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Rental Scams on Maui
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people and families affected by the bombing in Boston yesterday. Life is precious.
In real estate related news, beware of Craigslist scams for home and apartment rentals. I recently previewed a bank owned listing for a client and coincidentally a woman pulled up to the house while I was there thinking that it was for rent.
She told me that she saw the house on Craigslist for rent and that the owner was out-of-town. When I told her that the property was a bank owned listing and that it was not for rent, she commented that she was happy that she did not send any money. It was a rental scam!
I called the listing agent right away to let her know that the house was being advertised on Craigslist for rent. Check out this article from KITV News about the Honolulu Police Department warning renters about Craigslist scams.
Lt. John McCarthy from HPD says that he receives 2 to 3 calls a week about rental scams. His advice to renters is to beware of prices that seem too good to be true. Also, scammers will usually try to steal money from potential renters by asking for a deposit and last month’s rent via Western Union or MoneyGram.
My recommendation is to make sure that you deal with people locally and that you are able to preview the interior before renting the house. You could also Google people to see if they are legitimate. One way to find out the actual owner is to go to www.mauipropertytax.com and type in the location address.