All Forum Posts by: Jon R.

There's got to be more than that. Should I not call the police? Somebody is in the middle of a crime! I got an email from somebody who said they were stupid enough to send a deposit+rent to this idiot! They say they are talking to authorities but probably also too dumb to help. This wouldn't happen if desperate tenants were not so dumb and quick to send money for nothing...

Watermarks do nothing for this listing, obviously the photos are already out. It also makes my large collection of good photos look bad. No, somebody isn't going to move in, I'm there almost every day, and I'm really in a mood to kick some *** now - I welcome the opportunity at this point. I've already called the guy, I'd love to meet him. And turn him into meat.

If you can separate it out then you can usually either let them setup their own account with the utility (best option) or submeter them, but in most states you cannot charge any more than you spent. Not sure if you would qualify for subsidies rather than a dedicated utility company, in some places you do not want to play the "utility" game, this is very location specific.

It is best practice if you can have them individually metered or submetered just charge what they owe separate from rent. It only makes your rent look higher in comparison to other properties if you include any utility. Unmetered heat is begging for abuse.

It will likely be very expensive to individually meter all of this if the place wasn't originally designed and plumbed/wired for that. Rental properties without individual meters on each unit are generally worth less money because of this issue.

I have a SFH that I recently listed for rent on Zillow, Trulia, and Hotpads. (all at once) I have not listed it anywhere else. It has been brought to my attention that some scum bag is posting my house for rent on craigslist, for less money, and asking for a $50 "application fee". He has stolen my photos and description, and now several legit possible tenants are scared of the property! There are at least 3 different posts on craigslist and have been up for a week, I have flagged them but it is not enough to get them removed!

First, is there anything else I can do beyond flagging this in craigslist? It doesn't seem like they have any other way to contact about such an issue, although it also seems like they are complicit in the crime. The photos I own are being illegally used.

Second, what can I do to prevent this in the future? I specifically avoid posting on craigslist because of all the scam nonsense! Maybe a watermark on my photos? Anything else? I know plenty of other people are getting scammed this way...but I have no idea what to do about it!

This is an especially large issue since there are only about 3-4 houses for rent in my market total!