Scam Alert

Attention all Realtors®

Numerous Realtors® have reported receiving emails and phone calls from a person out-of country who claims to need assistance with an all-cash real estate purchase. The caller may also insist on the need to retain a lawyer with a trust account, and requests a referral. The Realtor® or referred lawyer soon receives a substantial check (reports are from $150,000 to $500,000) to be deposited into broker trust account or lawyer trust account. Soon thereafter another call is received from a person purporting to be the attorney for the scammer in his home country. The foreign attorney says that the funds were sent out of country without appropriate government authority and must be immediately returned in order to avoid sanctions and penalties. Holder of the funds is pressed to wire the money without delay. Needless to say, the purchaser and the check are a fraud.

If you receive questionable requests for service or referrals, be cautious and inquire further.



Realtor® Robbed in Aloha

A Realtor® in the Aloha area was recently robbed when working late at a model home. Please be on alert, particularly if you work in that area.

For safety tips, please check out http://www.realtor.org/safety. For example, NAR offers guides on the following topics:

– Safety at Property Showings
– Fight or Flight
– Safety at Open Houses



December Real Estate Events & Education

Take a free RMLS™ training course

Here’s a quick rundown of upcoming real estate events & education for the remainder of December in Oregon & Southern Washington. If you have an event that is not listed here, please let us know by commenting below. For future events, please send an e-mail to communications (at) rmls (dot) com.

– December 2: Oregon Association of Realtors® hosts Short Sales & Foreclosures:
What Buyer’s Representatives Need to Know

– December 3: National Association of Realtors® offering free Safety Webinar

– December 7: Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors® (PMAR) Installation Event

– December 9: Eugene Association of Realtors® (EAR) hosts Taxes & Investment Properties Part 1

– December 10: Women’s Council of Realtors® – Portland Chapter hosts Business Resource Luncheon & 2010 Officer Installation – “Mastering the Clock with Time Management”

– December 12: Salem Association of Realtors® Community Fund Children’s Christmas Party

– December 17: Clark County Association of Realtors® (CCAR) 2010 Officers & Board Installation & Awards Banquet

– December 17: EAR hosts Taxes & Investment Properties Part II

Also, if you’re an RMLS™ subscriber, we have lots of FREE opportunities for continuing education credit at a location near you; click the link for your area to view the December Training Calendar:

– Coos County
– Eastern Oregon
– Eugene
– Gresham
– Portland
– Roseburg
– Salem
– Vancouver

Image courtesy of jen|nif|er, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.



Become a Local Hero

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.

Tater And PumpkinsWhile 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.



Alert: Listings on Craigslist Being Re-Listed as Rentals in Possible Wire Scam

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.

Craigslist

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.



Be Safe Out There! Realtor® Safety Week

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.



Oregon Real Estate Agency Issues Fingerprint Card Fraud Alert

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.



Alleged Foreign Phone Number Scam Targets Real Estate Agents

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.

Research clients that raise an alarm before picking up the phone.

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.