This E-zine is intended for anyone interested in financing the purchase or sale of a property. Whether you are looking for help with your first home purchase or something much more substantial, the insider tips, tricks, and techniques shared here will give you a very deep and personal understanding about the many ways to finance a property without the need for a bank or a mortgage lender.

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Everything is designed to help you achieve your goals of home sale or purchase with creative ways of financing your properties (single family or multi-family) with the innovative and effective use of promissory notes and other creative financing alternatives.

We have added special mortgage calculators to the web site. Unlike other calculators, these compute your profits and cash flow from the promissory notes you create for your property buyers. Try them out. They are here and here. Be sure to check out the handy reports and the amortization schedules.

If you rent or lease/option properties using Craig’s List, rental house websites, or anywhere else on the web, you need to be aware of a widespread scam to prey on your trust and take your money.

Most people are familiar with the “Nigerian scam”, a long-running con that plays on the greed of the mark by promising a portion of a multi-million dollar payout in return for helping a foreign official (or widow of a prince, or whatever) smuggle money out of a 3rd world country.

This latest grift, targeted at landlords who advertise houses and apartments on the web, usually starts out something like this: (an actual email received by my property manager last week)

“Goodday , I am a Jewelrer ,I am relocating to this area in few weeks time.i wanted to make sure I get a suitable place for my wife and i .Please could you tell me more of this accomodation you have listed here on rentittoday.com for rent .I am interested in taking a longer term.

How much is the monthly rental cost and what would that be all together for the first 12 months? what is the moving in rental cost ? How is the surounding neighbouhood conditions ? can we move in our own furnitures after we get this unit secured from you? Just thought i should know all this .I am relocating from Japan .

Just email me back with more pictures of the interior too.

Thanks . Alexanda Polak.”

So what’s wrong with this picture?

The first clue is the hint that the “applicant” wants the property for a longer-than-usual lease period (“I am interested in taking a longer term”). The second is the obvious mis-use of the language—in most of these inquiries, even those that purportedly come from England, Australia, and other places where one would expect a citizen’s English to be good, this is the case.

But the real indication that something is wrong usually comes in subsequent emails. Our follow-up to the one above was as follows:

Thanks for your mail with detailed information provided , I apologise for my delayed response to your mail. i was on a trip to Malaysia where a new seminar is taking place..This house suite our requirements . And also the rental packages $1095 per each month is okay with my wife and i . Let me know the average utilities on this unit per month. I will be living in this unit with my wife respectively.

Please provide me with the lease agreements for my review. I will be signing a year lease. I will be effecting the first 6 months rent and the security deposit. The balance rents will be settled upon my arrival 15th May 2008 . The initial deposit is a measure of securing this unit prior to my arrival. We are moving into this area 15th of May.

Also let me know if we can sign more than a year lease. We can discuss basic arrangements on phone. This is my phone numbers here +6 01463 55492. Do not hesitate to ask any question in line with my taking up the tenancy from this 15th of May.

I like to make it clear that we would prefer moving into this property with our furnitures that may suite us. Let me know if you have any problem with this. I awaite your quick reply with the standard moving in rate for the first 6 months rent plus the security charges . Can we start lease from this 15th of May.? Please advice quickly and provide me with the requested lease contract for my review before we get there for the signatories 15th of May..

The total move in cost for this 6 months + security charges should be indicated also. what is your prefered method at which you would need to be paid through my representative's Bank in the U.S ? If a U.S Bank check is prefered please let us know in your next mail okay with a valid mailing address and the exact names that you would want the check to be made out to .I may instruct the Bank to issue full payment to you once i get instructions from you with necessary informations like a name and a valid mailing address.. Thank you .

As you can see, the heat has been turned up now; the purported applicant is offering 6 months of rent plus a security deposit now, with the other 6 months payable when he arrives on May 15th. Now, you might be wondering, what’s wrong with accepting 6 months payment on your rental all at once?

The answer, of course, is simple—you’ll never get the payment. Or rather, you will, but it will be in counterfeit funds. Here’s the way the rest of this scam usually works: The applicant agrees to pay 6 months-1 year of rent in advance BUT tells you that the source of funds will be his “agent” or his “uncle” who owes him money. You’ll get an email something like this:

“Many thanks for your mail. I am ready to pay $4,500 . As regards payment,this is what i am going to do. I have one of my uncle who was oweing my dad $7,500 before he passed away.I will instruct him to make out a check to you in that amount and as soon as it clears in your bank you can now deduct your money from it and send my balance via western union international transfer.

Although the value of the check is more than the money for the rental duration. but i think i should be able to trust you with my balance. the reason why i am doing this is that it will take a check sent from over here in Japan, 32 days to clear over there, whereas check sent from within the US would clear tops within 3 days because immediately you receive it you are going to take it to the cashing point or deposite it.

I will also use part of the balance to move from my present location to your place and some of my belongings, so if my terms are acceptable to you, i will like you to deduct the western union international transfer charges from my balance as well. so give me your full name address and phone numbers so that i can instruct my uncle to make out the check to you. Pls get back to me as soon as you get this mail so that i can know my stand.i will want you to provide this information so that i can forward it to my uncle in U.S so that you can receive the payment earlier okay. Reply ASAP.

FULL NAME...................
ADDRESS...................
ZIP CODE.....................
STATE........................
CITY..............
OFFICE PHONE #..................
MOBILE PHONE..................
FAX NUMBER ................


Regards…

Now you can see how this is going to work—you’ll get a “check” for $7,500, refund the $3,000 balance, and then find out that the check or money order is forged, washed, or stolen.

Watch for: