Does this Sound Suspicious to You?

[Hunni Bee]

As some of you know, my fiance and I are moving soon. We have been utilizing Craigslist to find an apartment as we live in a large city and riding around looking for "for rent" signs is impractical.

So we found an ad for THE perfect little house. It looks very clean, lots of rooms, very reasonable rent, yard for the baby, just lovely.

I emailed the contact and they responded right away.

But the first weird thing was he asked me to include my email and phone number and that he noticed my email had been "generated" :confused:. But I sent the email from my account, not Craigslist and my phone number was clearly supplied. Anyway, I sent him this information again and got this in reply:

Hi,


Thanks for your mail. It's first come, first serve. I'm currently in Chicago with my family and i work for US Missionary organization. I Want you to know that its not the money that counts to me but the up-keeping and tidiness of Our Property which is the only thing left for me. I will be open to anything you want to tell me about yourself here.


The house include the utilities like Heat, A/C in wall/window, Hydro, cable, Garbage Disposal, Fireplace , Fridge, stove, Dishwasher, Dryer, Breakfast Bar, Dining Table and Sofa Set, Refrigerator, internet access e.t.c.The rent is: $700, Security Deposit: $550. For this 3 Bedroom Home; Pets Allowed are Dogs and Cats. Available :Available Now for move in.


The house Address is : XXXXXXX


We will like to know more about the person that wants to live in our house, I hope you understand..


I will like for you to tell us a little more about you."


First of all, this reply seems to have been written by someone who speaks English as a second language, while the first one did not. Secondly, he seems to live in another state. Third, and most concerning, he asked for me "tell him about myself" on three different occasions in the email. I have already told him that we are a young couple with steady employment expecting our first child.

Would you be concerned? I am, and I'm disappointed because I saw no other houses this nice for that rent, and we are running out of time.

Opinions?

[Twinvillageiowa]

Spam. House is not really for rent. They want you to send money and once the check clears they vanish.

[Mom2TLE]

Is there anyway you can drive past the address to see if it is even for rent? A year or two ago people were finding homes and posting them for rent, they would then get the deposit via western union, the renters would show up and there would already be someone living there. It sounds fishy to me and I would probably not continue to communicate with him. Too many times the use missionary work to make you believe they are good people. Also with him being in another state raises a big red flag.

[Hunni Bee]

Is there anyway you can drive past the address to see if it is even for rent? A year or two ago people were finding homes and posting them for rent, they would then get the deposit via western union, the renters would show up and there would already be someone living there. It sounds fishy to me and I would probably not continue to communicate with him. Too many times the use missionary work to make you believe they are good people. Also with him being in another state raises a big red flag.

I plan on doing that.

Plus I googled the address and found it on Zillow being offered for $1,000 per month. The pictures and description on there are identical to the Craigslist ad.

I'm about 70% sure this is a scam.

[Lyss]

As some of you know, my fiance and I are moving soon. We have been utilizing Craigslist to find an apartment as we live in a large city and riding around looking for "for rent" signs is impractical.

So we found an ad for THE perfect little house. It looks very clean, lots of rooms, very reasonable rent, yard for the baby, just lovely.

I emailed the contact and they responded right away.

But the first weird thing was he asked me to include my email and phone number and that he noticed my email had been "generated" :confused:. But I sent the email from my account, not Craigslist and my phone number was clearly supplied. Anyway, I sent him this information again and got this in reply:

Hi,


Thanks for your mail. It's first come, first serve. I'm currently in Chicago with my family and i work for US Missionary organization. I Want you to know that its not the money that counts to me but the up-keeping and tidiness of Our Property which is the only thing left for me. I will be open to anything you want to tell me about yourself here.


The house include the utilities like Heat, A/C in wall/window, Hydro, cable, Garbage Disposal, Fireplace , Fridge, stove, Dishwasher, Dryer, Breakfast Bar, Dining Table and Sofa Set, Refrigerator, internet access e.t.c.The rent is: $700, Security Deposit: $550. For this 3 Bedroom Home; Pets Allowed are Dogs and Cats. Available :Available Now for move in.

The house Address is : XXXXXXX


We will like to know more about the person that wants to live in our house, I hope you understand..


I will like for you to tell us a little more about you."


First of all, this reply seems to have been written by someone who speaks English as a second language, while the first one did not. Secondly, he seems to live in another state. Third, and most concerning, he asked for me "tell him about myself" on three different occasions in the email. I have already told him that we are a young couple with steady employment expecting our first child.

Would you be concerned? I am, and I'm disappointed because I saw no other houses this nice for that rent, and we are running out of time.

Opinions?

IDK if $700/mo is a good deal where you live but here is a STEAL for a 3 bedroom!! I always get suspicious if its a really good deal, includes utilities, and accept pets, its like the holy trinity of houses and never turns out to be true Or if English is not their first language. Scammers are taking photos of vacant homes (usually offered through other companies/owners or foreclosures) and listing them for way too go to be true prices, saying they are accepting of anyone, all to get your information. When I was a property manager we frequently had this issue, we'd see houses we managed and had listed for rent pop up on craigslist listed by someone else for $300-500/mo less than comparable rentals. They'd flag our ads (the correct ones) and get them taken down then post their fake ads

Are you in US? I can't remember but if so some counties have an online database for the tax assessors office or public information records so you can search the owner's name or address to see if the person emailing you is the actual owner.

[Twinvillageiowa]

I literally got this exact same email but they were supposedly missionaries when we tried to rent 2 years ago.

[SunnyDay]

Spam. House is not really for rent. They want you to send money and once the check clears they vanish.

It is a scam. This has been on the news in my area. Do not give them any money!

[Hunni Bee]

IDK if $700/mo is a good deal where you live but here is a STEAL for a 3 bedroom!! I always get suspicious if its a really good deal, includes utilities, and accept pets, its like the holy trinity of houses and never turns out to be true Scammers taking photos of vacant homes (usually offered through other companies/owners or foreclosures) and listing them for way too go to be true prices, accepting anyone. When I was a property manager we frequently had this issue, we'd see houses we managed and had listed for rent pop up on craigslist listed by someone else for $300-500/mo less than comparable rentals. They'd flag our ads (the correct ones) and get them taken down then post their fake ads

Are you in US? I can't remember but if so most counties have an online database for the tax assessors office so you can search the owner's name or address to see if the person emailing you is the actual owner.

I'm in Virginia. And yes that's an excellent price for a three bedroom, especially 2 bath and how nice it is. You can find 3 bedrooms for that rent here, but they are never that nice.

And now since you told me your experience, I'm certain that's what's going on here. Especially since I found another ad for the same house at a different price.

We just got a little too excited about it. Thanks for your help, all of you.

[Lyss]

I'm in Virginia. And yes that's an excellent price for a three bedroom, especially 2 bath and how nice it is. You can find 3 bedrooms for that rent here, but they are never that nice.

And now since you told me your experience, I'm certain that's what's going on here. Especially since I found another ad for the same house at a different price.

We just got a little too excited about it. Thanks for your help, all of you.

Jerks!

They really get your hopes up for something nice too! We've found places we liked only to have similar emails come back ("I'm out of the country, email me your SS#/DOB and I'll do a background check ), gets frustrating and makes you skeptical of all people

[TheGoodLife]

Sorry you wasted time on that house- there are too many scammers out there : (

[countrymom]

have you tried realestate agents, I'm not sure if they charge, but they also may have leads on houses too as many do own rental properties.