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by RMLS Communication Department | Oct 21, 2009
Rid the Neighborhood of Pests and Save the Pets
Nothing puts a damper on a showing like a rat running around the house or a trail of ants marching across the counter. Naturally, as a showing agent you may want to use some form of pest control to remove these unwelcome intruders. But would you use rat poison?
I don’t know how common the practice is, but a concerned subscriber recently wrote in to ask that we post a message discouraging the use of rat poison around the parameter of a home or other building for sale because of the fatal effect it can have on neighborhood pets.
While it’s not my place to take a formal stance on an issue like this, I do have a little black pug named Tater and I know I would be devastated if he died from eating someone else’s pest poison. So I did a little research and I thought I’d pass along the information I found as something to consider.
According to About.com these types of poisons can be especially dangerous because “they are made to be attractive and tasty, even to the curious pet.” This goes for all pest removal baits: rat, slug, snail, mice, and ant. It also means that hiding them in the ivy may not be enough to keep other animals from getting into them.
About.com goes on to say it’s best to “make sure that they are safely out of any pet’s reach (and that the pets aren’t able to chew through something to get at them).” The aforementioned subscriber suggests strategically placing traps or poison inside the for sale structure away from other neighborhood animals.
Thanks for considering the nearby animals and their owners when dealing with pest control issues. For more information on poisonous substances for pets see the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center.
by RMLS Communication Department | Sep 21, 2009
Tip: Use RSS Feeds or Google Alerts to monitor your listings on Craigslist
We’ve received reports of homes that were listed for sale on Craigslist being fraudulently re-posted as a low-rate rental listings. These types of scams may be aimed at getting prospective renters to wire or send first and last month’s rent. For example, a case was reported where a home listed at over $400,000 was fraudulently offered for just $700 a month.
Suggestion: If you’re concerned that listings you have posted on Craigslist may be at risk, you can setup an alert using RSS feeds – here’s how:
1. If you don’t use an RSS Reader currently, sign up for an RSS Reader, such as Google Reader or Bloglines (these are just a couple examples of free programs you can use).
2. Visit craigslist.org and find your region’s Craigslist page.
3. Click on the “Housing” section and type your property address or a unique phrase from your property description into the search field and click search.
4. At the bottom of the page, there is a button that reads “RSS” – click on this.
5. Copy the link of the page that opens and add it to your RSS Reader.
By doing this, you would be notified when you check your RSS Reader if someone has copied information from your listing & re-posted it on Craigslist in the housing section.
Another option would be to use Google Alerts:
1. Visit google.com/alerts.
2. In the search terms field, enter the property address or a unique phrase from your listing.
3. Select “Comprehensive” as the type of search.
4. Select how often you want to be notified if it returns search results.
5. Enter the e-mail address you want notification sent to.
Google Alerts searches the web, news articles, etc. and will return any results that match your search criteria.
If you see any fraudulent listings on Craigslist, report it to Craigslist.
Please also notify RMLS™ of any similar activity by e-mailing Kelly McKenna at Kelly.m (at) rmls (dot) com.
by RMLS Communication Department | Sep 17, 2009
September 13-19 is Realtor Safety Week
It’s Realtor® Safety Week and the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) wants to remind its members that this is the perfect time to start focusing on best practices for ensuring your personal safety as well as your clients’ safety, home and office safety, and more.
To help you do so, NAR has revamped its Realtor® safety website: www.realtor.org/safety. It has a lot of great resources for you to use to help build safety awareness year-round, so make sure to check it out and bookmark it.
Safety Resources from RMLS™
We offer a Selling Safe brochure for you to give to your clients. If you’d like some of these brochures, you may request them free of charge (if you’re an RMLS™ subscriber) by e-mailing communications (at) rmls (dot) com.
We also want to know about any safety incidents that you encounter so we can get the word out to the 12,000+ subscribers of RMLS™ in Oregon & Southern Washington. To report such incidents, please e-mail Kelly.m (at) rmls (dot) com.
by RMLS Communication Department | Jul 27, 2009
The State of Oregon Real Estate Agency has issued the following alert on its website:
The Agency is receiving calls from licensees asking if their fingerprint cards have expired. The licensees explain that someone stating to be from the Agency has called them and informed them that their fingerprints are going to expire. The caller is asking for credit card and social security numbers.
Fingerprint cards and criminal background checks do not expire with the Agency. Also the Agency does not accept any personal or confidential information over the phone. If you receive one of these calls, do not give your information out.
by RMLS Communication Department | Jul 14, 2009
We’ve received reports of an alleged scam targeted at real estate agents. In this particular case, an e-mail is sent to the agent & the sender says that they want to schedule a showing, but that they want the agent to call them at their foreign phone number because they are only checking e-mail periodically.
Before you pick up the phone, do some research if an unsolicited client approaches you directly. Image courtesy of Steve Zazeski.
It appears that the phone number is a “premium-rate number”, where the dialer of the number is charged for the phone call, while the owner of the number receives a payment for each call that is made. Needless to say, the potential client is non-existent.
Please be wary of any new contacts that approach you and verify as much information about them as possible. Report any similar incidents to Kelly McKenna at kelly.m@rmls.com .
*Tip: If you ever find an e-mail or phone call suspicious, try entering information or a phrase about the scam (or directly from the e-mail). Victims, or near victims of scams will often post their experiences on the Internet so others won’t fall victim.
