This type of scam rent to own home seller

How These Scam Sellers Operate

There are numerous types of fraudulent sellers out there, some which do things that are a little shady and others which openly commit fraud. One of the most common types of dishonest sellers offering their properties as rent to own are those who own a home and purposely try to maximize the money taken from tenants while minimizing the chance that the renters will actually purchase the property. They make their money by churning renters in and out, all while having no intention of selling to any of them.

A Few Of The Dishonest Things They Do

This type of scam rent to own home seller is a predator when it comes to individuals or families who may have recently had financial trouble and cannot obtain a traditional mortgage to purchase a house. They make their revenue in two separate ways – charging ridiculous fees and cycling as many different renters through the home as possible.

Compared to most rent to own homes, these scam sellers will often inflate their fees associated with the process. This could be anything from an extra non-refundable security deposit, a ridiculous upfront fee to secure the option to purchase or even abnormally high application fees for potential tenants. By overcharging for fees, these landlords are able to pocket as much money as possible from tenants while they are there.

Once they’ve extracted all of the fees from the tenants that they can, these landlords want to make sure the people that they’re renting too aren’t able to occupy the property too long. To these scam landlords, the most important thing is to make sure that it is highly unlikely the potential home buyer is able to purchase the home at the end of the rental period. This is accomplished by poorly qualifying their renters, or even specifically choosing a tenant who is not in a long-term financial position to qualify for a mortgage or frequently not even able to make the monthly rent payment.