L.A. apartment owners charged with allegedly evicting tenants, then renting their units via Airbnb

After years of watching the supply of affordable housing plummet, evictions and demolitions surge and landlords score quick profits with short-term rentals, Los Angeles officials are striking back.

For the first time, the city attorney’s office has filed criminal charges alleging that a building’s owners offered units for rent on Airbnb after booting out tenants, officials said Monday.

The misdemeanor charges, along with civil suits filed against the owners of three other buildings, are intended to send a signal to other landlords breaking city rent control laws as L.A. confronts an affordable-housing crisis.

“Given that shortage of affordable housing, illegally converting rental units to hotels or short-rentals has got to stop,” City Atty. Mike Feuer said at a news conference Monday. “My office is going to intervene to preserve rent-stabilized units and restore those units when we allege they’ve been unlawfully taken off the market.”

It’s unknown how many illegal short-term rentals are operating in L.A., but Feuer said his office has made it a priority to investigate such complaints.

Carol J. Alsman and LSJB Investments LLC, who own a four-unit building at 500 N. Genesee Ave. in the Fairfax district, were charged last week with six misdemeanor counts of violating city zoning, building code and rent-control laws.

The complaint alleges that they evicted tenants under the Ellis Act, a state law that allows landlords to get out of the rental business. The law requires landlords to pay for relocation fees and notify tenants if they intend to re-rent the units within five years.

The owners later rented those units for more than $550 a night through Airbnb and failed to allow former tenants an opportunity to re-rent those units, the complaint alleges.

“Obviously there is a great profit to be made if you could, on your whim, change your apartment unit into a nightly hotel rental,” Feuer said.

The cases underscore the depths of the city’s housing crisis. More than 1,000 rent-controlled apartments in the city were removed from the market last year — a nearly threefold increase since 2013, an analysis of housing data found earlier this year. Evictions from such units have doubled over the same time.

Across L.A., more than 20,000 rent-controlled units have been taken off the market since 2001, city records show.

Tenant advocates say the removal of such units has hurt the supply of affordable housing at a time when L.A. has become one of the least affordable cities in the country.

Three evicted tenants sued the owners of the Genesee building last year after they noticed their units listed on Airbnb weeks after they moved out. The civil case is still pending.

Alsman could not be reached for comment.

Former Genesee tenant Carrie Kirshman said she believes the city attorney filing bolsters her claim that her old apartment was illegally re-rented.

“Landlords need to know that there are consequences to these kind of actions,” Kirshman said.

Randy Renick, an attorney representing tenants at the Genesee Avenue building, said it’s encouraging that the city attorney's office is taking the issue seriously, but said it should also go after short-term rental sites.

“Without Airbnb, none of these landlords would be engaging in this scam,” Renick said.

In a statement, Airbnb spokeswoman Alison Schumer said that “we strongly oppose real estate speculators who illegally evict tenants and abuse platforms like ours in search of a quick buck.”

A two-bedroom apartment in the Genesee Avenue building was also listed on HomeAway on Monday for more than $400 a night, a listing on the short-term rental company’s website shows.

The city attorney’s office said it will send a list of Ellis Act properties to Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms to prevent listing of similar properties.

Rent control in L.A. primarily applies to multifamily buildings built before October 1978. When a new tenant moves in, a landlord can set the rent as high as someone is willing to pay, but rent increases in subsequent years would be capped — recently at 3%.

Tenants in rent-controlled buildings have strong protections against eviction to ensure landlords can't kick them out to charge higher market rents.

But under the Ellis Act, passed in 1985, landlords are able to evict tenants if they intend to either take the housing off the rental market or demolish the building to put up new apartments.

The practice has sparked a backlash in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Efforts in recent years by state legislators to amend the law failed amid opposition from the real estate industry.

The San Francisco city attorney’s office in 2014 filed civil suits against owners of two rent-controlled properties for evicting tenants and illegally converting them to short-term rentals. The landlords settled last year for nearly $400,000, according to the city attorney’s office.

On Monday, Feuer also filed civil suits against the owners of three rent-controlled apartment buildings, alleging that the property owners are illegally operating and advertising them as hotels.

They include two properties on Ocean Front Walk in Venice and one on North Van Ness Avenue in Hollywood. The three buildings have more than 120 units, according to the city attorney’s office.

The lawsuits seek a court-appointed receiver to operate the three properties until they are brought into compliance, as well as restitution and civil penalties.

Renting out apartments or houses for short stays is illegal in many residential areas, according to city planning officials. The housing department received dozens of complaints about "illegal usage" of apartment buildings last year, officials said.

Residents have long complained that the city has failed to take action against such rentals. Feuer said his attorneys prosecuted the cases because they were able to substantiate complaints brought forward in enforcement orders filed by the city housing department.

City leaders have proposed changes to rein in short-term rental abuses, such as limiting people to only rent out their primary residence for up to 120 days a year.

Hosts would also be barred from offering apartments that fall under rent stabilization or affordable-housing covenants, and would have to pay the same kind of lodging taxes as hotels, which would go into a city fund for affordable housing.

"Simple regulations that allow honest home-sharing while making it easier to go after rogue operators who are running de facto hotels will help protect affordable housing and the character of our neighborhoods,” Councilman Mike Bonin said.

Source: LA Times, Ben Poston
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-landlords-illegal-rentals-20160620-snap-story.html

Rental Scams That Anyone Can Fall For—and How to Avoid Them

The rental market is tough enough without having to deal with fake ads and crooks looking to steal your money. But it happens all the time. And it’s alarmingly easy for these rental scams to rope in even the smartest among us.

Take, for example, Angela Farrell, a single mom in West Chester, OH. She recently found a perfect rental house for her family—the price was good and the landlord seemed nice. She even drove by the place to check it out.

But there was a catch: The landlord was out of town and couldn’t let her in to see the inside. Still, she’d talked to him a few times and she knew the house was real—what was the harm? So she forked over the deposit money.

And that’s when the “landlord” disappeared with her $600 deposit.

So how do you keep it from happening to you?

To beat a scammer, you need to think like a scammer. Here are a few trademark secrets behind those rental swindles—and how you can beat them at their own game.

1. They ‘hijack’ real ads

It’s so easy for fraudsters to trick you because they’re using real ads.

“They don’t want to work that hard, and they don’t have to,” says Michael Monteiro, CEO and co-founder of property management software company Buildium. “They’re mostly stealing real rental ads, copying the text and the images, and making some minor tweaks—something as small as changing the rent amount.”

It’s something Monteiro has dealt with firsthand. When his company was first creating its rental platform, crooks infiltrated it and stole the company’s ads.

And they aren’t always using rental ads.

“They’re finding a house that’s for sale, and they’re turning it into a rental ad,” he says.

2. They cast a wide net

Think you’re safe with one rental site but not another? Think again.

“These guys aren’t just posting on one site. They’ll use a syndication tool—a platform that posts one listing to multiple locations—to cast a wide net,” Monteiro says.

And they do it with gusto. Most scammers post dozens of ads on dozens of sites, bagging as much cash as they can before retreating.

3. The landlord is suspiciously unavailable

When you reach out to the “landlord” by email, pay close attention to how the conversation feels.

“If you’re going back and forth with a prospective landlord, and the email has lots of grammatical errors and typos, that is a red flag,” Monteiro says.

If the email doesn’t seem too fishy, set up a time to meet the landlord and view the property.

The landlord may try to put off meeting you entirely. It’s possible he’ll have a story about being out of town (in Farrell’s case, the fake landlord told her he was out of the country on missionary work) and say he needs to rent out the place ASAP. If he doesn’t want to meet you at all, that’s a clear sign to cease communication immediately.

If the landlord is willing to meet you, that still isn’t proof that everything is on the up and up. You need to go inside the rental property first.

“Some scammers will show up at the property. They may even produce a set of keys, but then something happens and you won’t be able to actually get inside,” Monteiro says.

How to avoid fake listings

So how do you win? The best thing you can do is not contact the scammer in the first place, but “it isn’t always easy to spot a scam listing just by looking at it,” Monteiro says.

To help weed things out, turn to the all-powerful internet search.

First, if you can get the address, search for it. If the address pops up “for sale,” that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a scam; many owners will try to rent and sell a property at the same time. But you should be cautious if you want to proceed.
No address? Try searching for the images. Most browsers give you this option. In Chrome, for example, right-click on the image, scroll to “Search Google for image,” and you’ll see a list of search results that also used the picture. Seeing it on multiple sites? Open up a few, and see if the ad is the same or if rent prices and contact info vary widely.

Protect your bank account

At some point, a con artist is going to want money from you—that’s the point, right?

In most cases, the fraudster will ask you to wire money after he’s “unable” to meet you. He might tell you he’ll mail you the keys, or he’ll meet you the day you’re supposed to move in.

If you did meet the landlord but couldn’t get in to see the rental, he might tell you he’s working on getting the keys but needs a deposit upfront to hold the place. It’s a tight rental market, after all.

Whether he’s hoping to play into your empathy or your fear of not finding another rental as good as this one, the goal is to get your money either wired, in cash, or through a money order before you sign any legal documents. Why?

“There really is not much you can do then. Once you wire the money, it is essentially gone,” Monteiro says.

And that’s easy to avoid: Don’t do it.

“Don’t give money to anyone you haven’t met,” Monteiro says. “And don’t give them any money until you’ve seen in the rental.”

Even then, don’t agree to pay anything in advance of signing the lease unless you can get a receipt or other legally binding document that proves you paid. And if you want to be really safe, insist on paying by check.

“At least you can cancel a personal check,” Monteiro says.

Source: Realtor.com, Angela Colley
http://www.realtor.com/advice/rent/rental-scams-and-how-to-avoid/

BBB warning of real estate scheme targeting home buyers

BBB warning of real estate scheme targeting home buyers

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission are warning residents of a new scheme that targets home buyers as they’re preparing to close on their property.

Because of the new scam, the FTC said your bank account could be wiped out in minutes.

“If you’re in the very stressful situation of buying a new home, oftentimes you are moving so quickly in the process that you’re not sure exactly what to do or where to go – or who to write the check out to,” said Paula Fleming with the BBB. “And scam artists are taking advantage of this.”

According to the BBB and FTC, hackers have been breaking into some buyers’ and real estate agents’ email accounts to get information about upcoming real estate transactions.

Then, the hackers send emails to the home buyers posing as a real estate agent or someone from a title company.

The scammers instruct the home buyer to wire closing costs to a certain account – and people are falling for it because the emails look official.

“Oftentimes, people don’t realize they’ve been duped until they sit down to actually sign off on the paperwork,” Fleming said. “And they they’re asked for the check and they say we’ve already wired the money.”

According to Fleming, once you wire the money, you’re more than likely not going to get it back.

Here’s how to protect yourself:

Don’t answer unsolicited emails – and never email financial information because email is not secure.
If you do receive an official-looking email and you have questions about it, your best bet is to pick up the phone and call your real estate agent. He or she will be able to quickly tell you if the email is legitimate.

Source: WPRI.com Eyewitness News, Susan Campbell
http://wpri.com/2016/05/17/bbb-warning-of-real-estate-scheme-targeting-home-buyers/

Airbnb hosts are having a hard time gouging guests for the Super Bowl

Apparently, there are too many people here in the Silicon Valley that are trying to take advantage and over charge people looking for a place to stay for the Super Bowl. There greed is backfiring on them it looks like.


Airbnb envisions everyone’s home as the hotel room of the future — a cheap and unique place to crash in almost every country in the world at any time. But in places where hotels are booked solid, Airbnb is becoming a victim of its own success. For Super Bowl 50, the short-term rental service is being flooded with eager hosts trying to turn a short weekend for the country’s most-watched television event into a gold mine. The bad news: it’s not going to work.

There are simply too many rooms and not enough guests. "You get a flood of people listing their places and nobody looks at it," says Ian McHenry, a co-founder of research firm Beyond Pricing, which sells rental hosts a service to help calculate how much they should charge. "There’s way too much supply in the market." Of the nearly 10,000 currently active Airbnb listings in the Bay Area this weekend, around 60 percent are still available, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

McHenry says it’s part of a common cycle with mammoth events like the Super Bowl. NFL owners vote, nearly three years prior to kickoff, on a location in the US, this time picking the small city of Santa Clara about 45 miles south of San Francisco. The game, always the first Sunday in February, immediately vacuums up more than half of all hotel rooms in the area over the course of the next 24 months, with the NFL booking up blocks upon blocks for players, management, and guests, according to the Super Bowl Host Committee.

Any free hotel space left for that week is either kept off the market or the hotels raise the price of a room north of $1,000 a night. News of the hotel crunch then makes it way into headlines around the country, which causes local residents to put their places up on short-term rental services like Airbnb hoping to make a killing.

It’s an especially thorny issue for San Francisco, whose influx of tech workers has pushed average apartment rates up more than 50 percent since 2010. As a result, San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area has been transformed into a region of early-adopters and the hottest launch locale for the giants of the on-demand economy, including Airbnb and Uber. If any destination has become accustomed to outrageous accommodation prices, it’s San Francisco. This time, however, the cycle has backfired, McHenry adds.

Super Bowl 50 isn’t like San Diego Comic-Con or the SXSW in Austin. Those events are centered in relatively concentrated areas of large cities, with a high demand for walking-distance accommodations that result in sky-high Airbnb rental rates. The largest football game of the year, on the other hand, is located in neither of the two largest cities in the Bay Area, San Francisco and San Jose, nor is it featuring a local team.

Instead, visitors are finding themselves spread out across the entire 7,000-square-mile region, which has an estimated 100,000 hotel rooms, McHenry says. Throw in Airbnb — not to mention several smaller competitors like HomeAway and VRBO — and there’s more than enough space without having to drop thousands of dollars a night. And if you're spending $3,500 on a Super Bowl ticket, why bother getting something subpar when you can rent a luxury hotel room?

One look at listings on Airbnb’s San Francisco hub for the weekend of February 5th is evidence of the delusion: $1,999 a night to rent an one-bedroom condo in downtown; $2,500 a night for a one-bedroom apartment near historic Alamo Square with full concierge and transportation services provided; a luxury three-bedroom house in the residential Diamond Heights neighborhood for $1,375 a night.

Not only are these listings available just days before the Super Bowl kicks off, they’re also likely to stay vacant. Many listings are hovering around or below the $441-a-night average, which comes in lower than most city hotels, but not by much. Meanwhile, the average Bay Area rate today for a Super Bowl weekend rental is even lower at $451 a night. "We see people shooting for the stars, trying to lease their crummy one-bedroom in the Mission [district] for $1,000 a night," McHenry says. "They’re not getting booked."

As an Airbnb host, you’re not very likely to rent your room or house at all unless you’re asking a price only marginally higher than the normal average. Only those with luxury properties located in Silicon Valley or a full house for rent just a few miles from Levi’s Stadium are guaranteed to pocket a significant amount of cash this weekend. "The $10 million mansion in Los Gatos," McHenry suggests. The NFL is always "looking for unique venues for hosting clients and unique places to stay, so a lot of these higher-end homes people are opening up serve them."

Airbnb isn’t discouraged, as lower prices prove its service works better as a hotel alternative instead of a get-rich-quick scheme for homeowners. The company says more than 15,000 people have chosen to use the service for the Super Bowl, and it expects the total impact of its guests to generate $21 million for the Bay Area not including accommodations.

McHenry sees the Airbnb glut as evidence the on-demand economy works. "We like to call it the flexible supply economy," he says. "Events like the Super Bowl and other events that create this surge of demand for services is really well met by these ones where you can spin up transportation and accommodation. You can do it much more easily now."

Source: The Verge, Nick Statt
http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/5/10924094/airbnb-super-bowl-50-too-many-rooms-san-francisco

Beware of crooks posing as Realtors

This article is in reference to Teton Valley, but it's message is still relevant to the Silicon Valley because there have been numerous instances of Craigslist real estate scams going on. One such example is when an unsuspecting individual or couple responds to an online ads posted by someone pretending to be a Realtor, advertising for a property unbeknownst to the owner, they collect a deposit without showing the property and they disappear. The victims will never see their money again. If they are a legit Realtor, there should have their BRE (Baeurau of Real Estate) # readily available. You can look up their license status on the BRE's website. Be suspicious of they ask for a deposit up front without showing you the property And lastly, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Sheriff's Office warns: Beware of Craigslist real estate scams
The sheriff’s department has received several reports recently of fraudulent advertisements on Craigslist. In some of these instances, a person will post an advertisement for a property for sale or rent and pose as a real estate agent to gather personal information from prospective buyers.

Teton County Sheriff Tony Liford said such online ads make more sense in large cities where there are thousands of housing options, but in a place as small as Teton Valley, there’s no reason not to use a real realtor.

“Craigslist is not the place to go,” Liford said. “What started out as a good thing has turned into a criminal’s delight.”

The sheriff’s department advises those looking for housing to go through a licensed real estate agent, and always to view the property before transferring any personal information or money.

Source: Teton Valley News, Teresa Mull 
http://www.tetonvalleynews.net/news/sheriff-s-office-warns-beware-of-craigslist-real-estate-scams/article_ecb8353c-aff7-11e5-b8d9-577327d8a9ba.html

HACKERS CONTINUE TO PERPETRATE WIRE TRANSFER FRAUD IN REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

About one year ago, our column dealt with the subject of wire transfer fraud in real estate transactions. Regrettably, the topic is still a current one. On December 15, NAR issued an alert on the subject. Anecdotally, incidents have increased in the Southern California area. The nature of the scam is unchanged, so what was said last year is still on point. It goes as follows.

Wire transfer instructions are emailed to the buyer. The buyer complies with the instructions to the letter. The next day, escrow contacts the buyer asking if the money has been sent yet. The buyer checks with his bank and is assured that the funds have been transferred out. When the money has still not shown up, everyone begins to retrace steps. As it turns out, the wiring instruction was bogus. The email came from an address that looked very much like that of the escrow or title company, but it was not actually theirs.

And the recipient bank account? It was real; it just wasn't the correct one. And, yes, it has been emptied out by now.

The scheme has been perpetrated by hackers, and it has been going on around the country for a while now. Chicago Title put out an alert that described the steps involved. We summarize them here:

First, hackers identify the email accounts of real estate agents and brokers. Then they hack directly into the accounts "and identify emails referencing pending real estate deals. From these strings of emails, the hackers pull out specific details about the deal, such as: (a) the parties' names, (b) the title company involved, (c) the escrow officer in charge of the deal, and (d) other information specific to the transaction."

Next, they send fraudulent email "directly to the buyer or lender, making it look like it was sent by the real estate agent, mortgage broker, or escrow agent. These fraudulent emails now direct the buyer and/or lender to wire the funds necessary to close escrow directly to a different bank account than provided in the preliminary report or in the escrow instructions. Obviously, this new bank account is controlled by the hacker, not the title company or the escrow holder."

Then, if the buyer, or the lender, does not detect the fraud, "the money is wired to the bogus account controlled by the hacker and is immediately withdrawn. Due to the amounts involved and the complex nature of investigating and prosecuting wire fraud, the odds are that the authorities will do nothing to help in these instances." [my emphasis]

For the most part, prevention recommendations tend to focus on the non-secure nature of most email accounts. It's a fair bet that most real estate agents do not have secure accounts and they can be easily hacked. But, in a world where Target, Sony, and the Defense Department get hacked, it is not plausible to think that most agents, escrow companies, and clients are ever going to enjoy a very high level of security.

While suggestions like two-factor authentication and encrypted emails may have their place, it is refreshing that a practical, non-technical word of advice comes from, of all places, an alert put out by the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®. To wit:

"Buyers and sellers should confirm all email wiring instructions directly with the escrow officer by calling the escrow officer on the telephone. In that conversation, the correct account number information should be repeated verbally before taking any steps to have the funds transferred."

Certainly, if wiring instructions are changed via email, the buyer should confirm that by phone with the escrow officer and the buyer's real estate agent.

Source: RealtyTimes, Bob Hung
http://realtytimes.com/consumeradvice/buyersadvice1/item/41183-20151229-hackers-continue-to-perpetrate-wire-transfer-fraud-in-real-estate-transactions

ALERT: Wire Fraudsters Targeting Real Estate Transactions

I thought I heard of everything until I saw this article. I guess thieves are more inventive than I thought.

Now it seems, scammers will hack a Realtor's email account and monitor her/his email to see when a particular transaction is closing, the buyer's email address, etc. Once they know that they will send an email to the buyer with bank wire instructions. And of course that wire is to the bank account of the criminal, and the next thing you know the buyer's account will be drained.

So there it is in a nutshell. Another scam to keep an eye out for.



ALERT: Wire Fraudsters Targeting Real Estate Transactions

How to Avoid a Real Estate Scam

Hello everybody. I hope you all are everyone is having a great Saturday.

Since I have been a Realtor I have conducted my business with the utmost integrity and honesty, and I expect the same with those that I work with. I have reported other agents who were involved in shady and unscrupulous activities. Just like one bad cop can make all cops look bad, the same is true in real estate. One bad agent can make all of us honest and hard working Realtors look bad by diminishing our image and trust in the community.

How to Avoid a Real Estate Scam

Be alert for these warning signs of unscrupulous landlords, sellers and real estate agents.

You'd be foolish to think you couldn't be fooled in a real estate transaction. While the majority of sellers, buyers and renters are presumably honest, there can be additional players with skin in the game, from landlords and real estate agents to title agency workers and bankers.

As Sacramento real estate broker Alexis Moore observes: "The crooks don't always have on orange jump suits. Many are former real estate professionals who are using the system."

So how do you know if you're about to be scammed? You can't, but there are warning signs and steps you can take to protect yourself. Even if you are working with honest people, these are smart ways to approach buying, renting or selling any home.

Don't rush. Sometimes, you really do stumble into a great deal, and, yes, you want to act quickly before someone else stumbles on – and snags – this great deal. But rushing means you have little time to question what you're doing.

Joe Rand, managing partner for Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty, which sells and rents home in New York and New Jersey, says that about once a week, he hears of a renter who saw a house but didn't actually go inside.

"The person will tell the renter that they've relocated, they need to rent [the property] quickly, here's a photo. Just go look at the place, but I can't show you the inside," Rand says. The renter will send the "landlord" deposit money and show up at one of his business's many offices, asking for the keys. Of course, that's when the renter learns he was working with a con artist who had simply taken a photo of an apartment and let the victim's imagination fill in the blanks.

It may seem crazy to rent property without touring the interior, but as Rand explains: "What does every scam depend on? Somebody thinking this is an amazing deal, and they have to jump on it."

Vet the person you're working with. Just because someone has a LinkedIn page doesn't make him or her a swell human being. For instance, earlier this month, at least 14 unsuspecting homebuyers in towns around Monroe County, New York, paid down payments to a real estate agent whose license had reportedly expired. The homeowners wrote him checks, but instead of putting their funds in escrow, the agent allegedly pocketed the money. At the time of this writing, the accused agent, John Valerio, is cooling his heels in the county clink.

But one can hardly blame the victims. Valerio, after all, apparently was, until very recently, a licensed real estate agent. He doesn’t have much of an online presence, but his LinkedIn profile states that his company, Lamplighter Realty Inc., has been in business since 1971. What’s more, his business is listed in the Yellow Pages.

This scenario may happen more than we’d like to believe. Moore says she recently reported an unlicensed colleague who was still selling homes. Your safest bet is likely to walk into a bustling, reputable real estate office to meet with a new agent, but if you meet an agent randomly who has little more than a business card and a charming demeanor, ask to see an agent’s license to ensure it's current, Moore suggests.

"We all carry a plastic card like a credit card in California, and it says the person's name and their title, like broker or sales agent," she adds.

If you're really concerned, check online to see if anything concerning pops up. To find someone you trust, ask for a referral from a close friend or family member.

Question, question, question. Charles Gallagher of Gallagher & Associates in St. Petersburg, Florida, says his law firm has represented several victims of real estate fraud. Some sellers, he says, will try to sell homes they know have problems – like sinkholes in the basement or toxic mold in the attic – but will try to pass them off as perfectly habitable.

"These sellers will lie on the property disclosure statement and represent that the home is free of defects," Gallagher says. "Oftentimes, the inspectors and Realtors are also complicit."

It's dispiriting, but that's why Gallagher says it's important to ask probing questions about the property, like: What type of insurance claims have you made on the house? Or simply: Why are you selling the home?

"When there isn't a very good reason for the sale, that can be a red flag," Gallagher says.

But maybe, you might think, a con artist would invent a great reason for the sale, and it’s true that a professional con artist likely would. According to Gallagher, most home sellers who are trying to scam you don't have a lot of practice, and they may tell the truth or stumble on their answers.

"You usually aren't dealing with homeowners who have been grifters their whole lives," Gallagher says.

Understand the details. You think you do. But be honest with yourself. Do you really know what you're getting into?

Plenty of real estate transactions are pretty straightforward, especially if you've done your homework, understand the type of mortgage you're getting and have a good real estate agent guiding you through the process. But the more complex a transaction is, or the more murky everything seems, the more you need to slow down and educate yourself or find trusted friends and associates who can help you understand what you're buying, selling or renting.

Deborah Porter, a marketer in Las Vegas, says she wishes she’d known more about a property she tried to lease to own when she moved to the city in 2003. Turns out, the person touting the deal didn't actually own the property. She ended up having to sue to get her $10,000 deposit back.

Since being duped, Porter says she has learned how to look up property information and find it through a title company, which can always tell you who legitimately owns real estate. She has also read up on her local real estate market.

"False ownership is an epidemic here in Las Vegas because so many owners are underwater and have either abandoned their property or it's gone back to an inattentive bank. Scammers renting and selling homes that they don't own is rampant," Porter says. "It's almost imperative that you ask to see proof of mortgage statement before turning over any money."

Listen to your gut. You think you will, but you might not, especially if you really, really love the property.

All of Gallagher’s clients who fell victim to scams end up saying some version of either, "I had a bad feeling about them but ignored it," or, "In hindsight, I should have known …"

Which is why Gallagher says: "If you think something seems shady, it probably is."

Becky Walzak, president of rjbWalzak Consulting, a risk management company in Deerfield Beach, Florida, seconds that advice.

Some loan officers and real estate agents occasionally encourage the homebuyer to lie to look better on a loan application. That may get you the house or rental, but it also means you’re now a co-scammer, which could get you in trouble with a lender later if your lie-to-loan scheme is uncovered.

"If you're uncomfortable with a transaction, you need to walk away," Walzak says.

This is especially true with rentals, according to Rand.

"The reason you see a lot of scams with rentals is that it's the only real estate transaction usually done without an attorney," he says.

But with houses, it's much less likely, Rand says. "Banks are going to make sure you don't buy something you don't actually own. In fact, they're checking you out to make sure you aren't scamming them," he says.

Source: US News & World Report, Geoff Williams

http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2015/03/24/how-to-avoid-a-real-estate-scam?page=2