How to Determine a Fraud Real Estate Agent   by FrankRizal

in Real Estate / Property Investment    (submitted 2012-01-12)

During these days we can not tell that every person we met is trustworthy. How did I come with this judgment? Well, considering what we see on TV and over the internet there are a lot of bad news such as murder, theft, car accidents, business downfalls, government issues and a lot more. It's not also new that frauds are also penetrating different types of business industries as well the government nowadays. Some people pretend to be a part of a company but as a matter of fact they are not. The only thing these people want is to get money from the people they are deceiving. One type of business wherein frauds may occur is real estate. Many real estate companies have realtors or are widely known as real estate agents or brokers. Spotting these frauds are somewhat look difficult most especially if the so called real estate agent has a good convincing techniques. They amaze people with what they know like the inns and outs of the real estate industry. But don't worry because in our modern days it is somewhat easy to determine who frauds are, through the help of agencies and their respective representatives.
Here are some ways how to determine if a real estate agent is fraud.
1. No License. Remember that agents take examinations in order to them to be a professional broker. Each agent is provided with a license and an agent is also listed with the appropriate agencies. You can check the national database to check whether the license is also valid. In some cases, there are private companies who also displays broker information, you can check the website of the company your dealing to and see if the name of the agent exists on their list. But beware of fake websites, because there are a lot of these. They make professional looking sites since they know that many people search the internet for listings.
2. Money Scams. This is well known tactic of all frauds or scammers. They mostly ask for money as for processing fees and some also use fancy real estate terms like "initial investment" or "brokerage fees". Remember that real estate agents usually work with commission and would never ask for money down. They only get a percentage of the sale of the house.
3. They Skip Negotiations. Money is all they want, so expect them to be absent during negotiation process. Also, do not be misled by their terms like one time only, best deal or by too low prices.
4. Fraud Agents are very eager. Real estate agents has many bookings for a single listing, remember you're just one of the prospective customers. If your agent seems too eager to close the deal, you may want to double check him. Better to be sure rather than being deceived!
As a conclusion, Fraud agents have different hidden and unnoticeable tactics but it is never impossible to determine and detect it. Just be careful enough to examine and observe the so called broker you are dealing too.

About the Author

Frank Rizal is content writer from DMCI Homes who mainly sells real estate in the Philippines. Frank is now currently part of DMCI Homes Leasing Services team who mainly offers apartments for rent in the Philippines and condos for rent in the Philippines.