Been looking for housing on craigslist. nothing but scams

[jtvang125]

Thought I'd try craiglist for finding a new house or apartment for rent. After a week of searching I would say about half or even more of those ads are scams. Some are quite clever but still suspcious such as the ones where the description of the place doesn't even match the pictures posted. Examples I've seen are fireplace listed but picture of living room shows no fireplace or all stainless steel appliances listed but picture shows white appliances. Not to mention the outrageously low rent posted.

I also noticed most of these ads don't show an email address but gives a local number, usually with no contact person. I did some researching and it seems these are those scams where the person you call pretends to be owner and will actually show you around the premise. You give them the deposit and they bail, never to be seen again.

 

[amdhunter]

Yep

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Yep

Yep.

 

[SunnyD]

I've had potential landlords email me in response to my want ad on CL offering to rent me houses, except they are currently overseas and want all my info (SSN?). I ended up finding the exact house listed on local realty sites for sale and contacted the agent to let him know his houses were being scammed on CL.

 

[MJinZ]

Where are you looking?

 

[drum]

I had a roommate off of CL before. He was a little strange and annoying but he was a good guy.
I'd say good luck to you, that's not something I would want to do

 

[vshah]

i gave up on CL and went with a broker. but i only had 7 days to find a place, if I'd had more time i would have avoided the extra costs...

 

[lxskllr]

Newspaper classifieds, and dedicated rental periodicals are still the best way to go.

 

[purbeast0]

i found my current apartment on craigslist, worked out great, been living there 3+ years.

 

[zinfamous]

I usually have great luck with CL (Chicago and Bay Area). Only ran into one scam, this a few months ago. SOunds like you know gregory Rosen, too?

Hello,
Thank you very much for the reply and interest in my home. I am the owner of the home you are making inquiry of. Actually I resided in the home with my wife before and presently we had packed out of the home due to my recent transfer from our company and now situated in the united kingdom.I am a welder under ship building,I worked with Nassco ship building Company,but I have a job appointment with BVT Surface Fleet Limited you can view site at www.bvtsurfacefleet.com . And presently we want to give out our house for rent to a clean and tidy person.

Our home is available now for rent at $1200 with a security deposit of $1200 including all the Utilities like electricity, Hydro washer, warmer, Gas, internet connection etc. I want to let you know that money is not our problem but what we are looking for is absolute care of the home when you pack into the home. We are looking out for someone that can always keep the home clean and tidy.So please I want you to stand on the agreement you will make with us.

We are kind and honest people,we don't like disappointing people and we don't want anyone to disappoint me.We spent a lot on our house that we want to give to you for rent.It is very close to Parks and Shopping.
What really happened is this, we are not giving the home out for rent just because of money but because of our recent work to UK.So we will solicit for your absolute maintenance of our house. We want you to treat it as yours when you move in, I hope this is very clear to you? I want you to keep it tidy all the time so that we will be glad to see it neat and clean whenever we visit the country.

I want to let you know that there is no one there in the state to show you the inside of the house as the keys and all documents of the house are here with us and we shall get it shipped to you via FEDEX or DHL Courier Service as soon as you are ready to move in

You can go check out the house and the neighborhood from the outside and get back to me if you really like it for more information.I will also send some of the pictures to you in my next email.The physical address is 1448 Cornell Avenue Berkeley, CA 94702
Below are the final question that you must answer to qualify for the rent of our house.
TENANT RENT APPLICATION
FIRST NAME: __________________
MIDDLE NAME: __________________
LAST NAME: __________________
PROFESSION: ________________
PHONE (____) __________ (CELL)
PHONE (____) __________ (WORK)
PHONE (____) __________ (HOME)
MARITAL STATUS: _________
KIDS _____ (YES/NO), HOW MANY ________
PRESENT ADDRESS: ___________________________
CITY: _______________
STATE: ______________
ZIPCODE: ____________
HOW LONG? ___________IF RENTING
WHY ARE YOU LEAVING? ______________________________
_________________________________________
CURRENT RENT: _______
PREVIOUS ADDRESS: ___________________________
CITY: ________________
STATE: _______________
ZIPCODE: _____________
HOW LONG? ____________ IF RENTING,HOUSE.
WHY DID YOU LEAVE?
_______________________________________________________________________
PREVIOUS RENT: _______
IF THIS HOUSE IS BEING GIVEN TO YOU,
HOW LONG DO YOU INTEND STAYING? ____________
WHEN DO YOU INTEND MOVING IN? ______________
PERSONAL REFERENCES
(LIST 3 PERSONS, OTHER THAN YOUR RELATIVES, THAT WE CAN CONTACT TO
VERIFY YOUR CHARACTER.)
FIRST PERSON
FIRST NAME: _______________
MIDDLE NAME: ______________
LAST NAME: ________________
RELATIONSHIP______________
PHONE (___) ________________
SECOND PERSON
FIRST NAME: _______________
MIDDLE NAME: ______________
LAST NAME: ________________
RELATIONSHIP______________
PHONE (___) ________________
THIRD PERSON
FIRST NAME: _______________
MIDDLE NAME: ______________
LAST NAME: ________________
RELATIONSHIP______________
PHONE (___)________________
EMERGENCY
(IN AN EMERGENCY, LIST 2 PERSONS THAT CAN BE CONTACTED STARTING WITH
NEAREST RELATIVES)

So i solicit for your absolute maintenance of our house. We want you to treat it as yours when you move in, I hope this is very clear to you? It's not all about the money but I want you to keep it tidy all the time so that we will be glad to see it neat and clean when ever we visit the country. You can stay in the house as long as you wish because we already own another house here in UK and will buy a house in USA before we return.I also want you to let me have trust in you as I always stand on my words. You can email me back for further discussion

Thanks and God bless you.
Best Regards

 

[MJinZ]

Anyone that says "God Bless You" in an ad or correspondence, you can pretty much respond with "Fuck off".

 

[MJinZ]

i gave up on CL and went with a broker. but i only had 7 days to find a place, if I'd had more time i would have avoided the extra costs...

7 Days? Why? Do you have a lot of stuff?

 

[zinfamous]

Anyone that says "God Bless You" in an ad or correspondence, you can pretty much respond with "Fuck off".

Yep. that is the #1 give away for me.

 

[Ns1]

I have great luck. The secret IMHO is to put a price range w market rents. That'll knock out most scams.

 

[jtvang125]

Where are you looking?

San Gabriel Valley (SoCal area)