House renters - a question - anyone heard of an out of country landlord?

[Hawkeye-X]

I have a friend that is looking to rent a house, a nice looking house here:

http://tinyurl.com/3urjce

Then she got an email from what is supposed to be the house owner that is a Pastor in West Africa.

Raised one red flag. I read the e-mail over and appeared to be OK from my end. No request for bank information or anything.

Then she sent me the 2nd email from the same owner, and it raised another flag: Western Union payment request.

I realize that if it's common among house renters (I usually give a check) to send money by WU, so I am asking the house renters what they think?

I even checked the property tax records - it confirmed the same name by the email.

PM me if you want to see samples of both emails...

The rent is reasonable - $1,000/month with a $500 security deposit.

[Heddi]

1. Tell her to run, do not walk

The Nigerian scammers have been getting creative.

About a year ago we were looking at renting a place and had found a place on craigslist. Emailed the guy and it was the same thing...I live out of the country, need money order or western union blah blah. And the rent was ridiculously cheap. Those were three red flags. I passed on it because this apartment should be $3000 a month easily and was being rented for 1000?

Well thank god I went with my gut---the entire listing was stolen from another ad on craigslist. In many cases the pictures are just pulled from the internet...fake rentals.

I read about this also on a board about New York City renting. This is very popular there and why when attempting to rent in NYC you should go through a broker. One person showed 10 different "rentals" that were being "rented" by Nigerian Scam Artists for 1/3 of their rent price that were actually really being rented by other agents/brokers.

I would be very careful with this. I understand that the names on the deeds are the same, but the Western Union bit is a bit unnerving as she has no legal way of getting that $$ back if the deal falls through

[Critters2]

2. If the landlord is out of the country, arrangements should be made for her to pay rent to an

individual in this country--an attorney, a bank trust manager, a property management company, someone. She should NOT send money via WU to someone she doesn't know personally.

[flvegan]

3. Check the property appraiser's website.

They should have the owner listed with their address. If it's in West Africa, it may be legit. You need more than a name, you need the address the owner lives at.

[Hawkeye-X]

4. I did. Denver City and County says that this guy is legit

and owns the house stated. I wonder, if I called him at his home, would he say he's away doing a crusade?

Hawkeye-X

[philosophie_en_rose]

8. Anyone can claim to be the owner, though.

The problem with this transaction is that there's no remedy, if this turns out to be someone impersonating the owners.

[no name no slogan]

5. The condo above mine is owned by an out of country landlord

He is a professor of some sort, and spends several months of the year overseas, and lives in the condo the other months. So it's not unheard of.

The guy who owns the unit upstairs is represented by his brother at tenant meetings-- does the house owner have a local representative, to handle the upkeep, etc.?

[XemaSab]

6. Sounds REALLY sketchy

If it was Canada, I wouldn't be as sketched, but Africa?

No way.

[philosophie_en_rose]

7. It's a scam.

I think I've seen that exact house on a news report about housing scams. Do NOT send money to this guy.

I don't live in Colorado, but $1000 for that kind of house seems too good to be true.

Think about it. This guy is out of the country. What if something needs to be fixed or your friends need to sue him? How in the world is that going to happen, if he doesn't have a local agent to deal with?

If I were your friends, I'd pass or at least contact a real estate agent in the area to get more information.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

9. I had one once... biggest pain in the ass

ever... even if not a scam, it is a hassle waiting to happen

[harmonicon]

10. I've heard of it, but this sounds like a scam to me

My landlord is out of the country for a few months out of the year, so I guess that sort of counts.

A friend of mine, when he lived in France, rented an apartment from an American who owned the French apartment.

That being said, this sounds very fishy. I would at least want someone - it could just be a friend - have the owner get a person to show them around the property and have a local contact before sending any money. I wouldn't rent a place without seeing, unless it was month-to-month rent and I could get out if it were crap, but not seeing it, and having it (supposedly) foreign-owned = NO. FUCKING. WAY.

[grasswire]

11. I've seen news stories about false rentals lately...

....where the person advertising the rental doesn't actually own it -- just takes the money and disappears. Usually the price is too good to be true, and the renter often doesn't get to see the interior except in some photos that actually have been lifted from a legit source.

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