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Renters: beware that if you do a search on Craig’s list and find a listing for a rental property that sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
Today I was contacted by a young woman who did a Google search for 7129 Cerro Crest and found my Saratoga Voice site. She assumed that I was the listing agent, but the property is listed as a rental by another agent. The reason it came up on my site is that I have an IDX search engine that displays detailed information about all listings currently available in areas I serve (a great service for home buyers, home sellers and renter, I might add).Â
Well, the real owners have the property listed to rent at $3,500 per month, which is reasonable for a newer 4 bedroom home. Craigslist showed the property as: $1000 / 4br – BEAUTIFUL NEW SINGLE FAMILY HOME NEAR SILVER CREEK AREA (san jose south)!Â
The young woman looking for a rental had the good sense to check it out online through another source. She thought something was fishy when the email correspondence with the supposed owner was asking her to send a $1000 deposit and shipment of keys will “take place via FedEx and take 24hours to delivered to your door step.”
The supposed owner said  in the email that they “just traveled to Africa for a program called Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Lack of Education, the program is taking place in three major countries like, Spain, and South Africa France,And some other West Africa Countries.And Presently we are collaborating with the UNICEF to support UNICEF? for emergency response in Haiti.” Sounds like nice, honest people with a good heart – right??  Unfortunately this appears to be a scam. I am glad the young woman used common sense and did not get burned. If you are entering into a real estate transaction and you have a question, please feel free to call me.
Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtors | 408-857-8800