How to avoid falling for black realtors. Who are black realtors Black realtors when selling an apartment

“Black realtors” are individuals or companies who engage in real estate fraud.

There are obvious scammers who work without creating a legal entity, without an office or advertising.

Sometimes there are outwardly respectable companies with a good office and staff, which, nevertheless, use clearly fraudulent schemes in their activities.

How to recognize in ads?

When selling an apartment

The tricks of real estate scammers can be clever, but some of them can be immediately identified at the stage of collecting information and preliminary communication.

Here are some telltale signs in ads., suggesting that a professional swindler is working:

• the advertisement indicates a price that is much lower than the market price - sometimes by 30, 50 or 100%.
• The advertisement on Avito indicates a phone number that does not answer calls; the seller offers an email correspondence in the text of the advertisement or in the response SMS, since he is supposedly still abroad.
• On the first phone call, he immediately offers dubious methods of transferring money or names a large advance amount, without which he is not ready to sell the apartment at a low price.

If at least one of these three signs is present, it is better to refrain from further communication and continue searching for less dubious options.

At the time of buying

The following ad options should cause caution:

In the best case, private brokers may appear to be such buyers, trying to expand their base of potential clients in such clever ways.

At worst, they are scammers who lure gullible sellers with such advertising or are looking for asocial property owners (alcoholics, drug addicts, the unemployed).

If you want to rent a living space

When looking for an apartment for rent, you should beware of advertisements with an inadequately low price - this is a dummy advertisement created to collect contacts of potential tenants.

How do they work?

How do they operate on the secondary market?

The ingenuity of “black brokers” knows no bounds, and large sums of money motivate them to continue to come up with new “relatively honest ways of taking money” from sellers.

Let's list the most popular:

The trick is that during the show the creative swindlers were not too lazy to replace the sign on the house with the name of the street and for several hours they re-pasted the apartment numbers in the entrance. The buyer actually bought a wrecked wreck on the outskirts for a lot of money, which he learns about a little later.

What fraud schemes are used in new buildings?

The most common areas of fraud in new buildings, in which fraudulent actions are often committed by the development companies themselves:

How to protect yourself and your property from scammers?

1. Never, under any circumstances, give or leave your passport or documents for an apartment to strangers under any pretext.
2. Deal with the owner himself at the stage of making a deposit, signing an agreement and transferring money. The refusal of the apartment seller to communicate with the owner for various reasons or the sale of the apartment under a notarized power of attorney, especially if it is not registered in the name of a relative, is a reason to be extra vigilant or to refrain from the transaction.
3. Carefully check the previous history of the apartment - the presence of incomplete information can have a disastrous effect on the results of the transaction.
4. Avoid buying an apartment that has been sold several times in a row in a short period of time - it is quite possible that it has hidden legal problems.
5. Contact only reputable and popular real estate agencies with a long history and impeccable reputation, who do not deceive their clients. The services of such an agency will be more expensive than the cost of the services of a private realtor, but the likelihood of encountering a fraudster will decrease to almost zero.

How to deal with scammers and is it worth doing?

Where to go?

First of all, immediately contact the police, the Investigative Committee and the prosecutor's office. Be sure to initiate a criminal case for fraud.

Is there any point in suing?

Of course yes. Hire a good lawyer who specializes in solving real estate problems.

When choosing a lawyer, try to choose a well-known and experienced lawyer with connections to the court.

What documents should I provide as protection?

Collect and provide the investigative authorities and the lawyer with all the documents related to your apartment: the purchase and sale agreement along with the transfer deed, a certificate of title to the state property itself, technical and cadastral passports, an extract from Rosreestr, a certificate from the passport office.

What to do if your apartment is taken away?

If your apartment is taken away, in addition to the obligatory contact with the police and other investigative authorities, take additional measures to combat scammers:

1. try to attract the attention of journalists to your problem by contacting all local newspapers and even television - this will stimulate law enforcement officials to take the investigation of your case more seriously.
2. Be creative, hire a private detective - perhaps, for a reasonable monetary reward, he can help law enforcement agencies quickly get on the trail of scammers and speed up the solution to your problem.
3. Contact your local political party MPs.

The real estate market is huge, in addition to “black realtors”, most of it employs reliable real estate companies with a decent reputation and decent private realtors.

When dealing with real estate, exercise extreme care and prudence, act thoughtfully and carefully - and then your property will always be safe. In the article, we outlined in detail how to protect yourself and not fall into the hands of “black realtors”.

Sergey Vishnyakov, security expert in real estate transactions, owner of Prime Quality company Photo: facebook.com

Taken to a remote village

“In the fall of 2011, “black” realtors deprived my brother, Mikhail Kolchin, of his only housing - an apartment in Moscow. My brother is disabled and suffers from mental illness. The scammers met my brother on the street, gained his trust, and got him to “work” as a “director” in their grocery store. Sitting in the “director’s” chair, he obediently and resignedly signed various papers that were brought to him. My brother gave them all his documents, including those for the apartment,” this is how he tells his story of loss Muscovite Irina.

The scammers concocted a contract for the sale and purchase of an apartment and a receipt for money that no one, of course, received.

“Two weeks later, my brother, half naked, in slippers, was taken to the remote village of Stepantsevo in the Vladimir region and placed in an abandoned apartment, where he was kept locked up for almost two months, soldered and doomed to inevitable death,” says Irina. – Also, two more Muscovites, deceived by scammers, were brought to this apartment. After my brother went missing, we filed a police report to search for him. When we found Mikhail with the help of the police, it turned out that he was no longer the owner of the Moscow apartment.”

Law enforcement agencies opened a criminal case, which is now suspended. The apartment purchase and sale agreement could not be declared invalid. Mikhail has been homeless for four years now.

The victims of “black realtors”, as a rule, are socially vulnerable people (mentally ill, lonely elderly, or suffering from alcoholism). It is extremely difficult for a single person with no connections and no big money to prove his case in a civil court and return his property.

But here's another story. “My sister Veronika Malygina, a mentally ill person with drug addiction, was deceived into signing a donation agreement for a share in our shared apartment. Me, my parents and small children are threatened by black realtors and forced to sell their share. We honestly tried to fight legally, filed lawsuits and applications to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The court is groundlessly denying us a psychiatric examination, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has not opened a case against fraudulent actions,” writes the author of the petition on Change.org, Ksenia Malygina.

Ksenia notes that her sister almost immediately after the transaction reported deception and unwillingness to transfer property free of charge. But a criminal case has not yet been opened into the incident.

Sergey Vishnyakov, realtor, lawyer, security expert in real estate transactions, owner of the Prime Quality company confirms that such cases are not uncommon.

“We were once involved in selling an apartment that was owned by an alcoholic. His sister was selling the apartment. She acted very wisely: scammers had already tried to take over this man’s home once, and our client wrote a statement to the passport office. She said that if they come to them without her for documents for the apartment, then they should not give anything to strangers, and they would immediately warn her,” says the expert.

There are many different ways to deceive vulnerable people. Often people who abuse alcohol are deceived with the help of a fake marriage: “They find a lonely old man, marry him, get him drunk - and “the client is ready.” The wife registers an inheritance or a gift for herself.”

Information about vulnerable people is mostly leaked to scammers by social services.

Social service workers can use the information in their own interests. A recent case: a social service employee found a lonely woman and agreed to sign an annuity agreement with her. Social workers are prohibited from such actions, and when the organization found out about this, she was fired, but in the end she managed to get an apartment.

Notaries are often involved in fraudulent transactions. A normal notary cannot fail to notice that a person is an alcoholic and that he is inadequate when recording an agreement or an important document. Actually, recording the status of all participants in the transaction is the essence of the notary’s profession. Consequently, he is part of an illegal transaction and is paid extra for his inattention.

Fraud involving apartments in an organized group, in which a notary, a housing office, and representatives of other structures with access to documents participate, is very common. Recently, cases have become more frequent when the owner of an apartment does not even know that he is no longer the owner, but finds out about it in retrospect: behind his back, everything was re-registered many years ago, and he, it turns out, has not been living in his apartment for a long time.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW: Many are afraid of losing their passport, assuming that it could be used by apartment scammers. Using a document you lost, criminals can indeed issue a loan or, for example, a guarantee for a mortgage. But for a fraudulent transaction with an apartment, one passport is not enough.

Make friends with the local police officer, visit your loved ones more often

What should you do to protect yourself, your relatives and your property?

The first and perhaps most correct - reissue documents on the property of a vulnerable person suffering from mental illness or addiction, for an adequate relative.

Of course, if the home owner himself is against it, there is nothing you can do about it. He is not deprived of legal capacity; only the court deprives him of legal capacity. This means he is free to dispose of his property as he wants, which is what scammers take advantage of. If a citizen is registered with the PND, then this does not mean his incapacity, the lawyer reminds. In particularly difficult cases, it may make sense for loved ones to go to court and deprive their relative of legal capacity in order to protect him from loss of real estate.

Try to block all real estate transactions in advance, ask for notification.

The case when a woman at the passport office accepted an application for a “ban” of any actions with her relative’s apartment without her knowledge is quite rare, the expert notes. Usually, if relatives try to block in advance any real estate transactions of a socially vulnerable family member, they will not be listened to. And, in general, they will do the right thing, because relatives can (and do) also have their own interests, and a sensible attempt to protect family property is understandable, but is not legal. But at the same time, Sergei Vishnyakov recommends trying this method of protection and going to the passport office, explaining the situation, asking not to give out any documents regarding your relative’s apartment to strangers and notifying you immediately. The decision will be at the discretion of the passport office workers, but perhaps they will accommodate you.

Take the property documents.

If they are not available, this is already a problem for scammers: they will have to make duplicates. This is still a slowdown in the process.

Visit your relatives more often.

When scammers hear from their “client’s” neighbors that friends and relatives are coming to see him, he is not alone – they usually retreat.

Write an application to Rosreestr to prohibit the registration of the transfer of ownership of housing without the personal participation of the applicant.

This is another way to protect yourself and your loved ones. The Law on State Registration of Rights was amended in 2013. According to them, the owner of the property or his legal representative - for example, parents, guardians of minor children or representatives of those who are deprived of legal capacity - can write an application to Rosreestr to prohibit the registration of the transfer of ownership of housing without his personal participation. That is, if some stranger comes with a power of attorney for a transaction with an apartment, then nothing will be registered without the owner. “Try to discuss the situation with your “difficult relative”, go with him to Companies House and write this statement on his behalf. This is the most legal and protective move.

Special subtleties: what to pay attention to

If you are selling or buying an apartment, you are going through a difficult path, and along the way you encounter many “unimportant little things”. Let's say you are purchasing an apartment, and the selling party is acting under a general power of attorney. Trifle? Certainly! Is a general power of attorney a legal form? Still so legal.

It is necessary to check the validity of the power of attorney at the time of the transaction in the Register of revoked powers of attorney at the notary chamber.

“Nowadays there are often cases of selling real estate under a “general” power of attorney. But you must understand what this may mean,” explains Sergei Vishnyakov. – A general power of attorney is often made if a person is not in adequate health (is not registered with dispensaries, but does not control himself, does not understand what is happening). In this way, they try to hide the owner’s condition from the buyer. Not long ago I had a similar case in my practice: a man said that a power of attorney was issued for him by his aunt, the owner of the apartment, who is not thinking well, and therefore at the family council it was decided that the transaction would be carried out by his nephew. Yes, this could be a completely ordinary case, without any deception. But what happens in case of fraud? Firstly, it may be a revoked power of attorney, which you do not know about. Let's say a person first wrote such a power of attorney, they sold you an apartment, and then you find out that the power of attorney was no longer valid at that time.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW: It happens that scammers act by agreement: one gave the other a power of attorney for an apartment, and then revoked it. You buy an apartment using a power of attorney (already secretly revoked), but the first fraudster, the author of the power of attorney, then revokes the apartment by court. The apartment will be returned to him as the previous owner, but no one will return the money to you, the buyer. Yes, the seller may be required to pay the purchase price of the apartment. But if there is no seized capital, they can write off your salary for more than a year or two.

Now, a register of revoked powers of attorney at the notary chamber has finally been created, in which it is possible and necessary to check the validity of the power of attorney at the time of the transaction.

We need to get the owner to negotiate a deal.

Power of attorney comes in different forms. There is a power of attorney to collect documents. And there is - for the sale of real estate. And this second option should already raise questions. Necessarydrag the owner out for a deal. “We usually say, show us the owner. If they are hiding it, then it is suspicious. I suggest clients refuse such a deal,” says Sergei Vishnyakov. – If the owner comes, then everything is in order. We recently had such a case: an elderly apartment owner was in the USA and could not come. At the insistence of our client, we finally finalized the deal. But it’s still a time bomb; you don’t know when it will explode.”

Be wary if the money is received not by the owner, but by third parties. This could be a realtor by proxy. If the owner says - no, I won’t come to the bank, I won’t go to the cell, my representative will come from me, immediately ask why.

Receive an extract from the Unified State Register.

“Usually people see a certificate of ownership of real estate and calm down,” the expert notes. – It makes sense to obtain an extract from the Unified State Register of Rights to Real Estate (USRP). From it it will already be clear who is the current owner, whether there is a ban on transactions with this apartment, whether there are any arrests or encumbrances placed on it. Sometimes even the owners themselves don’t know this or have simply forgotten. This will save you from entering into a deal on a problematic apartment.”

Quick resales should always raise questions.

Why is a person in such a hurry to part with his property? “It happens that the owner claims, let’s say, that he lived in Yekaterinburg, bought an apartment in Moscow, and then again decided that he would live in Yekaterinburg and urgently (in a month) sells the Moscow apartment. This is nonsense and almost always untrue. We had a situation - the apartment we found for a client was purchased by the seller less than 5 months ago. We started digging, why is the new owner suddenly selling the home? By the way, it’s worth considering that you can’t check such nuances on your own; you need a real estate lawyer, says Sergey Vishnyakov.

“It turned out that there was a will for the apartment. The former owner lived in Zhulebino and died in Tsaritsyno. And the owner (heir) is not even a relative. At the same time, the signatures in the transfer and acceptance certificate and in the purchase and sale agreement were different. And the price in the contract for the apartment was 990 thousand rubles, although the real price of this one-room apartment was 6 million rubles. Perhaps the previous owner was deceived and did not pay the real amount. We did not pursue a deal for this apartment.”

You should be wary of the very old age of the seller

You should be wary if the owner belongs to a risk group. Real estate risks are extended - for example, very elderly apartment sellers are in the “risk group”. For a man over 70 – for what reason is he selling his apartment? Does he really want this? “For example, statements like “I’m going to visit relatives in Perm” or “I just need money” are suspicious.

A family with children who is being discharged “in the air” or to relatives

This is also a dangerous bell. The guardianship authority will always stand up for the child, and he can be moved into his final place of residence - that is, in your apartment.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW: Remember also that our law on bankruptcy of individuals has already come into force, and there are some points on the basis of which the apartment can be seized from the buyer. If you buy an apartment from a future bankrupt, and the court decides that the property was deliberately removed from the general bankruptcy estate (this is one of the explanations for the goal of quickly getting money for the apartment), the apartment will be taken away from you, the buyer. And you will stand in line with this bankrupt for your money.

Local risk areas

Bitter share. A share in an apartment is a local risk zone. This is often a drama; you become a participant in dramatic events, making a separate apartment a communal one.

Background: When selling a share, people often abuse the right to purchase. According to the law, the owner of a sold share in an apartment must first offer it to a co-owner, the owner of the second share of the property, and then, if he refuses, sell it to third-party buyers.

“However, the problem is that the co-owner begins to twist his arms, offering to sell the share for less than its value. In 90 percent of cases it is impossible to reach an agreement with the co-owner.

Therefore, in this case, a gift agreement was often made - there is no need to notify a neighbor or relative about it. And then the person who received a share in the apartment as a gift under a sham transaction (replacing the purchase and sale agreement with a gift agreement) begins to outlive the second owners,” explains Sergei Vishnyakov. When it comes to the moment of giving, this is the point of no return, the expert believes.

This is already an emotion. The owner acts on the principle “to spite my mother I will freeze my ears.” Let me get less, but “these” will get in too. As a result of the conflict, both parties receive less money and more problems than if they had agreed to sell the apartment together.

In return, the offended and angry owner often finds those who professionally buy shares and sell them cheaper (usually no more than half the real value of the share), but receive at least some money, and not a piece of real estate with which they cannot do anything.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW: “Now the situation with transactions on shares in an apartment has changed - on June 2, a law was passed according to which such transactions are carried out only through a notary. Previously, it was possible to conclude a regular contract in simple written form. Now the notary must certify the agreement on the alienation of shares. Unfortunately, having protected the co-owners, the state “punished” everyone else. Now even those share owners who sell an apartment together are forced to pay significantly more money to the notary for registration and collect a larger set of documents for the transaction.”

Inheritance. Sergei Vishnyakov does not advise buying real estate if it was recently inherited by the owner, and the period of inheritance has not yet exceeded three years. It is within three years that unexpectedly showing up relatives - children from another marriage, or even illegitimate or adopted children - can present their rights to the apartment.

Apartments once purchased under a rental agreement are also dangerous. “It happens that after the death of such an old woman or an old man who entered into an annuity agreement with someone, their relatives go to court and say: the buyer of the annuity did not fulfill the agreement. As a result, the apartment may be taken away.”

“I had a client who very rarely communicated with her father (her parents divorced a long time ago and she stayed with her mother), and when she decided to visit him, she found out that he had died and strangers were living in the apartment. It turned out that the client’s grandmother, the man’s mother, took over the inheritance, declaring that he no longer had relatives, and then sold the apartment to the social security authorities. In exchange for their housing, such lonely old people receive from companies that professionally work with rental apartments and with old people another apartment, not for ownership, but for living. In return, such a company undertakes to support the elderly person for life. The girl began to fight for her part of the inheritance and even won the first court case, but they did not have time to bring the matter to an end; the grandmother died.”

Rent. More than half of our population lives in rented housing. But few people think about protecting themselves from deception. “For example, it happens that there are several owners of an apartment, but only one person signs the lease agreement. And then the rest appear and say: we are against it, get out.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW: This is often done on purpose, says Sergei Vishnyakov. “Elderly ladies also do this, and they “suddenly” declare that their housing was rented out without their consent. Or it happens that an apartment is rented out by a person who is registered there, but he is not the owner. And you can be evicted too. And after all, when renting a home, they take in advance the cost of living for the first month, a deposit in the amount of the price of one month, and plus also for the work of the realtor. You lose all this money.

Recently, the lawyer says, an apartment was found for rent that had three owners. “I asked everyone to sign a lease. And they refused. We did not rent such an apartment for the client.”

In the case of renting housing, Sergei Vishnyakov recommends looking at property documents and asking all owners to sign an agreement. Check the passports of home owners; do not remove them by power of attorney. And it is desirable that all these are not copies, but originals. Because they may show you a copy of an already outdated document.

In Russia, black realtors appeared in the dashing 90s, and descriptions of their exploits quickly turned into subjects for piercing investigations by television journalists and heartbreaking newspaper articles.

With the help of black realtors, disadvantaged and lonely citizens, alcoholics, recent children from orphanages, pensioners and the disabled were left homeless.

Today, the standard of living and legal literacy of the population have increased, and real estate market adventurers have adapted to new realities. To avoid becoming a victim of a black realtor, you need to know the enemy by sight.

Identikit of the scammer

Specialists in the seizure of money and square meters work alone and in groups, of their own free will and under threat. Criminals can force a person who has become their debtor to become an accomplice. Once he completes the task, the newly minted black realtor is unlikely to be able to get rid of criminal circles.

At street stands and on websites, “employers” lure lovers of easy money, promising good and stable earnings.

Sometimes dismissed employees of regular real estate agencies become black realtors. Such an employee may grab blank forms from his former employer to open his own office and deceive gullible people.

A successful black realtor is a person who talks a lot, is persistent, knows how to put pressure on the client and is ready to use any means to achieve his goal. He may claim that he is knowledgeable in matters of legislation, will sell your apartment quickly and profitably, will solve any issue, just pay.

Black realtors take on different guises, and sometimes it’s not easy to recognize the trick. Therefore, you need to meticulously check every little thing that raises questions and not succumb to psychological influence.

I am the victim

• Alcoholics and drug addicts
• Mentally unbalanced people
• Lonely pensioners
• People with debts, including utility bills

In recent years, more entrepreneurs and businessmen have become victims of black realtors. Due to the abolition of compulsory licensing for real estate activities, it has become more difficult to verify the honesty of a specialist.

Criminals are developing new schemes, renting offices in places with good traffic and committing fraud. This once again proves that you can only trust trusted agencies and intermediaries.

How do real estate pirates work?

The human factor, loopholes in legislation, the gullibility and greed of people - black realtors use all this to enrich themselves.

Rental scams are common. If you are planning to rent a home, request a meeting with the owner and check the documents confirming his ownership. Black realtors take possession of the keys to apartments, receive money for a month's rent, and disappear.

When selling new buildings, intermediaries manage to sell several times the same apartment or townhouse

The trick is that until the house is completed, it is not the apartment that is being sold, but the right to demand this apartment from the developer

Given the high popularity of new buildings and the desire of people to buy real estate at the start of sales, this method gives black realtors good income. Transactions on the primary market should be made under an equity participation agreement; this is the safest way.

Lifetime annuity for single pensioners with their eviction to the village, communal apartment, or even on the street was “popular” in the 90s, and it still exists today. Elderly people are offered to sign a gift agreement under certain conditions. After a person ceases to be the owner, he is evicted and the seized property is sold.

Black realtors may demand half or even the entire cost of housing as an advance even before the state registration of the transaction takes place. This can be motivated by a low price and the presence of a queue of buyers. Having received the money, the crooks disappear.

Fraudsters track down lonely alcoholics, get them drunk and force them to sign a general power of attorney. There is also an option with a fictitious marriage, when a drinking companion takes the victim to the registry office, gets him drunk, and after the death of the owner receives the property as an inheritance.

There is a scheme with the purchase of a share in the apartment and the further eviction of the remaining owners. Black realtors find families that are living in discord and persuade one of its members to sell his share. Then a neighbor moves into the apartment, who makes the life of the owners unbearable, and they sell their shares for next to nothing.

Forgery of documents is a standard move by specialists in the expropriation of someone else's property. They forge signatures on sales contracts.

Black realtors, as a rule, work in microfinance organizations, where they turn in difficult situations

Having received your signature on the contract and found out the ins and outs about you, the scammers will complete the deal without your knowledge and evict you through the courts.

Moreover, you will find out about the verdict too late, when it will be difficult to appeal.

The sale of apartments with encumbrances is common. Black realtors, through bribery, bring the deal to the point where the buyer gives the money, and then disappear.

For example, you bought an apartment, and a minor child was recently discharged from it to an orphanage. Or a prisoner was registered in the apartment, and after leaving prison he will rightfully demand the living space be returned to him.

I recognize a deceiver by his gait

It doesn’t matter whether you are a buyer or a seller, whether you are renting or renting a property, there is always a risk that you will meet a black realtor. Here are tips to help you calculate it:

• An unknown person came to you. He claims that you are obliged to vacate the occupied living space by court decision (due to non-payment of utility bills, for example). Even if a person in a police uniform is standing next to him, do not succumb to provocation. Only bailiffs who are required to present identification can evict you
• When visiting the agency you are not provided with information about the organization– information about the individual entrepreneur or legal entity; the office does not have any certificates confirming the professional activities of the realtor. Don't take risks, better leave the office before it's too late
• An agreement that is not certified by the seal of a company or individual entrepreneur, and also written by hand, cannot be signed. With such a paper you will not prove anything in court. In a decent real estate agency, contracts are signed and stamped by the director
• If, after visiting an agency office or communicating with a realtor, you suspect that you have been poisoned, go to a medical facility and get tested. You may have had psychotropic substances mixed into your tea or coffee in order to obtain a signature on certain documents. Substances found in blood will help win a lawsuit against a black realtor
• If a private broker, whom you (your sister, aunt, neighbor) do not know personally, imposes on you his services for selling or buying an apartment, do not give in to persuasion. You can check whether he is who he claims to be. To do this, ask for his documents confirming his real estate activities (individual entrepreneur registration certificate, financial statements). If he starts “processing” you and offers to sign something, feel free to send him to hell
• Cases of renaming streets and changing numbers on houses in order to defraud buyers are rare today. But it's worth talking to your neighbors. The information they give you must match what the realtor says. If the news is too suspicious, refuse to purchase.

If you encounter black realtors, contact the media and the prosecutor's office. Don't let scammers get away with impunity.

How to avoid getting hooked by a black realtor

Any real estate transaction is a risk. Only vigilance and complete control of the situation on your part will help you avoid deception:

• Do not transfer money outside the company's office. An oral agreement is not valid; all actions must be confirmed by an agreement with a signature and seal
• When making an advance or final payment, choose either a deposit account. Request a receipt for receiving money
• If a realtor discourages you from executing a purchase and sale agreement with a notary, check the agent's documents
• A realtor who is trying to extract money from you for paperwork, advertising and other needs is suspicious
• Are they trying to force you to reduce the price by a significant amount? Consult a professional real estate appraiser
• Before purchasing, request an extended extract from the Unified State Register and from the house register. This way you will find out who was the owner of the property, and on what grounds, as well as who was registered and when. Only the owner himself can take an extract from the house property, but you can get a document about the owners from the Unified State Register yourself at any MFC at the address or cadastral number of the property
• Before registering the transfer of ownership, do not transfer money to the seller
• If you have lonely or disabled relatives, visit them. They are easy prey for black realtors

Even knowing how to protect yourself from black realtors, you can make mistakes. The optimal solution is to contact a respectable real estate agency that has a good reputation, provides legal services and values ​​​​its clients.

The services of such an agency will cost you more than the help of a little-known broker, but you will be completely confident in the legality and safety of the real estate transaction.

Are you at risk of getting confused or missing something?

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Everyone knows about black realtors from the 90s. It's time for them to change their masks. They no longer make alcoholics drunk or intimidate lonely old people. Even professional neighbors are no longer so popular, although they still exist. Courts have begun to vacate apartment share owners much less frequently.

Nowadays, black realtors love to "work" with the middle class. Who would think that turning to a microfinance organization could leave you homeless? What schemes are used for this? Where can you find protection if you are already, as they say, in trouble?

Currently, most black realtors are proudly called credit brokers. They have official offices. Often in the city center. Computers, young employees who greet each client joyfully, politely and courteously. As a result, after taking out a loan, people lose their housing.

How does this happen? A person is persuaded to take out a loan secured by an apartment. Well, or other real estate. At this stage, high-quality psychological processing takes place. These “brokers” do not hesitate to use dishonest methods. There are cases when various drugs were slipped into clients' drinks. As a result, a person is unable to either properly read or remember the contents of the documents being signed. Then in the stack of papers you can find a contract for the purchase and sale of an apartment. Well, if black realtors work rudely, then the option of forging the client’s signature is possible.

The deceived people do not even realize that the apartment does not belong to them. They pay utilities. Receipts come in their name. Outwardly everything is fine. And when the loan is repaid, new owners appear on the doorstep. And the apartment turns out to be sold more than once.

Another scheme is that a person is directly invited to sell his home. And then his property will be returned to him under a buyback agreement. Only return documents are drawn up with all possible violations. So that the person does not find fault later, the moment of signing the purchase and sale papers is recorded on camera, where the person says out loud that he is fully aware of his actions.

Sometimes a fraudulent scheme imposes loan conditions that are simply impossible to meet. There is barely enough money to pay interest. To break out of this circle, the client is asked to sell his home.

Black realtors do not shun the schemes carried out in real estate agencies. Let's say you want to sell an apartment. You are offered repairs (in order to increase the cost). No money? But there is an investor who is ready to lend you the required amount against the security of an apartment. Then everything goes according to the scheme: forgery or impossible conditions. As a result, you get rid of your property as you wanted. But you don’t get any money.

Black realtors, with their business acumen, are taking things to the next level. Now they are interested in mid-level businessmen. Loans for business development are available to them. You often come across aspiring entrepreneurs with fire in their eyes. They are ready to do anything for the sake of their brainchild. It seems to them that they have come to the same entrepreneurs for help. The result is predetermined - clients are left without an apartment.

Why is this happening? The thing is that the activities of microfinance organizations are not controlled by anyone. They absolutely calmly dictate their terms. No one is interested in the repayment of such loans.

At the same time, raiders do not always represent criminal structures. Sometimes entire families are here. Sometimes a person who comes to apply for a job in such an organization is sure that everything is fair. And then they won’t let you go so easily. Sometimes the victims themselves work here. After the sale, they are settled in another housing with the right to work. They have to deceive others.

How can you avoid getting into such a situation?

The best option is to avoid loans secured by real estate. It is necessary to assume that whenever you contact a microfinance organization, you are at risk of encountering fraud.

All transactions must be concluded in the presence of an experienced lawyer. It is better to find such a person through the recommendations of friends or acquaintances. If you are not given the opportunity to contact a lawyer, are not given time to think and are putting pressure on you, in such a situation it is safer to leave.

If you feel unwell while working with a credit broker or signing documents, or, as it seems to you, your actions are inadequate, immediately stop everything and consult a doctor. If you were drugged with any drug, it can be detected in laboratory tests. Then, if you have already signed the papers, you can go to court and open a criminal case.

If a new owner is already on your doorstep, the most important thing is to remain calm. There is no need to move out under any circumstances. Only bailiffs have the right to evict. Even an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not have such a right.

A new owner can even move in only with the permission of the person living in the apartment or on the basis of a court decision and in the presence of bailiffs.

In any case, if you have a suspicion that you have made a dubious transaction, immediately go to court. The statute of limitations ranges from one to three years. Then everything will be much more complicated. There is no way to quickly fix the error. But there is no need to give up.

Try to avoid scammers and good luck to you.

Imagine that you want to sell an apartment. Of course, more profitable, and to be one hundred percent sure of the transparency of the transaction. Who will you turn to for help? Surely, to a person you trust. Your future clients think the same way.

Why are we taught to recognize the actions of black realtors?

Because your career will often depend on it. To have an impeccable reputation as a reliable realtor, you will have to work hard: study the Housing Code inside and out, understand the situation on the housing market, learn to navigate its trends and understand exactly what can ruin the reputation of a realtor.

Bad news and negative information travel much faster than good news. Take my word for it: before you know it, all your clients will go to more reliable realtors and you will be left without a job. Maybe forever. So, what do you need to know to protect your reputation?

• Who are black realtors and how do they differ from decent ones?
• How black realtors work and how to see through an unscrupulous colleague.

Black realtor: who is he and how to spot him

At first glance, a black realtor is no different from an ordinary one. He is betrayed by actions that immediately catch the eye of a vigilant person:

• Even if a black realtor has a certificate of work in a real estate agency, he will never invite a client to go there or conclude an agreement in the office.
• Black realtors often work with shares of apartments when ownership is registered in the hands of several family members.
• A conscientious realtor will never extract money from a client “on receipt” - for paperwork, for eviction of the seller, and so on.

How black realtors operate: the most popular schemes

Scheme No. 1: inattentive client. The point is that the client signs the contract without studying it carefully, the black realtor begins to “work”, look for housing, but all the time offers the “wrong” options. However, when the client wants to terminate the contract, it turns out that for this he must pay the agency 0.5% of the cost of housing.

Scheme No. 2: apartment with a tenant. The fact that no one is registered in the apartment should be alarming: it is quite possible that its owner is in prison, in a psychiatric hospital or in military service. Such people may be temporarily deregistered, but have the full right to re-register even if the apartment has been sold.

Scheme No. 3: in replenishment networks. This scheme is based on the legal ties of the companies that participate in the investment project. The client pays a deposit to one of them, she transfers it to another, another to a third, and so on. When companies terminate contracts, the developer has every right to declare that he personally did not have a contract with the person, which means there is no obligation to transfer the apartment.

Most often, lonely elderly people, disabled people, alcoholics, drug addicts, and simply gullible people become victims of unscrupulous realtors. In this case, black realtors act with dirty methods: they exert psychological influence, they can get them drunk or conspire with bandits to intimidate and even kidnap a person.

Despite the fact that it is not so difficult to check a realtor for honesty, few people actually do it. Much more often, people simply turn for help to friends in whose competence and honesty they are confident. This is why we believe that realtors who are trusted and in whose competence the client is 200% confident become successful. And we believe that this can be taught.

Come to the training center of the Transfer company to learn how to avoid all the pitfalls of the profession!