Suspicious real estate listings discovered in Calgary

If you’re looking to invest in Calgary real estate or buy a home with a low down payment, don’t be fooled by offers that look too good to be true.

Some suspicious listings have been showing up in the city.

One of realtor Roberta Gullacher’s clients saw an ad on Kijiji for a foreclosed house in Panorama Hills for just $396,000, with a long-term tenant.

The client asked to go see it.

“I did email the poster and he never did respond,” said Gullacher.

“There was no link to any realtor on the site. I did attempt to look them up on mls.ca, but again, I could not find them,” she told Global News.

When she clicked on the link to view other ads posted by the same person, she found a list of 20 properties.

All were posted in the past week, but none of them fit the price range for the neighbourhood.

“It was a red flag, that they had numerous postings. Plus they had some of the houses listed numerous times at different prices, and asking for 30, 40, 50-thousand dollar down-payments, tenants in place. It just seemed very suspicious,” Gullacher said.

Her suspicion also grew because two weeks ago, the real estate council issued a warning about an unlicenced mortgage broker named Derek Johnson, also known as John Davis.

The council claims Johnson preys on homeowners who are in financial trouble and facing foreclosure.

The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) says anyone can post a ‘for sale’ ad online, but not everyone is qualified to list and sell property.

“If it’s an advertisement by a licenced real estate agent in the province of Alberta, it must have their name and their brokerage within the ad. Otherwise it’s what we call blind advertising,” said Bill Kirk, president of CREB.

Kirk said a true foreclosure ordered by the court will involve a licenced realtor, to ensure the bank gets market value back.

If you’re unsure about a real estate listing, you can pull the title on the property to find out who legally owns it.

Then check to see if the person advertising it is the same person.