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| In these economic times the percentage of foreclosures in America is on the rise. The homeowner who is facing foreclosure of their primary residence h |
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admin writes, "Home renters are being victimized by low life con artists, greedy landlords and foreclosing banks that look on with the stoicism of deaden nerves. "
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Home renters are being victimized by low life con artists, greedy landlords and foreclosing banks that look on with the stoicism of deaden nerves. When a landlord has not paid the mortgage, the bank forecloses, throws the renters family out with lightning speed and sometimes with as little as 3 days notice (cruel and unusual punishment). The lease that was in place is suddenly washed out by the foreclosure, Game Over, if you don't have a savings or family to turn to you are out on the street. The homeless shelters are filling up and as a result family's are often forced to split up. Con artists today are breaking in bank owned foreclosed homes, changing locks, advertising the home as a rental all over the Internet (craigslist.com), taking security deposit, taking first/last month's rent and they don't own the houses;thereby, stealing you, the renter's last dollar and taking food out your kids mouths.
Due Diligence
Renters in today's housing market must practice due diligence, specifically meaning look before you a sign a rental lease. I've seen homeowners and property management companies list homes/condos on the Internet that have been posting for months. While the homes are posted on the Internet, the landlords are charging application fees of $45.00 per adult in the home, many times the homes are not being rented and personally, I've seen some landlords get as much as $2,250.00 total collected fees from rental applications alone.
According to RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosures a cross the country, there statistics state, that "nearly 50% of the homes in foreclosure are rentals".
Neither landlords or property management companies are bound by law to inform you that a property is in default or foreclosed on. The owner will fall behind on the mortgage payments, the bank will send a notice of default if he or she does not bring the mortgage payments current, at this point the mortgage will enter into a pre-foreclosure status. A notice will go into the legal news and recorded in the County Recorder's Office. Now peep this, the owner will make sure none of the mail gets to the rental property by running down to the post office, doing an address change and all mail will go directly to the owner's other address, the renter is truly in the dark, he [the owner] collects the rent and depending on your state, it can take 6 to 12 months before the renter is made aware of what's going on, by then, the notice of trustee sale has been taped to the door. The renter had no idea, that he/she should have been saving to move, instead they have been caught in a wicked tenant trap, oh yeah.....and in most cases you can kiss.... the security deposit good bye; and in some cases the landlords are even putting their tenants in their bankruptcies, it is truly a brutal beating.
Before you fill out a lease/rental application and return it ... make sure you are dealing with the real owner/property management company. A con artist can set up a fake property management company (complete with business cards)and tell you that they have 25 properties in 3 different states for rent, watch out for this lie, what they really want is to con you out of your a security deposit, first/last months rent. When you give the con artists the rental application they now have your name, address, social security number, drivers license number and bank information? now you know what comes next... ... THE BIG BANG.. IDENTITY FRAUD, believe me this comes from experience.
If you're renting or preparing to rent and would like to check a property status you can go online to SmartHouseRenter.com you can also reach me by email at MHinton@SmartHouseRenter.com or by phone at 602-315-4040.
If the owner falls behind on his mortgage payments, they send me an email alert, this way I know what's going on. If the mortgage is not being paid, I know immediately to start saving money, get my deposit back and let someone else deal with headache.
http://www.SmartHouseRenter.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=M_Hinton
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Posted on Aug 15, 2008 18:38pm.
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