Scam Alert!

"SCAM ALERT- ATTENTION PROPERTY OWNERS"...There is a company called Successful Rent, ran by a woman named "Sunny".  She calls property owners who have vacancies and claims she has prospective tenants from out of the country looking for homes.  She then sends someone over who fills out the rental application and gives the owner or manager a "PHONY CASHIER'S CHECK" to hold the apartment. She also says that she will run the credit report for the owner for free.  A reminder to always run your own credit reports! On the day of move-in, she calls the owner and says the tenant found another place and they would like their money back.

The owner then writes a check for the deposit amount and a week or two later, gets a letter from their bank saying the original cashier's check was fraudulent and no good. They just took the owner for thousands. One owner didn't cash the check and sent them back the phony check, so they tried the scam with them again!   This company typically preys on the elderly!

Thanks to Mark Kohler for keeping us up to date on what's going on in the real estate and tax world. I follow his weekly newsletter. You can sign up on his homepage at Mark Kohler.