Real Estate Scams Homeowners Must Be Wary Of

In the bustling real estate market, there are scamsters who make dubious transactions with first time homeowners who may be new to the whole process or even the country. It is important to know what kind of frauds you can be subjected to. 

Loan Fraud: If an individual's home goes into foreclosure because of their inability to pay the amount due towards their mortgage, the lender takes over the home and has the right to sell it off to get the amount due to them. When faced with such a dire situation, homeowners often seek easy loans that may be dubious. In such cases the scamster pretends to offer an attractive loan and in return would ask for the home title. Once the title is handed over, the scamster stops giving the loan payments and mortgages the home or resells it. So before taking up any form of loan, homeowners must try to assess if the terms at which they are being offered the loan are extraordinarily good to be true. One way of identifying such scam situations is if the loan being offered is at an unbelievably low rate. Pro tip: For financial situations such as these taking help of authorized institutions is always the best bet. 

Title Fraud: Title fraud scamsters indulge in impersonation of the homeowner to take away the home title. Upon acquiring the title they may sell the home or even sustain a mortgage against it without knowing the rightful owner of the home knows about this. To prevent yourself from title fraud you must simply keep your private information private and not share it with others. Scamsters can get access to your private information through phishing methods i.e. when cybercriminals dupe others into coughing up information such as names, birth date, and other financial information. In fact as per Statistics Canada, about 34 percent Canadians experienced at least one phishing attempt since the pandemic began. 

Mortgage Fraud: Mortgage fraud is said to have taken place when scamster lenders try to defraud unsuspicious buyers of cash or pitch for mortgage terms that are not within the buyer’s means. The Financial Services Commission of Ontario has listed many warning signs of mortgage fraud. These may include lenders who may indulge in seeking transactions such as asking for the fees in cash fees or demanding immediate payments. Just like we advised in the case of loan fraud, to protect yourself against mortgage fraud too, you need to only trust authorized institutions with your mortgages as they are safe. Also, do some research on your mortgage institution before signing up with them. Just like loans, if mortgage terms seem incredibly attractive chances are you are dealing with scamsters.

Whether it is a mortgage or a loan, dubious people may try to rush you into signing up for the terms they offer you. This is a clear indicator you are about to enter into a fraudulent transaction. Beware! 

If you are about to take up a loan, or a mortgage, or need any help with the title of your home do not hesitate to reach out to LendX. We are happy to help.