If you’re planning to become a homeowner in the near future, you may be a little nervous about what is actually involved in making the biggest purchase of your life. While buying a house isn’t as easy as picking up something at the mall, it’s not rocket science. Here is an overview of the steps involved in buying a home.

Step #1: Finding out how much you can afford – This means going to the bank or meeting with a broker to get a pre-approved mortgage. This figure will represent the absolute maximum you can spend on a home.

Step #2: Choosing a realtor – This is one of your most important decisions, so choose wisely. You might ask for recommendations from friends and family or just attend a few open houses to meet realtors in your area.

Step #3: Narrowing down what you want in a home – Knowing what you want can make buying a house a lot less stressful. Make a wish list of features, and then give this to your realtor for future reference.

Step #4: Shopping around – The next step is to look at homes that are currently on the market. This will help you settle on the features that are most important to you and find out what’s available in your price range.

Step #5: Making an offer – Once you’ve found the home, it’s time to make an offer. Many people choose to offer less than the listing price of the home, especially if it’s been on the market for a while. Your realtor will be able to advise you on your best course of action.

Step #6: 30, 60, or more days of paperwork – If your offer is accepted, the next month (or couple of months) will be spent preparing for the closing. There are lawyers to hire, conditions to meet, financing to obtain, and a lot of little things you may not have considered. A good realtor will make the process go more smoothly.

Step #7: Closing – Finally, you’ll sign the mortgage documentation to make the home officially yours before you move in and put out the welcome mat.

Need help understanding the home buying process? Follow this step-by-step house buying checklist to avoid costly mistakes when buying a house. And learn how to find a realtor who will help you find your dream home!

LANDLORD AND TENANT SCAMS AND HOW TO AVOID THEM

Scams can go both ways: whether you are a landlord getting scammed by a potential renter or you are a tenant paying your rent to a person that isn’t even the owner of the property you are renting!

Just because a person signs a rental application or a rental agreement for that matter, doesn’t mean they are legit!
Fraudulent claims and Internet scams are constantly on the ride, so is it any wonder that it has finally hit the rental housing market?

TENANT SCAMS:

Recently the U.S. Postal Inspector gave us warning that some landlords are being conned by scam artists using counterfeit checks, counterfeit certified checks, fake bank checks and even counterfeit money orders. Property owners should be very careful in responding to a prospective applicant or roommate who contacts you from out of the country from an online advertisement the building manager may have posted.

These con artists will want to pay their deposit with a cashier’s check, money order or using some other form of paper transactions, in most cases requesting to pay many months up front plus some for “administrative fees”.

The con artist will then ask the owner to send back part of the money (usually in a wire transfer), as well as most of the “administrative costs” or ask that the entire amount be given back by supplying a rationale that they may not take the unit after all. This regardless of whether they may have filled out a rental application.

Subsequently, the owner refunds all or a portion of the monies before being informed that the original “check” was counterfeit. These scammers are usually from a foreign country and even with law enforcement working with you can be very difficult to hunt and find.

This basically means that all of the monies the landlord paid back is straight out of their pocket. Con artists can do this over the phone too if they find the right landlord to fall for it.

And even though the landlord may have sent them a rental agreement, it doesn’t mean it’s enforceable overseas!

Here are a few tips to avoid being scammed as a landlord:

* Do not accept or return any monies without first having a face to face meeting with your potential new tenant and confirm they are who they say they are by checking their identification.

* When you do accept monies from anyone, tell them that you cannot refund anything until at least 10 days after the check has cleared.

* Make sure to do both a credit check and a criminal records check as well as a public records search.

* And if you smell something fishy, it probably is. Remember, if it seems to good to be true…

If you have been a victim of this kind of scam, immediately call the US Postal Inspector as well as the fraud division of the FBI.

LANDLORD SCAM:

Someone posing as a landlord who isn’t happen occasionally, but this week a con artist actually had the guts to sue his ‘tenant’ for non payment of rent in court!

About a year ago, an individual moved in to a new apartment located in New York state to find out a few months later that the gentleman she was sending her rent check to every month wasn’t the owner or property manager of her building!

He was a con artist with absolutely no legal rights to the property, trying to scam a few hundred dollars a month by deceiving an innocent person who needed a place to live.

However, it wasn’t discovered until the con artist decided to sue the tenant in court for nonpayment of rent after she fell behind! She had asked him to fix some problems in the unit and he wouldn’t do it. She stopped paying the rent and he took her to court!

Law enforcement arrested the con artist and charged him with burglary after he had scammed nearly ten thousand dollars in illegal rent collections.

he stands to serve over seven years in jail if he is found guilty.

TIP:

If you are ever in doubt and something “smells” funny, you can always do a public records search for the owner of the property you are about to rent.

Just head to your local courthouse for this information. There may be a nominal charge.

Stirling Gardner consults for EZ Landlord Forms – your best online resource for state specific rental agreement and free rental application.