On Real Estate & More – September 2023

In fall 2022, I was contacted by a property owner whose property had not sold with another agent and he wanted to relist the property in Jacksonville with me. I sell a lot of property in Jacksonville so did not find this request unusual, but thought it was unfortunate the owner could not meet with me in person. The owner said he was experiencing health issues and so needed to communicate by email since he was receiving treatment. He said he was motivated to sell and wanted to sell the property at a price lower than what it was listed before.

I thought this all made sense given his medical condition and so I prepared the property to list. I reached out to City Planning with a list of questions for my usual due diligence as well as preparing a list of questions for the owner. I also hired a professional photographer to take photographs and drone footage of the property prior to listing.

Shortly before I went to list the property as a live listing, I reached out to the previous listing agent to give her a courtesy call that I was listing her previous client’s property. That was when I found out the seller was not who I thought it was, and that I had been scammed.

Scammers are everywhere, and many of us take precautions to avoid them. But what about when it comes to your biggest investment—real estate property? As I found out personally, this is a scam that is becoming more prevalent throughout the country, and it involves primarily vacant land or rental properties.

How the Scam Works—A criminal begins searching through public records and looks for properties that are free of mortgages or any other liens (often vacant lots or rental properties). The criminal then identifies the owner of the property. The criminal pretends to be the property owner and contacts a real estate agent to list the property and will often ask for the property to be listed below market value to make the sale happen as quickly as possible. They will communicate via text or email only and will show preference for a cash buyer, and quickly accept the offer. The criminal will refuse to sign any closing papers in-person and will request a remote, online notary closing. In many cases, the criminal will pretend to be the notary and even provide falsified documents to the title company or real estate attorney. The proceeds from the sale get sent to the criminal.

Discovering You’ve Been Scammed and Prevention—Often the fraud is discovered when the agency the sale took place with begins recording the transfer of documents. This scheme has especially affected elderly and foreign real property owners, but it is not limited to these groups.

How to Protect Yourself from This Scam—Always use a trusted title company who understands how to navigate this type of fraud, specializes in conducting secure remote online notary closings and can ensure the property actually belongs to the seller you’re working with.