Looking for real estate in North Carolina? Be prepared to be victimized by the real estate broker and the North Carolina Real Estate Commission which is a government agency whose website says that it is dedictated to protecting consumers. The NC Real Estate Commission might only help law enforcement take down a million dollar fraud scheme, but the NC Real Estate Commission protects the contract fraud and illegal activity against consumers who are looking to buy, sell, or rent real estate.
I will explain some obvious fraud schemes that the NC Real Estate Commission protects.
1. When you want to rent real estate, every real estate broker charges an application fee. Every real estate broker uses the same third party credit card processor who charges your credit card and gets a copy of your credit report. So if you apply with three different real estate agents, the same third party credit card processor will charge you to obtain three copies of the same credit report. And this will hurt your credit since your credit report is obtained multiple times.
SOLUTION - this third part credit card processor should check their own records before ordering a credit report to make sure that they didn't obtain a credit report in the past thirty days. And if they did obtain your credit report in the past thirty days, they should not obtain it again and should not charge the applicant to obtain it again.
The NC Real Estate Commission knows of this abuse to charge applicants to obtain multiple copies of the same credit report and protects this activity to make sure that he real estate brokers collect as many application fees as possible.
2. Some real estate brokers list a home for rent and accept applications and charge application fees even though a rental agreement has already been signed and there are one or more back-up rental agreements signed just in case the first rental agreement falls through.
SOLUTION - Allow applicants to apply but don't charge their credit card and don't obtain a copy of their credit report unless there are no rental agreements signed.
The NC Real Estate Commission knows that brokers charge applicants application fees even though a house for rent is already rented to someone else.
3. Some real estate brokers list a prime property for rent at a very low rent but it is not really for rent but is only used to attract applicants. These applicants apply, their credit cards are charged, and their credit reports are obtained. Then the broker tells the applicant that the house is already rented with back-up contracts signed and tries to suggest that the applicant consider renting a different house. Since the applicant has already paid a $60 fee and had his credit report obtained, the applicant is stuck working with this dishonest broker.
SOLUTION - Don't allow brokers to advertise for rent a property that already has a signed rental agreement.
The NC Real Estate Commission knows that brokers do this and the application fee is not regulated. The brokers can charge whatever fee they want. But file a complaint with the NC Real Estate Commissio about this, and you will see that you probably won't even get a response except by telephone.
The NC Real Estate Commission avoids creating evidence of the fact that they support and promote fraud and illegal activity by calling people who complain - so they don't put anything in writing - or ignoring the complaint or refusing to send a written resolution of the complaint.
4. Some real estate brokers' contracts blatanlty violate the laws. And the NC Real Estate Commission will ignore complaints that include documents proving the violations of law. If the NC Real Estate Commission doesn't ignore the complaints, they will call the person who complained to try to convince the person by telephone that there has been no violation of the law.
SOLUTION - Write to the state attorney general and complain that the NC Real Estate Commission does not protect consumers.
I could write a lot more about all the fraud and illegal activity.
5. The percentage of students who pass the NC Real Estate exam is less than 20% which proves that the exams are designed to block people from becoming real estate brokers. So the NC Real Estate Commission purposely blocks real estate competition and protects an oligarchy of real estate brokers in NC.
If you have to live in NC and you have to rent, you can avoid this fraud and illegal activity.
Check reviews online in detail for any broker you might consider. And don't read Google reviews. Go to the NC Real Estate Commission website and search for complaints filed against a certain broker and send an email asking for copies of all complaints filed against a certain broker. If they provide these documents to you, you might see the nature of the complaints - and see that the NC Real Estate Commission did not discipline the broker.
Drive around and look for houses for rent by owners. Avoid craigslist since there are a lot of NC scammers on Craigslist. Or if you do use Craigslist, ignore any ads that are too good to be true. I think you can improve your chances of being totally SCREWED by NC Real Estate brokers and the NC Real Estate Commission. If you use Craigslist, over time, you will see that the real estate brokers repeatedly list for rent the same properties every 1 or 2 months.
You will see one property for rent and express an interest just to be told that a rental agreement has been signed and two people have already signed back-up rent agreements. Then you will see that same house advertised for rent again one month later.
Real Estate Commission Board Reviews
Looking for real estate in North Carolina? Be prepared to be victimized by the real estate broker and the North Carolina Real Estate Commission which is a government agency whose website says that it is dedictated to protecting consumers. The NC Real Estate Commission might only help law enforcement take down a million dollar fraud scheme, but the NC Real Estate Commission protects the contract fraud and illegal activity against consumers who are looking to buy, sell, or rent real estate.
I will explain some obvious fraud schemes that the NC Real Estate Commission protects.
1. When you want to rent real estate, every real estate broker charges an application fee. Every real estate broker uses the same third party credit card processor who charges your credit card and gets a copy of your credit report. So if you apply with three different real estate agents, the same third party credit card processor will charge you to obtain three copies of the same credit report. And this will hurt your credit since your credit report is obtained multiple times.
SOLUTION - this third part credit card processor should check their own records before ordering a credit report to make sure that they didn't obtain a credit report in the past thirty days. And if they did obtain your credit report in the past thirty days, they should not obtain it again and should not charge the applicant to obtain it again.
The NC Real Estate Commission knows of this abuse to charge applicants to obtain multiple copies of the same credit report and protects this activity to make sure that he real estate brokers collect as many application fees as possible.
2. Some real estate brokers list a home for rent and accept applications and charge application fees even though a rental agreement has already been signed and there are one or more back-up rental agreements signed just in case the first rental agreement falls through.
SOLUTION - Allow applicants to apply but don't charge their credit card and don't obtain a copy of their credit report unless there are no rental agreements signed.
The NC Real Estate Commission knows that brokers charge applicants application fees even though a house for rent is already rented to someone else.
3. Some real estate brokers list a prime property for rent at a very low rent but it is not really for rent but is only used to attract applicants. These applicants apply, their credit cards are charged, and their credit reports are obtained. Then the broker tells the applicant that the house is already rented with back-up contracts signed and tries to suggest that the applicant consider renting a different house. Since the applicant has already paid a $60 fee and had his credit report obtained, the applicant is stuck working with this dishonest broker.
SOLUTION - Don't allow brokers to advertise for rent a property that already has a signed rental agreement.
The NC Real Estate Commission knows that brokers do this and the application fee is not regulated. The brokers can charge whatever fee they want. But file a complaint with the NC Real Estate Commissio about this, and you will see that you probably won't even get a response except by telephone.
The NC Real Estate Commission avoids creating evidence of the fact that they support and promote fraud and illegal activity by calling people who complain - so they don't put anything in writing - or ignoring the complaint or refusing to send a written resolution of the complaint.
4. Some real estate brokers' contracts blatanlty violate the laws. And the NC Real Estate Commission will ignore complaints that include documents proving the violations of law. If the NC Real Estate Commission doesn't ignore the complaints, they will call the person who complained to try to convince the person by telephone that there has been no violation of the law.
SOLUTION - Write to the state attorney general and complain that the NC Real Estate Commission does not protect consumers.
I could write a lot more about all the fraud and illegal activity.
5. The percentage of students who pass the NC Real Estate exam is less than 20% which proves that the exams are designed to block people from becoming real estate brokers. So the NC Real Estate Commission purposely blocks real estate competition and protects an oligarchy of real estate brokers in NC.
If you have to live in NC and you have to rent, you can avoid this fraud and illegal activity.
Check reviews online in detail for any broker you might consider. And don't read Google reviews. Go to the NC Real Estate Commission website and search for complaints filed against a certain broker and send an email asking for copies of all complaints filed against a certain broker. If they provide these documents to you, you might see the nature of the complaints - and see that the NC Real Estate Commission did not discipline the broker.
Drive around and look for houses for rent by owners. Avoid craigslist since there are a lot of NC scammers on Craigslist. Or if you do use Craigslist, ignore any ads that are too good to be true. I think you can improve your chances of being totally SCREWED by NC Real Estate brokers and the NC Real Estate Commission. If you use Craigslist, over time, you will see that the real estate brokers repeatedly list for rent the same properties every 1 or 2 months.
You will see one property for rent and express an interest just to be told that a rental agreement has been signed and two people have already signed back-up rent agreements. Then you will see that same house advertised for rent again one month later.