Real estate and how to avoid being scammed

 Last week, the California Bureau of Real Estate made an advisory to help consumers, especially senior citizens in order to avoid fraud on real estate for home loans, rentals, timeshares and property recordings.

Many people know how to trash unsolicited mail with official-looking seals that offer refinancing a home loan, take out a loan and find a place to rent or avoid foreclosure. But many people don’t know that exists a Department of Consumer Affairs where a consumer can recover accounts and present their cases on the California Bureau of Real Estate.

If you are an intentional fraud victim because of a California real estate licensee you can recover actual and direct losses up to $50,000 per business deal, with a total payout of $250,000 per licensee.

Want a tip? You can call the California Bureau of Real Estate at 1-877-373-4542 if you suspect you are a victim of real estate fraud.

In order to prevent those phone calls, we give you 10 fraud avoidance tips:

1) Be alert and don’t feel bad if you are suspicious of unwanted offers, suggestions and calls. Be careful with license numbers on mailings and websites.

2) Be in contact with the state business bureaus. Be smart and look for references. Do a research with the help of Google, Yelp or other websites to have important information about the company, and the most important: to see if they have a relation with other consumer scams or frauds.

3) Do not agree to pay money for a service, and always protect your personal info– specifically your SS number.

4) Avoid paying in advance for home loan or any foreclosure relief services.

5) If you can’t afford a property, never sign the agreement for that transaction.

6) Be totally suspicious if a real estate or home loan agreement is not clear, it is difficult to understand or encloses blank spaces. If an agreement has blank spaces it is easy to be manipulated for a scam artist.

7) Don’t sign your property over to somebody who claims such a transfer can and that he or she will help you with the reparation of your credit.

8) At no time sign a “power of attorney” to give any person or company the rights to your property if you don’t know them or trust.

9) Keep a track and always check the title to your real estate properties, if you detect something suspicious or fraud act immediately. Many signs can be related to: stop getting your property taxes, some real estate documents in the mail for operations you did not make or a notice of default of your home.

10) If you are the owner of an insurance policy on your property, contact the title company and check with them if you are protected against forged deeds or fictitious documents recorded after you bought the property.

Hope this tips help you, don’t hesitate to call if you see something suspicious. Check FCI if you are interested in real estate.