There are any number of housing scams out there. These fraudulent activities are spurred by the economic downturn and prey on the desperate who are out of work and in need of money or who are upside down on their homes and what not, thanks to the recession. I know of reported criminal acts where the scam artist researcher ownership of a house and pretend to be that party. They sell the house out from under the real owner, or take loans against the house, leaving the actual owner stuck with the bill.
But according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, here is an instance where a simple background check could have avoided a lot of grief for the homeowner. In this case the homeowner listed his house and bought another house in Florida, on the contingency that the house in Minnesota was first sold. When a prospective buyer handed them a purchase deposit in the form of a $10,000 check, the homeowners thought they had it made. Florida, here they come.
One spouse quit her job with the school system. They packed up, put everything they owned in boxes, and got ready to move. Everyone knows what a joy it is to pack a house in preparation for moving.
But then the deal fell apart when the $10 Thousand check bounced. Upon further investigation, it was discovered the credit letter was in the name of a legitimate person, but one who had nothing to do with the home purchase or any related transaction. In short, the homeowner was stuck. No sale and a whole lot of unpacking to do. We hope the spouse was able to get her job back.
Honestly, to avoid all this, a simple background check would be helpful. The homeowners could have run the criminal and several background search as well as bankruptcies, liens, and judgments. They could have asked the buyer for his credit report, although with the advent of Photo Shop and other software, it is hard to distinguish credit fact from credit fiction. But if the buyer represents himself as working for an employer or owning his own business, employment verification searches or corporate records searches would most likely uncover this falsehood.
Before you commit to anything as monumental as selling your house, run background checks. I would urge this especially when you are planning on relocating and have a lot of packing and loading to do. This is to say nothing about giving notice on your job. Jobs aren’ easy to come by, these days.
Check them out before you sell.
