Avoiding scammers and dupesters in real estate

While more and more people have joined the real estate practice, there are also those who exploit on their vulnerability.  This article should serve as a guide to those who are selling properties whether or not they are new in the trade or profession. I may not be able to cover everything here but feel free to shoot me an email in case you need to share your personal experiences and I will be glad to post them here.

Any real estate practitioner can be an easy target to “brigands” inside and outside of  the trade. Meaning, anyone in the business can fall prey to the scheming of and manipulations from, albeit sadly, a fellow  practitioner OR from someone who may not be in the real estate but knows impeccably well how agents do their rounds on a day to day basis. The latter is a bit more dangerous because they appear to be legit and sweet-talkers.

The usual approach of dupesters is to pretend that they are buyers and impress upon the agent the urgency of their requirements.  In the case of a broker or agent victimizing a colleague in the business, the goal is to pirate another’s list or buyer. A practice that is common or widespread in real estate brokerage. In list pirating, the wily broker or agent feigns as a prospective buyer then calls the listing agent or broker to provide him details of the property or may request for a site tripping (usually at the expense of  the latter). Once the fake buyer-broker gets all the information of the property, he directly deals with the property owner to sell the latter’s property to a legit buyer. In the case of buyer pirating, the listing agent directly negotiates with the buyer of another broker or agent dropping the latter in the deal.

If you’re a listing agent, it is therefore important to secure a signed “authority to sell” from the property owner and to always send him a copy of the people who have visited or inquired about the property. A listing agent may qualify his buyer first by asking for his business card. Googling the name of the buyer or searching it in social media like LinkedIn or Facebook may provide you a clue whether that buyer is legit or not. If you’re a broker and would like to introduce your buyer to a listing agent, make sure that you have a signed up agreement with that listing agent and spell out the terms of commission at the outset.

Being duped by a fellow broker or agent is not as damaging as falling into the hands of a potential killer or big time scammer. An agent recently was held up by a guy who posed himself as a buyer. The guy called our agent up saying that he is interested to buy the property she posted online and that she should be there at their appointed time and place (which was quite far from the center) only to be looted of her cash and valuables. The lessons learned here is to qualify the client and to make sure that when you see your client, it should be in a public place like a coffee shop or snack bar. If you really need to see your client somewhere and are unsure of the place, ask a male colleague to accompany you.

Another scam that came out recently is calls from buyer-posers coming from out of the country. The scammer uses a roaming number calling an innocent agent that he wanted to wire some cash to pay for the property that the agent posted. The agent, so excited of an easy commission, sends his bank account number and waits for the supposed cash to come. Then a little later the poser calls up again and says that he is detained in Malaysia and that he couldn’t send the money because he cannot sign the deposit slip. He then asks the agent to wire him some cash to help him out of jail with the promise to pay the agent along with the payment of  the property that he is interested to buy. To be continued…

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I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Leuterio Realty and Brokerage for successfully holding its second annual convention held in Puerto Princesa, Palawan last October 28-29. The convention was said to be the largest convention for a realty firm which was participated by Leuterio Realty contingent from all over the country.

This month, Leuterio Realty will be joining the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Convention, which will be held in San Francisco California on November 8-10, in Moscone Center which will be graced by no less than US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton. Leuterio Realty will send the largest contingent in the Philippines to join the convention.

In addition to their participation with the NAR, Leuterio Realty is currently invited by tech companies in Silicon Valley for a site visit in Facebook, Plug N Play and Google to learn how technology can help in the real estate profession.

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