, another way is to check out the internet. They usually have records of people's experiences with agents and companies.
As for me, I always google the name of the person I'm speaking with or ask for any other type of credentials for that matter. Because with the way things are going today, it's just so easy for some people to scam their way out of this economy.
Thanks for writing such a good article, I stumbled onto your blog and read a few post. I like your style of writing...
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