If you’re looking for a rental property in the Nevada City, Grass Valley, or Auburn areas, chances are you’ve checked Zillow, Craigslist and some of the more popular listing websites. Most people on the hunt for a rental property are looking for certain requirements within a particular price range so they can call the next rental home for a while. However, it’s what people aren’t looking for that might end up hurting them.
These days, there are so many ways that people can be scammed, but it’s not always at the forefront of our minds if we’re not anticipating it. To ensure you protect yourself, check out the quick guide below for tenants looking to rent a home.
Price is too good to be true
As the saying goes, if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is! Just because you want it to work, doesn’t mean it’s meant to be. If the price of a rental property is much lower than other similar properties in the area, there is either a good reason for it, or it’s likely a scam.
For rent by scammer
Often times a rental listing will appear on Craigslist with watermarked pictures, a contact name and number, and the license number of the listing agent. Again, don’t be fooled if the price is too good to be true. We’ve had our listings hijacked and posted on Craigslist before. I always tell tenants actively looking for rentals that if they find something on Craigslist, to search the property management website online and see if the listing is posted there for the same price. If not, someone is trying to scam you.
Can’t view the property or meet in person
It’s a huge red flag if you request to view a Grass Valley, Nevada City or Auburn property and are told to go to the home on your own or that someone can’t meet you in person. Keep in mind, many property managers use self-showing lock boxes that will give you a unique code to enter the house, which is fine. However, if someone just refuses to meet you in person or tells you the key was lost and to open a window, you should know that you’re not dealing with the true owner or manager of the home.
Asking for money or wire transfer up front
Don’t EVER, under any circumstances, send money to anyone without viewing a house and meeting them in person, first. It should sound off alarm bells if someone is asking you to wire them the deposit before even seeing a house or submitting an application. Please be careful as this has happened to folks in Placer and Nevada County CA!
Trust your intuition
The most important thing you can do as a prospective renter looking for a rental property is to trust your intuition. If you feel something is off about a rental property, reach out to us and we can help you try to determine if it is a scam or not. There have been several instances where people have called us to report our listings being hijacked and put on Craigslist by a scammer at a much lower price. One person was even ready to submit a deposit without seeing the house! Luckily, it didn’t feel quite right to her and she contacted us for more information and we were able to help prevent her from being scammed.
We’re here to help you however we can! If we don’t have any rentals that interest you, you can sign up to get email notifications of new rental property listings at the bottom of our Residential Rentals Page HERE. We also refer people to our Other Rental Sources page which provides links to other property management company listings as well as other rental sources in the Nevada County and Placer County areas. This ensures that you are going directly to the source and won’t be a victim of fraud!
Written by Jessica Ornelas | Realtor® /Property Manager | DRE# 02042367
Edited by Amelia Barrett, Barrett Property Management, Inc.
