More details have come out regarding an incident that happened at a vacant home in Manhattan this past weekend. There were over a dozen people squatting in a vacant home, loitering and leaving garbage on the lawn. The garbage included dirty diapers in the yard as this vacant home didn't have any garbage cans and the squatters had young children with them. At first it was assumed that these people scammed a Real Estate agent to get them access to the house and then they refused to leave. We have a lot of great Realtors in our area and none would risk their license by sending a client unattended to view a home on their own. What actually happened is becoming a problem across the country with large companies that buy homes and rent them out. This time being American Homes 4 Rent. They don't work with Realtors. They give access to potential tenants to view homes on their own unattended. This large group of people received access directly from the owner of the home to gain entry to the property and they planned to stay until someone made them leave. This caused a stressful situation to the neighbors around this home and the Manhattan Police Department had to step in and help.
This is just one of the problems that comes with the way these rental companies do business. Another common scam is people will register to view the home and once they have access to the home, they will post a fake ad online for a rental. They will then pretend to be the landlord and sign a lease with an unsuspecting tenant. After, they take their money and the new family moves in. It doesn't take long for that new family to find out they didn't rent that home from the rightful owner and now they are homeless and lost a lot of money.
Moral of the story is, if you are looking for a home, always call on a local licensed Real Estate agent. These rental companies would be smart to do the same for showing their properties.
