Memphis Real Estate Buzz » Memphis Real Estate News

Goodbye – Hello

Joe Spake — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:21:05 +0000

Last post on Memphis Real Estate Buzz

Moving to http://Blog.Spake.com

Image by joespake via Flickr

If you have come to this URL – http://MemphisRealEstateBuzz.com for the last few years for my local and national real estate news and comments, thank you! This is the last post on this blog. No I am not giving up real estate blogging – just changing the blog’s URL and look.

I am integrating Memphis Real Estate Buzz as a sub-domain of my main site, http://spake.com. From now on you can find my real estate posts, and hopefully other interesting posts at http://blog.spake.com. This blog will be automatically redirected there.

Thanks for your support. If you are an RSS subscriber, please go to http://blog.spake.com and subscribe there (all the posts from this blog are archived and searchable there). You won’t be automatically subscribed at the new location. You can use this link to subscribe right now. If you would prefer to receive new posts by mail, use Subscribe%20to%20Memphis%20Real%20Estate%20Buzz%20Blog%20by%20Email">this link.

So, I will see you on the other side. I will leave this site up for a while, to make sure all the permalinks to posts transfer properly to a new and permanent location.

Joe Spake is a Memphis, Tennessee based Consultant, Real Estate Broker, and Blogger. Call 901.214.5563 for a consultation or click to make a social connection.
If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.

Thanks you for reading Goodbye – Hello. For similar Memphis Real Estate articles visit Memphis Real Estate Buzz ,

Special note for current RSS Subscribers – If you subscribe to Memphis Real Estate Buzz via RSS feed, Please subscribe and start following this new feed for spake.com. This will assure that you do not miss any items from either blog as I begin the process of merging the 2 blogs into one feed. Watch for future updates

Renters, beware of online scams

Joe Spake — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:02:26 +0000

This scam has been going on on Craigslist, and probably other sites for years, but it hit one of my listings yesterday. Fortunately someone alerted me early that the listing was being offered for rent at about a third of market rent. Of course it was a scam, perpetrated by someone off shore. It generated 9 calls from my yard sign from people who had seen the ad and driven by the house, so, obviously, lots of folks search Craigslist for rentals and they all seemed to think they had found the ultimate deal on a rental.

I replied to the email address on the scam, and got back an email from “Kristina Kilgore” , who claimed to be the owner, written in poor English, with overseas phone numbers, the mention of Nigeria, and a Rental Application designed to get personal information. At the end of the application, this: ”Please do understand that, a refundable deposit of $600 MUST be put down first before receiving the keys and paper work from me as to secure the house for you while you go through.”

This scam is actually pretty transparent. It has been going on for quite a while. Does that mean that it is successful enough that people are actually sending the deposits to foreign addresses to people they have never met, to get a good rental deal on a property they have never been inside?

Craigslist provides scam warnings here. Real estate listings all have a scam alert in the header which takes you to this useful information:

You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:

DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts on craigslist.
NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service – anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.
CRAIGSLIST IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY TRANSACTION, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer “buyer protection” or “seller certification”
NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)
AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL “GUARANTEE” YOUR TRANSACTION.
DO NOT RENT HOUSING WITHOUT SEEING THE INTERIOR, OR PURCHASE EXPENSIVE ITEMS SIGHT-UNSEEN - in all likelihood that housing unit is not actually for rent and that cheap item does not exist.
DO NOT SUBMIT TO CREDIT CHECKS OR BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR A JOB OR FOR HOUSING UNTIL YOU HAVE MET THE INTERVIEWER OR LANDLORD/AGENT IN PERSON.

Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

For more on this type of scam, see Jay Thompson’s post Anatomy of a Rental Scam for his in-depth follow-up with the scammer.

If you use Google+, I have just started a brand new business page. Visit it HERE.

Thanks you for reading Renters, beware of online scams. For similar Memphis Real Estate articles visit Memphis Real Estate Buzz ,

Digest of real estate news and other interesting stuff for week ending December 1st

Joe Spake — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:07:27 +0000

	Published Digest of real estate news and other interesting stuff for week ending November 24th.
	Shared 2 photos. Cypress and Hyman Dock – Horseshoe Lake, AR Horseshoe Lake
	Posted Average home buyers find an agent by word of mouth, interviews only one agent.
	Shared 1573 Vance – Classic Midtown Bungalow – Central Gardens.
	Shared Stairs – Shelby County Court House. Stairs – Shelby County Court House
	Posted Fewer home buyers believe in their home purchase as a good investment.
	Posted Home Market Being Held Back by Wary First-Timers.
	Shared Clayborn Temple Memphis. Clayborn Temple Memphis
	Posted Veteran Memphis realestate exec Jules Wade joins Prudential ….

Thanks you for reading Digest of real estate news and other interesting stuff for week ending December 1st. For similar Memphis Real Estate articles visit Memphis Real Estate Buzz ,

Digest of real estate news and other interesting stuff for week ending October 20th

Joe Spake — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 04:03:29 +0000

	Published Digest of real estate news and other interesting stuff for week ending October 13th.
	Posted Do men or women Realtors have more real estate listings?.
	Posted Real Estate Outside the Box – Questioning the Value of Brick & Mortar.
	Shared 5 photos. Abandoned Hotel Sculpture – Vance Park Stairs on the bluff Beale St Landing 11-14-2011 Abandoned Hotel
	Shared Abandoned Hotel.
	Posted Buying a Home in the Next Year? Time to Get to Work!.
	Shared 15 photos. Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (10) Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (5) Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (15) Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (18) Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (2) Southbound Towboat Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (11) Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (23) Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (17) Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (1) Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (9) Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (22) Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (19) Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage 10-13-2011 (6)
	Shared Mississippi River Memphis -Zero Stage.
	Posted The harsh reality that chases most from the real estate business.
	Posted Clinton Talks Housing On Letterman.
	Published Old Man River just keeps rollin’ along.
	Posted Housing: A comment on Shadow Inventory.
	Posted South Main Preps for Fifth RiverArtsFest.

Thanks you for reading Digest of real estate news and other interesting stuff for week ending October 20th. For similar Memphis Real Estate articles visit Memphis Real Estate Buzz ,