So scammers have been known to pray on new homeowners. Scammers might too strong of a word to use, but to me anyone using information to mislead someone is a scammer, or another word, but I can't use that on this blog. We have found that there are three common scams geared towards new homeowners that you need to know about.

1. Copy of Your Deed

Here's a little back story to set the stage. When you close on a home in South Carolina. The seller has to prepare a deed, which is the document giving you owner ship from them to you, and it is taken by the attorney to the county courthouse to be recorded in the public index. This process which seems easy, can take about 3-4months to get back to you the new homeowner. Does this mean you don't own the home till it's returned to you, of course not, you own it. 

In the mean time, when the county goes to record this index, there are people hanging out at the courthouse scanning these deeds for information and then using it to contact you. This is totally legal, sketchy, but legal. These people will then sell the data they have scanned to a multitude of companies. One is most likely a company that will send you something in the mail saying "Did you get a copy of your deed when you bought your home? Get a copy of your deed for $200". These companies know how the process works, they know you will not have a copy yet, and they hope you pay up and they send you a copy. But don't forget, you have a copy coming to you shortly, which you have already paid for. 

2. Life Insurance for Your Mortgage

The same sketchy individuals  who sold your stuff to the "deed people" above, probably sent it to a life insurance broker. Now this may not really fall into the "scammer" category, but you will most likely get a letter or letters in the mail, saying "Get a life insurance policy, that will pay off your mortgage if you die". That sounds great, it might even be what you want. I have just learned a long time ago, if someone is trying to push a product like life insurance on you, it might not be the right one for you. Instead reach out to us, and we can get you with some local reputable brokers that can help. 

3. Make it beautiful.

Ok, the reason this one is in the "scam" blog is because we have had instances where alarm sales people scan the recent home sales in the paper, Zillow, or maybe they too get a list from the sketch "deed people". Then they have looked up who the buyers real estate agent is, and they call or stop by your home and say "Brad Allen just told me to stop by and see if you wanted to get a security alarm". Which of course I didn't do. We have some great recommend vendors for alarms and everything else. If you want one, let us know and we will make sure you get to an ethical one. 

I don't like scammers, as I am sure you don't either. I hope these three tips help, and I am sure there are many others I haven't heard of yet. So if you know of some, share them with us so we can warn others. Becareful out there, and trust your gut, if you get something that doesn't sound right, or may it does sound right and you want a second opinion, call us up. We will find out for you.