How do I not get scammed for apartment hunting?

Tips to Avoid Being Scammed When Apartment Hunting

1. Dealing in Cash Is a Bad Start.
2. Never Rent Without Taking a Look at the Actual Place.
3. Always Sign a Written Lease.
4. Verify the Owner of the Property.
5. Make Sure Your Lease Identifies the Owner as Well.
6. Subletting Might Not Be a Great Idea.
7. Meet Your Landlord in Person.

How do you know if its an apartment scam?

If you can’t visit an apartment or house yourself, ask someone you trust to go and confirm that it’s for rent, and that it is what was advertised. In addition to setting up a meeting, do a search on the owner and listing. If you find the same ad listed under a different name, that’s a clue it may be a scam.

Is Rentcafe a legit website?

Not all apartment websites are created equal, so be sure to use one where scammers are not able to post listings. To ease your mind, it’s best to use a website that verifies its listings. Such an example is rentcafe.com, where listings come directly from property managers, and are 100% verified.

How can you spot a scam on Zillow?

Red Flags for Scams

1. Requests to wire funds via MoneyGram or Western Union.
2. Long-distance landlords.
3. Requests for verification codes.
4. Requests for personal or financial information.
5. Typos and sob stories.
6. “I’m out of the country and need you to wire me the deposit.”
7. “I overpaid you with my money order.

Does Rentcafe use Experian?

We believe that our residents should get credit for managing the payments for the place they call home. That’s why we’re working with Experian RentBureau to include positive rental payment data in Experian credit reports. You pay your rent on time every month.

How can your house be stolen?

Sometimes called mortgage deed theft or title theft, house stealing happens when a criminal uses forged documents to fraudulently transfer your property deed into their name.