Property News · August 22, 2023

How a Craigslist scam led me to home ownership at age 28


I finally found a perfect little house in the countryside that was both affordable and accessible – but was it too good to be true?The Craigslist rental listing was fresh, less than a day old. Gazing at the little cottage in north Georgia, I could practically see a halo around it. The area was rural but not too isolated, the streets tree-lined and hilly. At just 925 sq ft, it looked perfect for a singleton like me. The $700 deposit was also very manageable – much too low, in retrospect. But affordability was crucial for me as a self-employed writer whose income ebbs and flows.You should know I was skeptical – it definitely seemed too good to be true. It was autumn 2021, well into this country’s pandemic real estate boom. Rock-bottom mortgage rates and ubiquitous remote working had unleashed a flood of new buyers at once. No matter where I looked for housing – in my personal network or with services like Smart City Locating – I just kept striking out. Eye-popping rent hikes were normal now, and landlords were cashing in. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
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