In my previous article,we were discussing about different types of real estate scams and the ways to prevent them. In this post we will continue the discussion further.
4. Property investment courses and seminars – Being educated regarding real estate investment can be very good. But you must be aware of the promotional courses or seminars and do your research on seminar providers. You will find many legitimate speakers in different investment seminars who will provide valuable information. But there are also some other people who work primarily to take your money through fake proposals and projects.
Interested investors must be very careful if they would like to go for seminars or courses that offer investor education. The information might be different from different point of views and providers, as well as from costing. Some of the information might be provided free of cost. Always go for the education program which is sponsored by an organization or company. But avoid those associations and companies, who provide basic information in return for small fees to thousands of dollars. Still, there are some genuine seminars or courses also where they provide basic information. Not all of them are scammers.
Few courses or seminars might ask you money for paying your attendance fees, books and reports, investment and property selling tactics, etc.Real estate investment companies which host the course programs or seminars, would provide suggestion to adopt high-risk investment strategies to their students. High-risk-investment tricks include taking huge amount of money as loan for buying an investment. It's also possible that the investment might be offered by the same host. So, it is better to refuse such investment offers from a new party, or you need to verify the proposal before investing.
5. Home Improvement scams – You must also be aware of the small scams as well as the big ones. Mostly, door-to-door campaigns, unrealistic offers and deals have more number of fraud cases.
The investors may offer good deals that are very interesting but false. They will normally use high pressure sales tricks and offer a one-time deal to the customers. You need to be focused and alert to avoid being conned by them.
Property owners must take initiative to get the authorized name, physical address and verify that all services must be listed as written contract rather than merely verbal promises. The fake contractor may demand upfront payment via cash or cheque without completing the whole work. They might assure you that they would be coming back later for the rest of the pending work. After getting the payment, they might not come back again.
Normally, before hiring a contractor, as a property owner, it is your duty to check and verify some references and search for a reputable, fair and hard-working company who can render the best work. Always choose a contractor who can give you on time services as per your budget and according to your need.
6. Wrong assumption about yourself –People might think that no one can fool them. It is the biggest mistake one can make when you are looking for a contractor or an investment broker. It’s a common assumption that all investment scams are done by the professional criminals and they are done in the dark, unmonitored way. That may be a truth, but it doesn’t happen often. It is seen that most of the critical scams have been done openly, despite of strict supervision.
Federal law can support by giving some recourse to the victims of a scam.Although it is hard to recover the losses and it might take long time to complete the recovery process. For frauds which engage out-of-country investments, there are very little chances of recovery. Sometimes it gets impossible to settle the loss, and the criminals may not be prosecuted.