I got a piece of mail today. That’s snail mail, in my mail box, delivered by USPS. It was address to me as [First Initial Middle Initial Last name] and [Address] in that ‘script font’ that looks like handwriting. No return address. My initial response was to toss it but I opened it instead.
There’s a pretty simple letter inside I’ll quote the entirety of it (I assume it isn’t copyrighted).
The letter is then ‘signed’ with a [name], signed as in cursive font printout
I Googled the phone number which led me to a person in my hometown, but not the same person that ‘signed’ the letter.
Veromi.net give a listing for the number, but it doesn’t give me any information without paying.
The local Online Parcel Information System doesn’t have a listing for that name or address, but the address is probably for a local apartment complex.
Anyway, the only reason it intrigued me so much is that I am interested in selling my house in about 6 months, and I don’t think this is a home an 80 year old would want to buy, although the neighborhood is filled with older people, who buys a house at 80years old and claims not to be an investor?
How should I proceed? I can toss it in the garbage or call the number on the letter. I think I might call the number and ask for [Google Name] (not the name from the letter). Then confront the dude on what the scam is. Is there anything illegal about sending such a letter? Can I report him to a better business bureau or local law enforcement or something?
You appraise your house as being worth $150,000. My appraiser says it’s worth $15,000. Add those two together, divide by two, subtract 3%, and my but that’s a colossal ripoff. An exaggeration, of course.
If you want to sell your house, find a reputable realtor in your area to sell it for you. If you want to buy a house, find a reputable realtor to find one for you.
I’d say your instincts are correct and it’s probably a scam. My guess is that they would use a bogus appraiser to drive down the price. You know who investigates these types of things? The FBI (white collar crime divison).
If I was you, and I felt particularly helpful / ornery, I would contact your local FBI office (available through that link) and tell them about the letter you got.
[QUOTE=Ethilrist]
You appraise your house as being worth $150,000. My appraiser says it’s worth $15,000. Add those two together, divide by two, subtract 3%, and my but that’s a colossal ripoff. An exaggeration, of course.
If you want to sell your house, find a reputable realtor in your area to sell it for you. If you want to buy a house, find a reputable realtor to find one for you.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, obviously I’m not going to sell my house to this clown. I was mostly wondering if anyone had seen this scam before.
Doctor Who, I am feeling kind of ornery having worked all night long. I think I’ll report him, then call him to tell him I reported him. Of course, there’s probably nothing illegal with proposing this kind of thing. You’d have to be pretty stupid to sign some sort of contract before the appraisals, etc.
[QUOTE=Ethilrist]
You appraise your house as being worth $150,000. My appraiser says it’s worth $15,000. Add those two together, divide by two, subtract 3%, and my but that’s a colossal ripoff. An exaggeration, of course.
[/QUOTE]
Maybe you could find an equally corrupt appraiser and get your house appraised at $5,000,000. ($5,000,000 + $0)/2 - 3% = $2.45 Million. It would be amusing if you had a simultaneous appraisal revealing.
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict]
Maybe you could find an equally corrupt appraiser and get your house appraised at $5,000,000. ($5,000,000 + $0)/2 - 3% = $2.45 Million. It would be amusing if you had a simultaneous appraisal revealing.
[/QUOTE]
Interesting strategy. The letter doesn’t say that I have to get an appraiser at all. I can just state my price.
I’m a real estate agent (commercial not residential), but I really have a difficult time thinking that a pair of octogenarians are so wound up about wanting to bypass a RE agent that they would use a mass marketing campaign like this. Typically 80 year olds are the ones who might need an agent’s services the most.
I suspect it’s an information gathering scheme for predatory investors or lenders of some kind. In addition a lot of these “get rich quick in RE” schemes are parallel to this type of marketing, where you are looking to find desperate sellers willing to sell at a loss.
Try www.zabasearch.com for an initial search. The first tier search is free.