By Jim Weiker
The Columbus Dispatch Sunday May 6, 2012 6:27 AM
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Renters beware: When leasing a home, be sure the landlord has some connection to the property.
In ordinary times, such a warning would be unnecessary. But these are not ordinary times.
An abundance of foreclosed properties and desperate economic times have led to a novel scam: Crooks masquerading as landlords rent homes to unwitting tenants. Tenants put down a deposit and perhaps pay the first month’s rent — in cash or money order — and never hear from the “landlord” again.
Dana Nokes, an agent with RE/MAX Associates on the North Side, learned about the scam when she took a call from a man and woman who thought they had rented a property near Livingston Avenue that Nokes was handling for a bank.
“They met the guy at the house; he showed them the property and asked for $250,” Nokes said. “ The boyfriend later got suspicious. He saw the sign saying that the property was bank-owned and saw my name. He called me, and I told him he’d been scammed.”
The man called the “landlord” and found that the phone had been disconnected.
The couple was out $250, but Nokes said she heard about one tenant who was taken for $700 in rent plus $700 in a security deposit.
“It’s a huge, huge racket right now,” Nokes said.
Real-estate agents are calling this another Craigslist scam because that’s where some of the properties are advertised. As Nokes points out, though, the properties could be listed anywhere.
Nokes and others are concerned that the scammers are gaining access to the homes — either by force or, more worrisome, because they have access to codes or keys used by agents who handle foreclosed properties.
The problem has become so widespread that the Columbus Board of Realtors has stopped posting warnings about it after alerting agents to variations of the scam for the past few years.The most recent board notice warned of online ads inviting people to send money to rent a listed home (not just foreclosures). Joe Jackson, a veteran agent with Keller Williams Capital Partners, recently got a call from a client with another variation on the scam. The man had tried to sell his home but then took it off the market. A few weeks later, he noticed people looking into his windows.
They told him they saw the home advertised on Craigslist for $550 a month. As Jackson noted: Had the home been for rent, it would have fetched closer to $1,300 a month.
That difference between the quality of home and the asking rent should have alerted prospects.
Other ways renters can protect themselves:
• Check the ownership of the property on the county auditor’s website. If it’s owned by a bank, it’s not likely to be rented.
• Think twice if the property has been sold or is scheduled to be sold at a sheriff sale. In Franklin County, you can search by ZIP code on the sheriff’s site (sheriff. franklincountyohio.gov).
• Ask for identification. A scam artist will be reluctant to show you a driver’s license or any other ID. Along similar lines: Jot down the “landlord’s” license plate.
• Pay with a personal check. Beware of anyone who insists on cash or a money order.
• If you see a real-estate sign in front of the house, call the number on the sign before handing over any money. • Get a written contract with contact information.
Here, as elsewhere, Jackson’s advice holds true: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
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At the time of sharing the market analysis with Mr & Mrs Seller the statistics showed that their home should sell in the $250,000 to $275,000 price range. Not shabby considering. But alas Mr. Seller wanted to price it higher. 
