We like to look out for the house hunters out there. Whether you rent from us or not you should be aware of the rental scams that are floating around the internet. The one that we deal with daily goes something like this: a scammer copies one of our ads and posts it for a much lower price. They post these fake ads on Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia and others. The price they post for is always well below market value. They replace our contact information with theirs. When you call the number they provide, you will talk with someone claiming to be the owner of the property. Be careful here, the scammers are getting good, they will pull the owner's actual name from the tax records of the property and they will tell you that they are that person. The scammer will then tell you a story about how they are out of town but you can send them the money to reserve the property. They will be very convincing. DO NOT send them money.

Here are a few tips to make sure you avoid the scammers out there:

1) Make sure you actually visit the property with the manager or owner and they can let you in. If they cannot meet you at the property there is a good chance they are not legitimate.

2) Be very wary of rental prices that seem too good to be true. Remember the old saying "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is"? 99% of the time these ads are posted by someone trying to trick you out of your money.

3) If the property is managed by a management company, do a little research to make sure the company is real. Do they have a website? Does the contact info on the website match that of the ad you saw?

Blue Oak Property Management always includes our information in the wording of the ad and oftentimes on the pictures in the listing. Do you see a big price difference on an ad in Craigslist, Zillow or Trulia from that on our website? Check with us, the listings on our website reflect the current rental prices.

Good luck out there. We'd hate to see anyone lose money to one of these scammers. Follow the steps above and you should be safe. When in doubt, follow your intuition, it's usually right!