Protect Yourself from Real Estate Fraudsters!

Summary:
In this episode, we delve into the murky world of real estate scams, shedding light on the tactics used by fraudsters to exploit unsuspecting victims. From wire fraud to predatory lending, we explore the common schemes plaguing the industry and offer practical tips on how to avoid falling prey to these deceptions. Join us as we empower you with the knowledge to safeguard your assets and navigate the real estate market with confidence.

Episode Highlights:

• Wire Fraud: Unveiling the dangers of wire fraud in real estate transactions and providing insights into how scammers exploit vulnerabilities in the system.
• Predatory Lending: Exposing the tactics employed by unscrupulous lenders to prey on vulnerable individuals, particularly seniors, and offering strategies for identifying reputable lending institutions.
• Foreclosure Relief Scams: Discussing the insidious nature of foreclosure relief scams and offering resources for those facing financial hardship.
• Fake Listings and Rental Scams: Highlighting the prevalence of rental scams targeting prospective tenants and providing guidance on how to identify fraudulent listings.
• Bait and Switch Movers: Examining the pitfalls of hiring unlicensed and unreliable moving companies and offering advice on selecting reputable movers.

Protect yourself from real estate scams by staying informed and vigilant. Research potential lenders, movers, and property listings thoroughly before making any commitments. If you encounter suspicious activity, report it to the appropriate authorities and seek assistance from trusted professionals in the industry.

Thank you for listening to this episode. Stay up to date on the latest trends and insights by subscribing to our podcast and following us on social media.

For more information about buying or selling in the Portland Metro real estate market, please visit www.LivPortland.com or contact us directly.

We appreciate your feedback, so please leave a review and let us know what topics you would like to hear more about.

Transcript

00:00:06:22 - 00:00:23:06

Joe Reitzug

Welcome to off the record Talking real estate with Joe and Makayla. If you're interested in the Portland, Oregon real estate market and want the unvarnished inside scoop, you've come to the right place. Thanks for giving us a listen. Welcome to the show. Makayla. Hello.

00:00:23:08 - 00:00:24:21

Makayla Mast

I'm good. Happy Monday.

00:00:24:23 - 00:00:27:06

Joe Reitzug

Happy Monday to you. What's been going on?

00:00:27:09 - 00:00:33:05

Makayla Mast

Super Bowl was yesterday was a good time. Are you happy with the win or were you going for the 49?

00:00:33:05 - 00:00:39:12

Joe Reitzug

Didn't really have a dog in the fight. And just wanted to see a good game. And it was a really good game. So yeah. Yeah.

00:00:39:15 - 00:00:42:13

Makayla Mast

I was there for the concert and the Taylor Swift shot.

00:00:42:18 - 00:00:45:09

Joe Reitzug

They didn't show up as much as I thought they were going to show.

00:00:45:11 - 00:00:49:00

Makayla Mast

I thought they were going to overdo it, but they didn't. So that was.

00:00:49:02 - 00:00:50:05

Joe Reitzug

What did you think of the halftime show?

00:00:50:10 - 00:00:59:00

Makayla Mast

It was great, actually. Yeah. I actually said after if someone can find a reason to cancel this show, you're crazy. It was. It was great.

00:00:59:02 - 00:01:02:19

Joe Reitzug

I missed most of the halftime show because I was having second dinner.

00:01:02:21 - 00:01:05:22

Makayla Mast

Of course. What else do you do?

00:01:06:00 - 00:01:15:12

Joe Reitzug

Holy smokes. We eight and eight and eight. We were at a big party with kind of a potluck thing, and everyone brought their best little dishes and, my gosh, it was wonderful.

00:01:15:18 - 00:01:19:14

Makayla Mast

So fun. Everyone's diet starts again today.

00:01:19:15 - 00:01:34:11

Joe Reitzug

Yes, indeed it does. No sugar for me for a month now. All this macaroni. Okay. So today's topic, it's one that we've been wanting to talk about for a while and it's real estate scams, right?

00:01:34:12 - 00:01:35:19

Makayla Mast

More common than you think.

00:01:35:19 - 00:01:54:13

Joe Reitzug

More common than you think. And we've actually have had a few instances where we've had some fraudulent clients that we can we'll talk about it at the end. We'll give you a nice little story about that. But we're here today to mostly talk about how people can avoid the scams, what scams to be aware of what's entailed in those scams.

00:01:54:15 - 00:02:16:20

Joe Reitzug

There are so many people that are out there right now trying to make a buck illegally and it's just crazy. You know, we all know about the Nigerian prince and how, you know, the scam that he's doing. But scammers have gotten pretty sophisticated and it's really gotten to be an epidemic. I get calls every single day. Do you want to be a part of this team that does X amount of leads?

00:02:16:20 - 00:02:22:11

Joe Reitzug

All you have to pay is $1,000 and so many agents pay that upfront money and then they're just gone.

00:02:22:11 - 00:02:23:03

Makayla Mast

Yeah, you.

00:02:23:03 - 00:02:29:13

Joe Reitzug

Know, but the homeowners are the ones that they focus on because that's where the big money is. Let's talk about wire fraud real quick.

00:02:29:17 - 00:02:34:01

Makayla Mast

Okay? This is probably the biggest one, I would think so.

00:02:34:03 - 00:02:47:06

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, because it's dealing with down payments. You know, sometimes it's hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. Criminals get, like I said, pretty sophisticated in how they approach it. What are the ways that people need to look out for, would you say?

00:02:47:07 - 00:03:07:04

Makayla Mast

Well, so this happens in the process when you're depositing your earnest money. Usually when you say so, it's within three days of your offer getting accepted. You have to deposit this amount through escrow. And if you decide to not deposit it in person, you have to do it online. And what happens is escrow will send you a link, a secure link.

00:03:07:04 - 00:03:25:18

Makayla Mast

And you have to I'm sure there's two step verification, all those things, but that's how you deposit the money. But scammers have gotten so good that they time it up. They know when you're supposed to be depositing that money and they will send you an email that looks like an email from escrow, so they'll screenshot the logo of the escrow company.

00:03:25:18 - 00:03:36:09

Makayla Mast

They might even put in the escrow officers information. They make it look really legit. And then when you click on that link, an unfortunate atley people deposit money in the wrong spot and they might not ever see it again.

00:03:36:12 - 00:04:05:10

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, you got to be really super careful with it. And the escrow company that we work with, EFG, they are fantastic. Shout out to Lisa Wheeler. She's the best closer in town, but they are absolutely on top of it. And their specific instructions of the type of email they have a full list that they send our clients to show them exactly the steps that they will take to send you the information and where you can go ahead and do the wire transfer.

00:04:05:10 - 00:04:27:21

Joe Reitzug

But these scammers are unbelievable. And I've seen a couple of these emails and the thing that's crazy is the two things that are the biggest giveaways from what I've seen is the email address. One, you look at the email address and it has nothing to do with the title company. It's Jeff at three, six, seven, five at gmail.com or something like that.

00:04:27:21 - 00:04:45:15

Joe Reitzug

You know, when you're doing important business like this or when you suspect that there might be something wrong, take a look at the email address, because I've noticed that in a lot of the scams that we get sent, they are absolutely almost half the time the email is something, so not what you would expect obviously.

00:04:45:17 - 00:04:47:13

Makayla Mast

But it can be easy to miss, so.

00:04:47:18 - 00:04:53:07

Joe Reitzug

It can be easy to miss. The second thing is grammar. You know the scammers. I know spell check.

00:04:53:07 - 00:04:56:16

Makayla Mast

This is not like a scam or old style phone thing.

00:04:56:18 - 00:04:59:08

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, right. Horrible grammar and.

00:04:59:08 - 00:05:00:23

Makayla Mast

This church repeating or something.

00:05:00:23 - 00:05:16:05

Joe Reitzug

Right? We get phishing. Everyone does. There's all these phishing emails that go out and I'm just amazed at how bad the grammar is. It's like, you know, if you're going to put this amount of time into it, don't you do like a little spell check on this one?

00:05:16:10 - 00:05:19:13

Makayla Mast

You would think, yeah, sending it out by the millions, I guess.

00:05:19:13 - 00:05:43:22

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. So wire fraud is a big one. You want to follow the directions of the title and escrow company that you're working with to the tee, and if you have any suspicions whatsoever, ever, it's worth a phone call to to reach out and find out. Is this legitimate? Is this the way I should be doing that? Because there's some awful stories about people losing their down payment and it's really tough to get that back.

00:05:44:00 - 00:05:44:16

Joe Reitzug

You know, I.

00:05:44:16 - 00:05:49:04

Makayla Mast

Know we just heard about this the other day, hundreds of thousands of dollars.

00:05:49:04 - 00:05:51:03

Joe Reitzug

So be careful, people. Yeah.

00:05:51:05 - 00:06:00:08

Makayla Mast

So the next one is loan flipping and predatory lenders. Yeah, this one is really sad to me because they target seniors.

00:06:00:10 - 00:06:22:02

Joe Reitzug

That's just the worst thing, you know? Come on, people. The elderly should be respected and cared for and for people to try and do this is just ridiculous. I know my in-laws, we take care of them to a pretty heavy extent and we love to. They've been so good to us and we're happy to help them in their in their later years.

00:06:22:04 - 00:06:30:03

Joe Reitzug

They got so many phone calls from predatory lenders, especially that we finally had to take out the in-home phone.

00:06:30:05 - 00:06:30:17

Makayla Mast

geez.

00:06:30:17 - 00:06:51:12

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Just took the number out all together. And what it is, is a lot of these online lenders and I'm not not talking about the rocket mortgage or these types and all that type of stuff, but there's these online lenders that will either be licensed and just be shady or be not licensed, and it's just a complete scam.

00:06:51:12 - 00:07:09:06

Joe Reitzug

But they'll try to convince and especially in our current environment, where the rates were so low for for that, you know, two, three year period and now they're back up a little bit. So more of those calls are going out and people are getting calls about, hey, do you want to have your rate at two or 3% again?

00:07:09:08 - 00:07:36:10

Joe Reitzug

And either it's a complete scam and they're just trying to get bank information or they are putting you into a loan that has ridiculous amounts of fees. Neither one of those is good. And you got to be super careful when you're talking about doing a loan over the Internet, right? If it's not someone local, be extra cautious about what you're doing or have a prior relationship with this person.

00:07:36:15 - 00:07:53:13

Joe Reitzug

But if it's just a random that you've never met from another part of the country, you really should talk to either a professional broker like Michela or myself, or get it investigated and find out exactly who these people are, what the company's all about, and look up reviews.

00:07:53:15 - 00:08:09:21

Makayla Mast

I've talked to a lot of sellers over the phone who are older and would love to sell and be done with owning property, but they have just been juiced out of all their equity and they just can't. And it's really sad. So yeah, I always go with somebody that you trust think is our best advisor.

00:08:10:01 - 00:08:22:04

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, yeah. And it even goes to some of the online companies like Rocket and some of the different companies they can work out great for people. But there's a reason that there's a super low rate if.

00:08:22:04 - 00:08:23:11

Makayla Mast

It always comes from somewhere.

00:08:23:12 - 00:08:41:16

Joe Reitzug

If the rate is too low to believe in, too good to believe it probably is. And it's probably all of the fees are probably hidden to compensate for that, too. You really got to be super careful with with all of the predatory lenders that are out there. That's a huge scam in our business right now.

00:08:41:18 - 00:09:03:11

Makayla Mast

So the third one on our list is foreclosure relief. They really prey on people going through hard times, which just feels like it hurts a little bit more. Yeah. So these scammers will go after people who are in freefall closure, which is a public record. So it's easy information to find them. They pretend like they're government entity, right?

00:09:03:11 - 00:09:18:00

Makayla Mast

Or at least, you know, somehow related to housing assistance. Then they offer to buy the person out of their home for usually more than the home is worth. But these situations just end up being worse for the homeowner and costing them more money.

00:09:18:00 - 00:09:43:15

Joe Reitzug

There's very varying degrees of the scams that are involved here. Some are legitimate folks who are licensed but just charge exorbitant fees. And there it goes all the way to those who are just straight up scammers who say they can help. And I need money up front and then they're just gone. Yeah, but that public information, all of these scammers thrive on information, right?

00:09:43:17 - 00:10:03:13

Joe Reitzug

If they know a little bit about your property and a little bit about your situation or like we talked about it at the top with wire fraud, if they know a little bit about the title company and that you're in the middle of a transaction or something like that, they can sound very convincing in like with foreclosure relief, a lot of this information is public.

00:10:03:15 - 00:10:25:00

Joe Reitzug

The public doesn't know and if they call you and say, well, hi, Sallie Homeowner, we saw that you're going through some tough times and you're going through for pre-foreclosure. Right now, we're here to help you, right? And all it's going to take is $5,000 for us to handle all of this for you. And a lot of people, you know, it's an emotional time and.

00:10:25:04 - 00:10:30:17

Makayla Mast

They're already seeing red, right? So when someone calls and knows are info, I wouldn't be with them.

00:10:30:22 - 00:10:58:16

Joe Reitzug

Right. So, you know, criminals can capitalize on that fear and might include an offering to negotiate with the lenders for a fee or asking them to pay directly. And it's just something you really got to be careful of. There are online resources and it's something that we can put on on our website LivPortland.com. If you go to our blog you'll see some information there about some of the different resources that are out there for anyone that's in foreclosure.

00:10:58:18 - 00:11:27:19

Joe Reitzug

And you can go online, talk to someone from the government. They have foreclosure help in foreclosure relief just to be able to get the facts about what's going on. And if you ever get approached, you should definitely try to reach out to either a mortgage professional or a real estate professional and just ask them to help you find out if this is legitimate or not, because it only takes a few minutes and people like Michael and I are always more than happy to help with making sure that things are legitimate for you so that you don't get scammed.

00:11:27:19 - 00:11:42:17

Joe Reitzug

And it can save you from going through a lot of heartache. The next scam that we want to talk about is something crazy that we actually see quite a bit, and it's the fake listings and rental scams. Tell us about this market right now. You've got a little bit of background having seen some of this.

00:11:42:22 - 00:12:08:19

Makayla Mast

Yes. So this one's mostly online and they target renters, but they put out ads out on Craigslist or whatever website. Probably weird. And social media and they are posting a home for rent, so to say. And then they are charging application fees upfront. So a lot of times I ask you to Venmo them to secure your spot or even Venmo them to secure a tour or something like that.

00:12:08:19 - 00:12:26:04

Makayla Mast

So and there's not actually a property that's for rent. So that's really sad because they're going after people who are trying to find a home. I mean, they're they're working hard at it. So it's too bad The FBI actually issued a warning about a spike of these scams in July of 2023. So it's difficult.

00:12:26:06 - 00:12:48:07

Joe Reitzug

To look out for. Yeah. And on our website, we have a link that the FTC recommends actually to educate yourself about potential scams around this topic. Super helpful. As a general rule, you should be suspicious of anyone who asks for a cash deposit upfront to see a property. You want to make sure you're dealing with a license and reputable property management company.

00:12:48:07 - 00:13:11:16

Joe Reitzug

But there's sometimes it's hard, especially with the rental market being the way that it is right now, where it's tight, just like the purchase market, the real estate purchase market rentals are extremely difficult to find right now and they prey upon that. And if you think it's a competitive situation and yeah, I'm going to need $200 to run your application, a lot of times people will just go with it and not do the homework upfront.

00:13:11:16 - 00:13:13:12

Joe Reitzug

So you got to be careful with that.

00:13:13:15 - 00:13:40:21

Makayla Mast

Yeah, and these are just started online, so it's hard to avoid. But yeah, you had sent me that article that Airbnb scam that happened here locally, which I had been telling everybody about because I just think it's crazy. But this person rented an Airbnb here locally. Once they got to the Airbnb, the owner had noticed through their ring camera that this renter came in and was taking pictures pretending to be a realtor.

00:13:40:23 - 00:13:55:05

Makayla Mast

Then they put this home online and advertised an open house posing as a realtor. So people from the community came and they were basically trying to sell her house while they were renting it. And the only reason the owner knows through that ring camera.

00:13:55:05 - 00:14:02:20

Joe Reitzug

Can you imagine? yeah, that's ridiculous. Come on, people. A real job is the same amount of work.

00:14:02:20 - 00:14:05:04

Makayla Mast

I think about this constantly, right?

00:14:05:06 - 00:14:26:13

Joe Reitzug

I mean, I this is probably not PC or anything, but I get a lot of tech scams. Do you get the one where someone texts you and it's like, yeah, John, thanks. I'm looking forward to meeting for coffee next week. No, and I texted them back wrong number and they so sorry about that. I'm sorry to waste your time and everything.

00:14:26:13 - 00:14:39:17

Joe Reitzug

I'm so sorry. And I'm like, No problem, Have a nice day. And I deleted and then they text again. You were so nice not to get mad at me. You seem like a very nice person. Maybe you want to get coffee.

00:14:39:19 - 00:14:43:00

Makayla Mast

yeah. What are you doing, people?

00:14:43:02 - 00:14:45:02

Joe Reitzug

Okay. Don't need any friends like that.

00:14:45:03 - 00:14:50:21

Makayla Mast

So weird. But you get scammed more than anyone I know. I'm not actually scammed, but people.

00:14:50:21 - 00:14:53:04

Joe Reitzug

Should be attempted scams. Yeah.

00:14:53:06 - 00:14:57:00

Makayla Mast

I'm all I know you're not. Your phone number is just put out there for my phone.

00:14:57:00 - 00:15:05:08

Joe Reitzug

Number has been out there a long time but I just. It's so much work to like. How many people are they texting a day? Just get a real job.

00:15:05:08 - 00:15:09:22

Makayla Mast

I know you could instacart and probably make a few bucks during that whole time.

00:15:10:01 - 00:15:31:16

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And all the scammers for my in-laws, we got to the point with them where I would we would tell Stephanie's mom and dad, give them Joe's number, have them call Joe or get their number and tell them that your call back and then come next door and give the numbers of Joe. And so I'd get the number and I'd call them and have a nice conversation about, well, what are you doing with your life?

00:15:31:21 - 00:15:41:04

Joe Reitzug

I know you really should be trying to do something different with your life. You're better than that. You know, try to help them out a little bit.

00:15:41:08 - 00:15:43:20

Makayla Mast

It's exhausting. Yeah, I know.

00:15:44:02 - 00:15:46:16

Joe Reitzug

And sometimes I just don't have the time, and it's like, just.

00:15:46:16 - 00:15:49:12

Makayla Mast

Things don't go to that bad language.

00:15:49:14 - 00:15:52:12

Joe Reitzug

I don't go to the bad language. I go to the lawyer language.

00:15:52:14 - 00:15:53:10

Makayla Mast

okay.

00:15:53:12 - 00:15:55:06

Joe Reitzug

That gets to the point pretty quickly.

00:15:55:08 - 00:16:15:15

Makayla Mast

Like that. Literally last night we were sitting under the Super Bowl, my 78 year old grandpa sitting in his chair on the couch and he gets a phone call and it's like he's like, who's calling me on a Sunday night? And we're like, probably nobody, you know? But he takes it seriously. He has friends. He totally has friends.

00:16:15:15 - 00:16:20:09

Makayla Mast

But I thought late on a Sunday, I mean, come on. And it was an unknown number I kind of knew.

00:16:20:10 - 00:16:21:10

Joe Reitzug

During the Super Bowl.

00:16:21:12 - 00:16:39:04

Makayla Mast

Yes. Yeah. And he picks it up and he's like taking it seriously. And it was like, this is such and such bank. And he was like kind of squinting like, man. And I think, I don't know how my mom and I are just like, looking. Yeah. Who's going to tell him first? Grandpa, It's a scam across the room.

00:16:39:05 - 00:16:42:18

Joe Reitzug

You got to grab that phone. Grandpa, let me take this call for you.

00:16:42:20 - 00:16:46:17

Makayla Mast

Like you probably call all hours of the day when we're not there. Just pisses me.

00:16:46:17 - 00:17:05:03

Joe Reitzug

Off. Yeah, I like to go ahead and create more work for them now. I'll ask them. I'll say, Hey, give me your routing numbers right now. I'll send my my checking account and I'll send numbers. And they're like, Well, that's not an account. I'm like, Try it again. Yeah, try it again. Well, it didn't work. Going to try it.

00:17:05:03 - 00:17:12:15

Joe Reitzug

It tried again. Try it again. You know, depending if I have time or not, I like to kind of run them in circles to kind of give them a little bit of their own medicine.

00:17:12:18 - 00:17:13:09

Makayla Mast

That's hilarious.

00:17:13:10 - 00:17:29:04

Joe Reitzug

It's the least we can do for grandma and grandpa. It's true. Yeah, they would want that. So let's talk about bait and switch movers. Holy smokes. I know I'm saying that a lot right now, but it's just crazy what some people are doing. And there's these companies. McKayla.

00:17:29:06 - 00:17:29:18

Makayla Mast

Tell me.

00:17:29:23 - 00:17:31:06

Joe Reitzug

Movers are hard to get right.

00:17:31:06 - 00:17:33:04

Makayla Mast

Now. They are. I mean.

00:17:33:06 - 00:18:04:12

Joe Reitzug

It feels like the contractors and the vendors in our business, there are certain segments that are so incredibly busy that they spawn these little industries of scammers that see the void and want to step in. And I think movers are one of those where the good ones and the reputable ones are so busy right now that some others have stepped into the void to say, yeah, we can get you all set up and even come out to the house and take a look around and it's going to be $15,000 for us to move you to Austin, Texas, or wherever.

00:18:04:12 - 00:18:05:06

Makayla Mast

Yeah.

00:18:05:08 - 00:18:26:04

Joe Reitzug

And they give them a down payment and it turns out there's no company crazy. Or the other one is some of these lower end movers who they actually do pick up all your furniture and your goods and all that. They said they'd be in Austin, Texas in four days. Here is five days. Six days, seven days, ten, 15 days.

00:18:26:04 - 00:18:34:15

Joe Reitzug

And they're still not there, but they've got your stuff. And the fees have gone up now because we had gas prices and this and that and the other.

00:18:34:15 - 00:18:37:17

Makayla Mast

You had more stuff than you told us about, right.

00:18:37:17 - 00:18:55:15

Joe Reitzug

Also. And you you didn't read the fine print. When we have to go across ten state lines that cost $5,000 more, that type of thing, it's so incredible how much of that is out there right now. And I think people just need to do their homework. I mean, wouldn't you say? Yeah. How do you protect yourself from that?

00:18:55:17 - 00:19:20:03

Makayla Mast

it's hard, because moving is to me, at least if I'm moving, it feels like such an afterthought, right? There's so much that goes into this packing and who is going to move your stuff? You having stuff is an afterthought, which means you have an afterthought amount of change for it. So people I don't blame people for going on Craigslist trying to find somebody, but don't do it because yeah, moving companies are actually regulated by the government.

00:19:20:03 - 00:19:35:11

Makayla Mast

So regardless of who you go with, it's all going to be a fixed price. It's not going to change. They have it down to the amount of boxes already laid out price wise. So the chance of you finding someone reputable and more cost efficient is very slim.

00:19:35:11 - 00:19:56:19

Joe Reitzug

So it is very slim. And like our business, when you're when you're checking out real estate brokers, you should ask for testimonials. You should also ask for reviews. Same thing with movers. Go to the Better Business Bureau and check them out. Go on to their website, Google reviews for that company and see what people have to say and if it's not good, maybe you should stay away.

00:19:56:20 - 00:20:00:03

Makayla Mast

Yeah, or if there are no reviews, definitely stay away.

00:20:00:05 - 00:20:02:07

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, definitely.

00:20:02:09 - 00:20:10:03

Makayla Mast

we're giggling because we just paused to talk about what we're going to talk about next. And I said, Just stop. Save it for the pod.

00:20:10:03 - 00:20:14:02

Joe Reitzug

I get scolded.

00:20:14:04 - 00:20:14:14

Makayla Mast

We have.

00:20:14:15 - 00:20:15:20

Joe Reitzug

But you're right, you guys.

00:20:15:20 - 00:20:33:12

Makayla Mast

You're right. It's one of our favorite stories about a time that we kind of got scammed. Right? To Joe's point, just scammed of our time. Not literally scammed, but yeah, I love this story and it's still so weird to me that it happened, but. Well, tell us about the first time that she called you.

00:20:33:17 - 00:20:53:22

Joe Reitzug

It's so sad on so many different levels. And we had a property that we were representing, really nice luxury property, multimillion dollar property. And I got a call on it from an individual. We'll call her Melanie. And she was super nice. I wasn't kind of feeling it that day because Stephanie and I had just lost a friend of ours.

00:20:54:00 - 00:20:54:04

Makayla Mast

To.

00:20:54:04 - 00:21:11:10

Joe Reitzug

Cancer. We were both pretty shaken up and it was a good friend of ours and it had happened that week. And so anyways, I was listening to her and this and that, and she mentioned that she was ill. And I said, I'm so sorry to hear that. She said, Actually, I'm going through cancer treatment right now. Chemo.

00:21:11:11 - 00:21:25:19

Joe Reitzug

I shared my story to her because I was just like, that's so horrible. And, you know, we have a friend that just passed away and I know how difficult that is going through that process. And boy, she jumped on that. And it turns out, of course, that she never had chemo or had cancer.

00:21:25:21 - 00:21:27:00

Makayla Mast

No, we didn't know.

00:21:27:00 - 00:21:45:18

Joe Reitzug

That. We didn't know that we made this connection. And she wanted us, my team and I, to help her purchase a home. She had made up this big story about having an inheritance from a husband that had passed away and she has a son and she would bring her son on showings to remember little guy.

00:21:45:20 - 00:21:47:16

Makayla Mast

The story was extensive.

00:21:47:21 - 00:21:50:21

Joe Reitzug

The story was very detailed and extensive.

00:21:50:21 - 00:22:11:10

Makayla Mast

Yeah, believable. Like. Yeah. And she said that because of her recent loss, she had started a balloon company making balloon arches and she had a website for it. She said that, you know, we just took off during COVID, which in hindsight, why would we believe that a balloon event company would take after?

00:22:11:12 - 00:22:15:01

Joe Reitzug

And she said that she was an attorney, all these different things.

00:22:15:02 - 00:22:16:14

Makayla Mast

Very impressive. Woman.

00:22:16:15 - 00:22:32:09

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And we did a little bit of online. She did have the website, right? Balloon thing, but there was an article online about her losing her husband, and so we thought it was legit. Yeah. And so anyways, we're looking at homes, looking at homes.

00:22:32:11 - 00:22:34:15

Makayla Mast

Can we tell you about the first time I met her? I'm sorry.

00:22:34:15 - 00:22:35:03

Joe Reitzug

Sure, go.

00:22:35:03 - 00:22:46:09

Makayla Mast

Ahead. So the first time I meet her was a pocket listing that I had of a family friend. And it's a luxury property. And that's the first time I met her. Was I met her there with her friend.

00:22:46:14 - 00:22:47:10

Joe Reitzug

I wasn't there wasn't.

00:22:47:11 - 00:23:06:15

Makayla Mast

No, she was super nice. Like gave me this big hug, like I had known her for a year, introduced her to a friend like is gushing about the property. She's very much acting like a homeowner future buyer. Like I don't like the transition. This floor. Maybe they could have done this here. Like the pool's a little far for me.

00:23:06:18 - 00:23:21:08

Makayla Mast

Giving very, you know, expected feedback, whatever, from a buyer. And I remember she then told me about her cancer treatment. She had just flown in from some crazy hospital in the Mayo Clinic.

00:23:21:10 - 00:23:22:15

Joe Reitzug

It was it was the mailman.

00:23:22:15 - 00:23:37:18

Makayla Mast

Was flying to the Mayo Clinic and she had just had surgery the week before. And she had on a kidney, not at the showing like a regular outfit, but then over her shirt, she had like a waist trainer.

00:23:37:19 - 00:23:39:01

Joe Reitzug

okay. Yeah.

00:23:39:03 - 00:23:42:12

Makayla Mast

And I sort of thought, why would you where always.

00:23:42:14 - 00:23:43:05

Joe Reitzug

You had.

00:23:43:06 - 00:23:44:03

Makayla Mast

Stomach surgery.

00:23:44:08 - 00:23:55:15

Joe Reitzug

In hindsight, there are so many different red flags and different things. We finally got to a point where she she had an assistant with her to whom I think she was scamming also.

00:23:55:17 - 00:23:57:13

Makayla Mast

No, I think the assistant was in on it.

00:23:57:15 - 00:24:09:13

Joe Reitzug

A deal. Yeah. I never I never figure that out. But okay, maybe she was. And honestly, she shows up at this place and she's like, my gosh, this is it, this is it. And we write an offer.

00:24:09:15 - 00:24:13:10

Makayla Mast

And by the way, the most stunning property I've ever seen to this day.

00:24:13:12 - 00:24:13:16

Joe Reitzug

Was.

00:24:13:16 - 00:24:18:18

Makayla Mast

Fantastic. Joe and I were running through that house like kids at a candy store turning off all the lights like.

00:24:18:23 - 00:24:28:19

Joe Reitzug

It took us a half an hour after the shelling just to turn off the lights and this place. And it had a vineyard and amazing pool and it was really impressive.

00:24:28:19 - 00:24:29:19

Makayla Mast

It was the property.

00:24:30:01 - 00:24:49:08

Joe Reitzug

It was spectacular. And I could see why she wanted to fake buy it. Yeah. You know, So we made the offer and they accepted the offer and we were getting at that time you had to get confirmation signatures and earnest money and all that.

00:24:49:08 - 00:24:56:20

Makayla Mast

And I think it was proof of funds we were still proof of. You need to show proof of funds. And so that's what we were waiting on.

00:24:56:22 - 00:25:21:04

Joe Reitzug

So the three days go by and no proof of funds. And I get a text from her saying I had to go back in the surgery. I'm back at the Mayo Clinic and I won't be back for another week. Can we put this off or get an extension on this? And in the meantime, I think you and I are at that point, are starting to get a little kind of like this is odd.

00:25:21:04 - 00:25:29:22

Makayla Mast

Well, it was just insane timing, right? Like making an offer on a $3 million property and then having an emergency surgery that same day.

00:25:30:03 - 00:25:50:20

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And too many things seem to be getting a little too weird. And so all the things started to add up. And the listing broker for this property is a guy now. Yeah, yeah, a great guy. And who I've worked with in the past. He and I have a relationship. And so we start talking and we both start doing some more online sleuthing.

00:25:50:20 - 00:26:14:13

Joe Reitzug

Well, he had a friend that was a P.I. and did like the stuff that regular folks like us can't do and was like, You guys need to run. This lady's a full on scam artist. She is not purporting who she the name that she gave us was of a lady who lost her husband in Chicago, but that's not who she was.

00:26:14:17 - 00:26:22:10

Joe Reitzug

And so the whole thing unraveled pretty quickly and she was into the wind and we never heard from her again.

00:26:22:10 - 00:26:22:20

Makayla Mast

Right.

00:26:22:20 - 00:26:28:08

Joe Reitzug

Like and that was just one of those things where it was like, what were you hoping to accomplish by that? You know, you're going to get out.

00:26:28:12 - 00:26:37:19

Makayla Mast

You needed that much attention, that you wanted that attention home tours and pretend like you were some big shot. That's all I can imagine.

00:26:37:19 - 00:26:47:19

Joe Reitzug

And I remember whenever I would ask, you know, hey, we're going to need a proof of funds when you find the right home, we should get that up front right now. It was always like, yeah, I'll get that tomorrow. I'll tell you, I'll get that tomorrow.

00:26:47:20 - 00:27:08:15

Makayla Mast

You're her imaginary financial advisor. Yeah. I was also on the East Coast and has imaginary names like Brandon or something like that, and she was videotaping the home while we were there touring saying, Brandon, look at this place. Yeah, I need this home. Brandon. So, yeah, full on, extensive story.

00:27:08:15 - 00:27:25:09

Joe Reitzug

She was deep into it. Yeah, she was deep into it. And, you know, lesson learned for us. You need to be a little bit more careful about who you work with and all that type of thing. But we're trusting people, right? But this is we're talking about scams and real estate. So we thought we'd add in a little bit about, hey, even we get scammed, boys.

00:27:25:09 - 00:27:52:04

Joe Reitzug

Wow. Yeah. And we're not we're not too proud to say it. So if you ever have any instance where you feel like you're getting scammed, whether it's wire fraud, predatory lender, foreclosure issue, or moving companies or whatever the case might be, reach out to someone you trust that you have a relationship with or reach out to Makayla or I get some help in finding out what's going on, because for us we were just out time.

00:27:52:08 - 00:28:03:05

Joe Reitzug

But in our business time is money. And in the end it was kind of like just a really strange situation in the strange occurrence of things that just turn out of the world, wacky.

00:28:03:05 - 00:28:08:17

Makayla Mast

But it just so stuck with me because like, we, like, hugged her and, like, spent time with her, you know?

00:28:08:18 - 00:28:10:12

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, I don't know, like, he was.

00:28:10:14 - 00:28:12:10

Makayla Mast

True sociopath, but.

00:28:12:12 - 00:28:41:08

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, and for what? You know, just time or attention or whatever. But I'm worried about, you know, the people that may be listening, that are thinking in terms of real loss, monetary loss or all your valuables or all these different things that can that can happen to you. So when in doubt, go online, do as much research as possible, but also reach out to people that you know and trust that you think can help you with finding out the real situation of what's going on.

00:28:41:13 - 00:28:50:09

Joe Reitzug

And sometimes, you know, maybe it's legit and it's just, you know, it is what it is, but that extra time or phone call is well worth it to figure out exactly what the situation is.

00:28:50:13 - 00:28:52:12

Makayla Mast

Yeah, I agree. Yeah.

00:28:52:14 - 00:28:53:12

Joe Reitzug

So don't get scammed.

00:28:53:12 - 00:28:54:14

Makayla Mast

People scam.

00:28:54:17 - 00:28:55:23

Joe Reitzug

Scamming bad.

00:28:56:01 - 00:28:57:13

Makayla Mast

Okay. Thanks for listening.

00:28:57:15 - 00:29:01:23

Joe Reitzug

That's all for now. Join us next time and thanks so much for listening.

00:29:02:00 - 00:29:14:23

Makayla Mast

Thanks for joining us today. If you're interested in finding out more about Joe, myself or the LivPortland team, you can go to LivPortland.com. Thanks for giving us a listen and see you next time on the Off the Record podcast.