How to Avoid Being a Victim to Real Estate Fraud
Unfortunately, real estate scams remain one of the most common forms of fraud throughout the United States. Accordingly, you have to be particularly careful when considering any new real estate deal.
Real estate scams come in all types and are often difficult to spot for the untrained eye. Hiring a Florida real estate lawyer is always a good decision whenever you are concerned about a potential real estate scam, as your attorney can help you determine whether or not a potential buyer or seller is legitimate or not.
Common types of real estate fraud
There are many types of real estate fraud that you may have the misfortune of encountering when you are looking to buy or sell real estate. A few of them include:
- Mortgage fraud – this can involve various forms of documentation fraud, fake companies pretending to offer financial relief for distressed homeowners for a fee, overvalued appraisals and other types of loan related fraud.
- Foreclosure fraud – fraudsters often claim to offer foreclosure prevention programs and lure homeowners into what they believe is a temporary title transfer, or they may charge a large service fee and never do anything to assist them.
- Misrepresentation – you may run into agents, brokers, and others who are posing as real estate professionals but who do not actually have any credentials to operate legally. To prevent this, be sure to thoroughly check the credentials for any real estate professionals that you work with.
- Identity theft – this can involve scammers calling homeowners and pretending to be refinancing companies or their bank in order to obtain credit card, banking, or other personal information for identity theft purposes.
These are just a few of the scams that are frequently seen in the world of real estate, and if you suspect that there’s something wrong with any real estate related service or loan that you are being sold, it’s always a good idea to get legal advice as soon as possible.
Hiring an attorney will protect you from fraud
Any experienced Florida real estate attorney will almost immediately be able to recognize these common real estate scams and prevent you from losing money. In many cases, once you make a down payment or any type of deposit with an illegitimate real estate company it is too late because they will simply disappear.
Prevention is always the best cure when it comes to real estate fraud. To avoid being a victim, be sure that you get an expert second opinion on any real estate service you’re unsure about. Call Schecter Law today at (954) 779-7009 if you need any advice at all.
