BY MINAS STYPONIAS
As a real estate agent I, just like many prospective renters, scour the Internet on a daily basis looking for ads in the “by owner” section with the hopes of securing a listing to increase my inventory and hopefully build a relationship with the landlord of the property.
However, I find that the majority of the ads that I click on have been fraudulently created by another real estate agent in order to entice prospective renters into calling their number. Often times these ads are being placed without the owner’s consent. And the ads are often for an apartment that has long since been rented and is unavailable to be seen anyway.
Other agents have taken a listing from an owner they have found on a website and then gone back and flagged that owner’s listing so that they can have their ad show up in the “by owner” section instead of the one created by the actual owners. This is an act I like to call “ice fishing.” The agent fishes the listing by appropriate means but then ices the owner out of the competition by having their ad removed by filing a false complaint with that website.
Unsuspecting renters who call these ads are often greeted with a cursory hello and then almost immediately hit with the words, “There is a fee associated with this listing, okay?” No. Not okay! This is not only illegal but also completely unethical in the world of real estate rentals. While this practice most certainly does increase the number of views a real estate agent might obtain for their listings, it also helps to bolster the negative stereotypes that honest real estate agents like me have had to fight against throughout their careers, such as the stereotype that real estate agents are unethical, short sighted and indifferent to their individual customers.
A person perusing the “by owner” listing is most likely not interested in paying a fee to begin with. Why waste their time and your own by conducting this type of chicanery? It’s a desperate and somewhat telling ploy to the type of real estate professional you are possibly going to be dealing with so you should pay attention to that first impression when you come across this type of advertising sleight of hand. Shell games aren’t just for street vendors any more. Make sure you are informed and educated when seeking your next rental apartment or listing one for rent.
Minas Styponias is a licensed real estate broker for BuySell Real Estate in Astoria, where he was born and raised. He has had a career as a luxury rental property manager in New Jersey and Manhattan. Styponias speaks English, and is conversational in Greek and Spanish.
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