After closing on your home, don’t be surprised if confusing and unsolicited correspondence related to your purchase starts arriving in your mailbox—or by email, phone, or text. Examine these inquiries cautiously, staying alert for potential scams. Here are some tips from Hartz Homes that can help you determine what’s real and what’s not.
What sets the wheels in motion?
After your purchase closes, the title company files the deed on your property with local government authorities, recording a change in ownership. Once this happens, your name and address become publicly-accessible information.
Con artists rely on this information to execute various scams. Additionally, they may be trolling online social media posts or hacking into email accounts, searching for clues of upcoming or recently completed home purchases.
Five Homeowner-Related Schemes
Con artists rely on tricking people into parting with their money or revealing sensitive personal information. Some scams are easy to spot, while others are more clever. Homeowners, in particular, should be wary of:
- Fake utility bills. A new homeowner is threatened that their electricity (or other essential utility) will be shut off unless a payment is made immediately.
If you’re in any doubt about the status of your account, look up the provider’s phone number and speak to a customer service representative.
- Mortgage protection insurance. Similar to life insurance, mortgage protection insurance is designed to help a family stay in their home if a homeowner dies, by paying off the mortgage.
Legitimate companies offer this product, but scammers also attempt to scare homeowners into buying fake policies.
- Mortgage payment administration. Some companies offer to help homeowners pay off their mortgage faster by sending bi-monthly payments to an intermediary (and tacking on substantial administration fees).
If you want to accelerate your mortgage payments, make direct arrangements with your lender.
- Property tax payments. Scammers send a letter or place a call, threatening that you’ll lose your home if you don’t immediately pay overdue property taxes. To verify your status, contact your local tax authority.
- Home warranties. Many legitimate companies offer home warranties, which can help new homeowners protect themselves, in case a significant problem was overlooked during the inspection. Scammers, however, may attempt to sell fake policies to unsuspecting buyers.
Note that several of these schemes aren’t limited to new homeowners.
Fight Back
In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) takes a leading role in collecting all types of complaints from consumers and sharing details with appropriate law enforcement agencies. Contact them at 877-FTC-HELP (382-4357) or ftccomplaintassistant.gov.
Scams perpetrated by mail are considered mail fraud and can be reported to the U.S. Postal Service at 800-372-8347 or postalinspectors.uspis.gov
Please check out these new home communities from Hartz Homes:
Armitage Pointe of Addison, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Bella Vista Townhomes of Bolingbrook, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Blue Bell Ridge of Bolingbrook, Illinois (Chicago area new construction)
Lago Vista of Lockport, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Leigh Creek of New Lenox, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Marquis Pointe of Montgomery, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Marywood Meadows of Montgomery, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Nantucket Lakes of New Lenox, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Park West of Manteno, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Playa Vista of Plainfield, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Shannon Estates of New Lenox, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Sky Harbor of New Lenox, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Whisper Creek of Mokena, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Hartz Homes has new home communities in:
Addison, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Aurora, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Bolingbrook, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Lockport, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
New Lenox (Chicago area new home construction)
Manteno, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Mokena, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Montgomery, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Plainfield, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)