ינהאַלט
וואונדער פון אַ וווינונג איר קענען נישט קויפן - אָדער אפילו פאַרדינען
The housing issue has spoiled many. After all, everything related to real estate is very expensive. We’ve rounded up the most popular tricks of scammers trying to cash in on housing deals.
Unscrupulous realtors, apartment owners and simply scammers are in an eternal search for ideas how to deceive gullible people who are planning to rent or buy housing. How not to make yourself problems with the housing issue, we deal with it together with a professional.
Realtor, real estate agent
There are several nuances that are important to pay attention to when buying or renting a home. Before making a deal, check the number of apartment owners. You should be intimidated by the frequent change of owners. The second alarm bell is a suspiciously many persons registered in the apartment. After all, if the family is large, more often than not, such a priority has a house or apartment with a larger area than your possible future housing.
The third point of your attention is the price. It should be adequate, not lower and not higher than the average for the housing market. Naturally, prices may differ, but this difference should not be higher than 15% of the cost of such housing.
But there are also particular, more subtle cases.
Sign 1: bad biography
Be sure to study the documents more carefully and consult with a specialist if the apartment you plan to buy is inherited or minor children are registered in it, who can only be discharged by a court decision. Later, other heirs may appear, about whom you were not aware, and the fuss with the discharge of children may take a long time.
In order not to get involved with all sorts of relatives of the owner of the apartment, ask him to notarize in the documents the fact that if applicants for the living space appear, the owner himself will resolve all issues with them without the participation of a third party, that is, you.
Also, a problem apartment is the one in which the refuseniks from privatization or people from the asocial category lived: with alcohol, drugs, gambling and any other addiction. It may be revealed that the apartment is lost or mortgaged. You don’t need these problems at all!
Sign 2: haste and manipulation
If they rush you, do not allow you to weigh all the pros and cons, prevent you from thinking everything thoroughly and in detail, insist on an immediate decision, use manipulative techniques like “yes, while you think, we will sell to others tomorrow,” then something is here unclean.
Sign 3: money up front
This is one of the clearest signs that you have run into a scammer. If the seller or the landlord formulates the conditions in the classic “cash today, deal tomorrow”, your answer should only be a firm “no”. In no case should you go for such a thing, otherwise you risk saying goodbye to money. And okay, if you rent a house, that is, pay a deposit (or two) equal to the amount of the rent. At least you won’t go broke on this. It’s very bad if this is a purchase transaction and you give the big sum to the scammers.
Sign 4: incapacitated owners
Be sure to find out if the owner is registered with a mental dispensary, otherwise you may run into a banal scammers’ divorce. After the purchase, more often on the same day, the relatives or guardians of the mentally ill homeowner turn to treatment centers with complaints that the health condition of the apartment owner has deteriorated sharply. And later they prove through the court that at the time of the transaction, the owner was not himself and was not going to sell the apartment. So the buyer can be left without money and without an apartment, because the transaction is canceled.
No money – because the same owner can deny the fact that he received money from you. If it was cash, and the fact of the transfer of funds was not documented anywhere, then you will have to prove for a long time and difficult that you did give the money.
Sign 5: the apartment is divided upon divorce
Suddenly, after buying or renting an apartment, an unknown person may appear with a demand to vacate the living space. This will be the owner’s former spouse. If the housing was purchased in marriage, then, according to the law, the former partner has the right to his share. In order not to get into such situations, in the contract of sale or rental of housing, ask the owner to note in writing that the owner was not married at the time of purchase of the property. If it is later revealed that this is not true, it will be the owner’s fault, not you. He will be considered a fraud, and you will be a victim. Spoil your nerves, but at least you won’t be left without money.
These are just the main factors that buyers and tenants must consider. There are also smaller, but no less dangerous pitfalls in this matter. For example, the buyer needs to make sure that there was no illegal redevelopment in the apartment, that there are no debts to pay for the communal apartment, whether the apartment has been encumbered, whether it is under arrest.
Carefully check all the documents, collect the history of the apartment, analyze the supply market and be vigilant!