Warning about Craigslist

[Todd Norris]

Everyone loves a good disaster story, right? Well, here's one for you. 

Someone I know owns an out-of-town rental which he purchased when his daughter was in college (cheaper than the dorms!). He kept the house after she graduated and had a couple renters. Last November he decided to fix it up and sell it. The owner recently got a call from a guy who identified himself as the "buyer" of this house and was hoping to set up a closing date. So the story goes, someone had listed this vacant house on Craigslist and had met with the "buyer" at the property to collect some earnest money ($2,000). Of course, this "someone" was not the true owner of the house. The "buyer" didn't hear from the "seller" for quite some time so he found the owner's information through the county and gave him a call. The true owner then drove to his property to find it stripped bare. Everything was gone (tools, appliances, fixtures, furnace, water heater, everything). He filed a police report. During the investigation, it was discovered that a suspicious neighbor had taken a picture of the two guys at the property when the earnest money was changing hands. Turns out, the "seller" who collected the earnest money was a former tenant! The police were able to run a search on the "seller" based on the true owner's tenant records, and it was discovered that the guy had done this before.

Lesson: Do your homework before you buy something from Craigslist! A quick trip to the county clerk's office can get you the name of the owner. Match up the ID of the person collecting your earnest money with the name on the county records. If they don't match, do further investigation or just walk away from the deal. Isn't life interesting? :)