Normally sellers try to stage their home to get the best sale price possible, but a new trend emerged during the housing bubble burst that takes the opposite approach: reverse staging.
What is reverse staging? Reverse staging is purposely damaging a house to force a lower sale price. Why would someone want to do that? Mortgage fraud. Continue reading
Side businesses are common in America. Industrious workers with full-time jobs spend evenings and weekends working on building their own businesses striving for a little extra income or an opportunity to become a full-time entrepreneur. Some businesses, however, are not quite as savory as others. Continue reading
Real estate agents have lots of reasons to mail a package. Forms, paperwork, and maybe even keys could be shipped through the postal service or a company like UPS, FedEx, or DHL. However, agents typically do not mail their… personal refuse… in a package to another agent. Continue reading
Houston real estate agent Michael Wachs has a trick up his sleeve. He is selling his nearly $400,000 Houston home to one lucky winner for only $150!
But if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. In this case, your $150 enters you into a pool, and Wachs will only sell if the home draws enough sales to reach the market rate. At $150 each, it will take about 3,000 entries to reach the level he wants to sell. If he does not reach his target, he will refund all applicant entry fees and sell the property with a standard listing. Continue reading
San Diego real estate firm ARG made waves with this video below, called “the video that rocked the industry.” This agency believes in removing data from syndication websites. But is it a good idea? Continue reading
When you host an open house at your home, dozens of strangers may walk through your home unattended. Most people are genuinely looking at your home’s features, but not everyone is as they seem. Several people were victims of a open house robbery, but you don’t have to be.
In Colorado Springs, a woman was arrested after visiting several open houses over a period of a few weeks. Each house she visited was a target, and she made off with valuable items like jewelry at each stop. Continue reading
Experienced landlords work hard to qualify applicants before handing over the keys, but some fraudsters do not even need the keys to take money from a well meaning property owner.
A Chicago area landlord took an application from a couple along with a check for their deposit and first month rent. The landlord deposited the $1,250 in the bank and began paperwork to move the couple in when he received a fateful phone call. Continue reading
Having a one night stand is not an uncommon phenomenon, but having one with your boss rarely ends well, as was the case with real estate agent Megan Moody in Australia.
The then 31 year old made the poor decision of sleeping with her boss (in her defense, her boss made a poor choice as well) in 2007. Afterwards, things went along smoothly until Moody was fired from her job in 2009. That is when things got weird. Continue reading
Dealing with a bad tenant is one of the worst parts of real estate investing. Bad attitudes, late rent, and damages can cause plenty of stress to give even the most level headed landlords a string of bad headaches.
One thoughtful writer had a clever idea on how to transfer skills used for illegal activities into something a bit more productive. It made me wonder, would gang members make good real estate investors? Continue reading
When buying a home, you can only hope your neighbors will be friendly and welcoming. Typically, we waive hello to neighbors but don’t have the close relationships seen on shows like Desperate Housewives.
However, some neighbors turn out to be more of a nuisance than a friend, and bad neighbor horror stories are a dime a dozen. But most neighbors fall short of a recent crisis involving the drug dealer next door. Continue reading
Most home owners pack up and clean when moving out of a house, but foreclosed home owners forced out of their property for not making their payments are not most homeowners.
Disgruntled former homeowners have made a new habit of seriously vandalizing their old home on the way out, and it is leaving the new buyers with more than a lighter bank account. When owners trash homes, nobody wins. Continue reading
Bed bugs can hop on someone’s clothes while sitting on a friend’s couch or jump in a suitcase on a hotel stay. A few hours later, you are on the way to a full bed bug infestation.
While the bugs were busy invading luxury hotels, schools, and city offices in New York City, it is tough to deal with the critters when you live in a multi-unit building, as many New York residents do. Even worse is when you live in a rental and your landlord ignores your pleas for assistance. Continue reading
In a scene that sounds like something from a Samuel L. Jackson movie, a Maryland real estate agent has been accused of selling an infested snake house to an unsuspecting family in Annapolis. Continue reading
A real estate agent is a trusted person responsible for representing your best interest when buying or selling a home. Asking good questions can help you know if you are compatible, but few of us ever worry about our safety when meeting with an agent one-on-one. Continue reading
Agents work hard to bring on new clients and earn their trust. As the saying goes, trust is much easier to lose than it is to gain. One agent in Otaki, New Zealand lost the trust of someone who didn’t hire him in the first place.
A home owner decided to sell his home privately rather than hire an agent, but that just hit the wrong nerve with agent Brendon Heenan, who took down the “for sale by owner” sign and replaced it with his own. Continue reading