Laura Dunlap, Realtor®
217 North Bay Avenue
Beach Haven, NJ 08008
Cell: (609) 290-76860
Fax: (609) 492-2708
Email Laura

LBI Summer Rentals Beware of Phony Rental Scams

Posted By Laura Dunlap @ May 7th 2014 4:20pm In: Long Beach Island Rentals

The rental business sure has changed since I started doing rentals over 16 years ago. Of course that was before so many people began using the internet to find a summer rental on Long Beach Island and other areas of the Jersey Shore. It was also before the advent of now popular websites such as VRBO and Craigslist.

When I started in the business people would come down in droves, starting in January, pretty much every weekend through the spring, to find a summer rental. Our office lobby would be crowded with renters who often waited willingly for up to an hour, to sit down with an agent, tell them what they were looking for and then to be taken out and shown homes that best met their needs. The time spent with our customers helped build long term relationships and they came to trust us as their Agents to serve them well . For many renters coming down to the shore for the day during the winter to find a rental was a tradition, something they looked forward to every year.

Now with the increase in use of technology, in the form of by owner websites, emails and texts the process of searching for and finding a summer vacation rental has become impersonal. While renters may find the new way of doing things much more convenient and less time consuming there is a major downside, it has created opportunities for scam artists to take advantage of unsuspecting renters. NBC News recently ran this story on phony rental scams on Long Beach Island and other areas of the Jersey Shore; http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Scam-Artists-Post-Fake-Ads-for-Summer-Homes-at-the-Shore-258209301.html

So, when looking on-line for a summer vacation rental on Long Beach Island BEWARE , or better yet, call your Real Estate Agent.

Laura Dunlap
Diane Turton, Realtors 217 N. Bay Ave. Beach Haven
609-492-7000 x303
609-290-7686 cell Laura
Dunlap@YourLBIRealEstateSource.com

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