Rental Scams: What They Are and How to Avoid Them
With 48.5 million rental properties in the United States, it seems that renters have more options than ever before, but not all properties are created equal. In fact, some might just be a scam. According to AparmentList.com, 43.1% of Americans have had some experience with rental scams and scammers. Even worse? Forbes reports that 5.2 Million renters in the United States have lost money from rental scams. In keeping with Mobility Empowered’s passion for simplifying the relocation process, we wanted to take the time to shed some light on rental scams: what they are, how to recognize one, and how Mobility Empowered can help keep you from being caught in one.
Rental scams are everywhere, with the most popular areas for rental scams being Washington D.C. and Atlanta. A typical rental scam is a low-budget property with no application process, false promises of amenities, and more importantly, the property may not even exist. A common tactic pretend “landlords” use, is stealing images from a property they have nothing to do with and trying to pass it off as their own. Apartment List reports that Millennials are most at risk, with a 42% higher chance of getting caught up in a rental scam. With relocations, it can be tempting to sign a lease without actually viewing the property, especially if it seems to be a great price, but rental scammers bank on that thought process to continue making money off the relocating work force.
So how can we prevent your relocating employees from being caught in a rental scam? There are some tricks to prevent being taken advantage of when it comes to renting. The first one? If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. If you find something half the price of all the other properties in the area, there is a strong chance it is not a real property. Another way to avoid rental scams is to avoid anyone asking for cash or high deposits. Make sure any relocating employee uses a payment method that is possible to track, such as a credit card or check. You can also spot a scam if they do not do any type of screening. Most rental properties are going to want to do a credit check as well as search for any criminal history. If they don’t care about these things it may be a tell-tale sign that the property doesn’t exist, and someone is trying to take advantage of your employee.
Going beyond looking out for your interests, and the interests of your employees, Mobility Empowered is here to support your employees too. The last thing we want to see is the relocating work force being taken advantage of, which is why we have put systems in place to protect them. With sourcing apartments through reportable firms, we make sure we know who you are working with. It takes the guesswork out of finding a quality landlord. Once the employee finds a rental property they like, it is standard practice that we review their lease, making sure we spend time strongly evaluating the terms of lease breakage. When ordering Home Search through Mobility Empowered, they guarantee that they will have a team on their side to answer any questions they may have and that will protect them from rental scams.
Relocating can be a scary task. Choosing a home and rental property can be overwhelming, but with Mobility Empowered it doesn’t have to be. We are here to protect the relocating workforce from the difficulties and potential scams that can come with moving. Mobility Empowered is working to better the relocation process, which includes eliminating rental scams.
