[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house. All right. We've been talking about my top 10 scams that are hurting homeowners and renters in 2024 in the last segment. If you're just joining us, we were talking about paying for insurance. You don't need like title lock insurance, as well as door to door contractors. The old, I was in your area speech.

[00:00:22] Eric Goranson: Now the next one here, and I don't want to paint a brush with any of these saying that people in this whole area are bad. That's so not the case. Most people are good. But one of the biggest problems that I see is being sold and you as a homeowner with fear, and that is one of the biggest problems with certain foundation companies.

[00:00:44] Eric Goranson: And I've talked about this before, but I wanted to include this on this list because it's. And this is something that can really cost you a lot of money when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home There is a lot to know though. We've got [00:01:00] you covered This is around the house. Welcome to the round the house show This is where we hope you get the most out of your home through information and education Thanks for joining me today.

[00:01:12] Eric Goranson: I'm Eric G. We got a fun show ahead first off though If you want to give me a call Give me a call at 833 239 4144. If you want to be part of the show, that number is 833 239 4144. Today, I thought we'd talk about the top 10 scams that are hurting homeowners and renters in 2024. Now these are not in any particular order.

[00:01:37] Eric Goranson: But these are the things that I see that are coming up that, uh, are really going to hurt people here this year, and especially as we see remodeling companies and people looking for work where a lot of people over the last few years, the good contractors were booked up years ahead of schedule. And now we're seeing things slow down a little bit due to the [00:02:00] availability of cash on hand and people are holding onto it.

[00:02:03] Eric Goranson: So, there's a lot of great contractors out there, but I'm going to show you here what the top 10 issues that I see this year are. All right, here's one that is one of my big top ones that you hear on the radio all the time. And it's one that, uh, I feel is a huge issue and this is paying for insurance. You don't need, and this is something like, for instance, title lock insurance.

[00:02:29] Eric Goranson: Now, if you've heard ads out there and I'm not going to go after anybody specific, there's other companies that are doing it, but they'll quote FBI statistics. So what did I do? I called up the FBI, talked to two different agents and they literally had no idea what I was talking about. And these are people in the know they're like, ah, we've never run into that before.

[00:02:52] Eric Goranson: It's really hard. For somebody to come in and steal quote your title to your home, there is so [00:03:00] much that has to go on. There is so many things through title companies. It is really difficult. It is not impossible by no means is impossible, but for them to do it, it would have to take people signing stuff.

[00:03:15] Eric Goranson: Notaries. There's a lot of fraud that has to happen for that to happen quickly. Now, if you have grandma that's elderly and getting tricked, maybe that's another thing, but that's not what they're trying to sell you. They're trying to sell somebody that hacks in online and do something like that. I'm sure there are cases of it happening out there, and I'm not saying that's fraudulent, but what I'm saying is I don't see a need for you to go out and purchase that because it's such, such a rare instance.

[00:03:42] Eric Goranson: I think if you want to buy insurance, make sure your house is covered because. You're much more likely to have some kind of a major impact to your home from a storm, a flood, a fire, some other kind of damage is much more likely in my opinion. So, I would [00:04:00] spend my money on that versus one of these title lock insurance things because I just don't see it and FBI to check with their statistics.

[00:04:09] Eric Goranson: I could hear by the question in their voice and I don't want to speak for them, but they were like, yeah, we've never heard of that before. I said, what's that is quoting your statistics on it. And they went, yeah, not something we're even concerned about. It is so low down on the totem pole for them that they don't even see that it's being an issue from the people that I talked to at the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations.

[00:04:33] Eric Goranson: That tells me a lot right there. If they went, oh my gosh, yeah, it's such an increasing crime. I would have had a lot to listen to, but there was dead silence and crickets. So that tells me what's going on. Next up here is one of my biggest concerns in this is door to door contractors knocking on your door.

[00:04:53] Eric Goranson: Now, I don't have a lot of it here in my city because my city requires door to door sales people [00:05:00] to be walking around. They have to actually go down and register themselves with the city and get a permit to go do that. And I'm not one for getting permits on stuff, but you know something? I can tell you what, it is sure nice not having somebody knocking on my door a couple times a week, ignoring my no solicitor sign and doing that.

[00:05:22] Eric Goranson: So that is cool. But here's the problem that I see with the door to door contractors. It usually starts out, knock, knock, knock, you answer the door and they go, Hey, I was in the neighborhood. I was working at Mrs. Smith's house right around the corner. Mrs. Smith doesn't exist 99. 9 percent of the time. And I thought I'd walk around cause I can get you a huge discount since I'm already in the neighborhood.

[00:05:43] Eric Goranson: This is one of the oldest tricks to get you to listen to their pitch. Now I've actually had to call the police before and have somebody removed off my property. Because the guy just wouldn't stop talking and when I hung, when I shut the door, he rang it again. So now we're talking harassment and [00:06:00] trespassing because I don't put up with that, nor should you.

[00:06:03] Eric Goranson: But here's the thing these people that are coming around my concern when you have people out doing that. Is that they've got some kid out there, they're paying minimum wage or not even that, because they're on commission and they're out there trying to pitch anything to anybody. And so my concern is most of the reputable companies that I'm aware of out there rarely do this.

[00:06:26] Eric Goranson: Because they're busy, they running ads, they're doing things and marketing that aren't harassing people at their door. Now, there's two things that I see here that make me go, Hmm, and this has to do with all contracting and everybody else. The if you sign today, I'm going to give you a 10, percent discount.

[00:06:50] Eric Goranson: I don't appreciate that high pressure sales technique when someone is standing there in front of you. One to me, it smells of [00:07:00] desperation. I don't want you to think about it, because if you think about it, you're going to know this is too expensive or we're not telling you what we're going to be doing correctly.

[00:07:08] Eric Goranson: So anytime that I see somebody pushing that hard, my antennas go up. So high pressure sales and home improvement is one of those things that I go, Oh, I see warning signs because they don't want you to go get other quotes because they're probably not going to be the cheapest in town. And that's not what I want you to hire anyway.

[00:07:28] Eric Goranson: But I also look at it as, wow, I don't want you to think about this because you're going to regret it later. So be very careful of the people knocking on the door. Now I've had people that I know that are friends that did windows or doors or whatever from that, and they turned out. Okay. But the problem is I wonder how it's going to be 10 years from now when they go, Oh, they didn't flash those windows.

[00:07:49] Eric Goranson: They didn't do any of that stuff right now. They've got bigger damaged repair. And they have to replace those while they're at it. So these are two things that I get very concerned about when I see [00:08:00] door to door salespeople. Now, my, my recommendation is I put up a no soliciting sign that says, Hey, unless you're here selling thin mints, we're good, but that's how I look at it.

[00:08:10] Eric Goranson: I want the kids to come by and do their school projects, all that stuff. I'm totally cool with that. I just don't want the door to door salespeople on another note. And I know this is going to make me sound like a horrible person. And I'm okay with that. If you get the. Census crime statistics people knocking on your door.

[00:08:30] Eric Goranson: They are the worst door to door sales people. They will come by multiple times a year. If you're not there, they'll call you on the phone. And it is probably the worst one I've had to deal with. Once you get on their list and they want to come by and talk to you every quarter to six months, depending on what it is.

[00:08:49] Eric Goranson: Man, those guys want to do this long interview and when you're busy, this is stuff that I just go, come on, guys, you're taking up way too much of my time. When you tell them you're not interested, it doesn't matter. [00:09:00] They just keep coming back for more. And then when you tell them, hey, I'm out of town, I'm not even here when they call you, and this is my personal experience, you get a certified letter from the census saying, hey, it's really important for you to get this information.

[00:09:13] Eric Goranson: And all of a sudden I've got the mailman knocking on my door, sending a certified letter and that is crazy guys. So that's another one of those things as a side note, be careful there because they will hound you for years to come and they don't go away. So it's a. It's almost like car warranty people trying to call you.

[00:09:31] Eric Goranson: They are all over it, so be careful with them. We'll be right back after these important messages. Don't go anywhere.[00:10:00]

[00:10:09] Eric Goranson: What's up? This is Dia and Satchel from Steel Panther and you are listening to Around The House with Eric G. Yeah, we love Eric G and you should too.

[00:10:28] Eric Goranson: To the around the house show. This is where we hope to get the most out of your home through information and education. We really appreciate you. Hey, if you want to get ahold of us, 8 If you have a home improvement question, that's 41 44. And I do appreciate everybody listening on the radio on the talk media network.

[00:10:48] Eric Goranson: All right. We've been talking about my top 10 scams that are hurting homeowners and renters in 2024. And the last segment, if you're just joining us, we were talking about paying for insurance. You don't need like title lock insurance as [00:11:00] well as door to door contractors. The old I was in your area speech.

[00:11:04] Eric Goranson: Now, the next one here, and I don't want to paint a brush with any of these saying that people in this whole area are bad. That's so not the case. Most people are good, but one of the biggest problems that I see. is being sold and you as a homeowner with fear. And that is one of the biggest problems with certain foundation companies.

[00:11:27] Eric Goranson: And I've talked about this before, but I wanted to include this on this list because it's that big of deal. And this is something that can really cost you a lot of money because I have seen it myself when I used to work in this industry. So this is something that I saw because I would come in after another company and you'd have Both homeowners in tears because of what was going on.

[00:11:50] Eric Goranson: And I would come in and they'd have a estimate for 40, 000. And it would be 25, 000 if they signed today, [00:12:00] you know, what we were talking about last segment and I come in, take a look at it and go, guys, this is a 5, 000 fix. It's not the end of the world. So, let me tell you how this goes. So, the scam kind of goes this way and I'll call it a scam because anytime that you're using fear and seeing something that's not true, I throw that in the scam category box.

[00:12:21] Eric Goranson: I'm sorry. I do. So here's what happens. You call up foundation company A, B and C because you have a leak in the foundation or a crack or maybe the old 1920s foundations got a little crumble to it. And so that's starting to look pretty, pretty rough. So you get it on the phone. All of a sudden, you're doing the right thing.

[00:12:40] Eric Goranson: You've got 3 contractors coming over to give you quotes and the 1st 1 comes in. And you're there for an hour long presentation after they do their look around. And then the high pressure sales technique comes back here. Oh, yeah. Wow. You're going to need to do this, this, this, and this, and use this package and this package.[00:13:00]

[00:13:00] Eric Goranson: And all of a sudden, after you've looked at this, they're in there trying to twist your arm. God, this, this house could fall down around you. You should be careful. It's never going to be cheaper than it is today. If you sign right now, I'm going to give you 20 percent off this package. We got a space in the schedule.

[00:13:17] Eric Goranson: We can get this done. You know the drill. And then you get the other people looking at it. And so what happens is so many homeowners will go in and sign for 40, 50, 000. They'll finance it through them. And the contractor's making a little buck on the financing on the side, and they're making a ton of profit where if you would have gone about that differently.

[00:13:38] Eric Goranson: That could have been a five, six or 7, 000 fix. So here's how I combat this. If I have a foundation issue, I find a structural engineer that specializes in foundations to come out and I pay them to write a report. Is this bad? Is this good? Is it okay? Is that something I should be concerned about? [00:14:00] And if they have to write a report, they're going to charge you.

[00:14:02] Eric Goranson: They might charge you even for coming out, but that's okay. You're hiring a professional. That's what happens. They don't work for free. So they pop on over, they take a look at it and they write a report saying, okay, you have a crack. My recommendation would be to fix this with carbon fiber, a couple strips here, little crack lock here, do that kind of stuff and you'll be good to go.

[00:14:22] Eric Goranson: So then you go out and say, hey, I have a structural engineer here. I need 3 quotes on what it would take to do this repair. So now you have all three contractors that are sitting there bidding off the same project versus this one wants to do this. This one wants to do that. And you already know you have the right answer on doing it because now they have to follow the recommendations of that structural engineer.

[00:14:47] Eric Goranson: So now you're going to get the right solution for this without having to spend a bunch of money. And you can weed through those estimates. So this works for water in the basement. Any of those other things that you're [00:15:00] trying to figure out, there are different solutions sometimes, but I rely on the structural engineer so you don't get taken and you don't have a bigger problem down the road.

[00:15:09] Eric Goranson: So that's how I deal with that one. Now, the next one is something that has been all over the news, and it's nationally been all over the news here. And it's one of those things that can be one of the biggest scams, but there's people out there that do a great job. And this is duct cleaning of your HVAC system, man.

[00:15:31] Eric Goranson: I can't tell you what I'm on Facebook. For one of us people that are on Facebook, I can't tell you how many times in my online marketplace on my local area. Do I see people on there selling duck cleaning? Oh, 99 special, whatever it is. And most of those people you see right there are scams. There are people that are to come in, they're going to put a little brush around.

[00:15:54] Eric Goranson: They've got a bag of stuff that they're going to put in there and come back and go look what we got out of your ducks that [00:16:00] didn't even come in. And a lot of those people on there. Are doing a big old scam and you walk away, go, Oh, my ducks are clean. I just, they come in and go, wow, this is bigger than I thought.

[00:16:11] Eric Goranson: It's going to be 400 instead of 99. They spend an hour and they walk away and they just took a bunch of your hard earned money. Now, this is one of the biggest scams in my area. That's for sure. So much. It's been on the news and. The state attorney general has been going after certain companies. So this is not a minor issue.

[00:16:28] Eric Goranson: It's a major one for homeowners out there. So the cool part of this is there's places that you can go to look for good ones. Now I always look for NADCA certified because that is the kind of national duck cleaning association. Make sure that they've got one of the big units. They're either going to be a truck mount type thing, or they're going to come in with this large roll around unit that will send a brush down there.

[00:16:53] Eric Goranson: And it's got the vacuum and it's got all the stuff attached to it. They use significant equipment for this, that you need to [00:17:00] make sure that they're using. And somebody that's NADCA certified, they passed the test. They've got all the certifications. They know what they're doing. The worst part is a lot of these people that come in, they do damage because they're in there ripping open flex docks because they don't know what's going on and you've got a heck of a mess going on.

[00:17:18] Eric Goranson: So, I like to have that happen and schedule that and then after they do the duck cleaning, if they're the same company, it's even better. That's a great time to have your unit tuned up, cleaned up everything else. So they go in there and tune up your HVAC system for your ducting and they'll double check everything to make sure everything's working correctly.

[00:17:39] Eric Goranson: But if you've had major remodeling done, I think it's great idea to take a look and see what's going on down there. Now, everybody doesn't need duck cleaning, but here's where I see that if you had an issue, if you're putting in a brand new system, I think it's a great idea to do it. If you've had significant remodeling done in the past, like you just bought a house flip, you'd be surprised what's down there.[00:18:00]

[00:18:00] Eric Goranson: Or if there have been smokers or lots of pets that those are issues that I think that would be smart to go through and get it cleaned up. Or at least have somebody come out and inspect it to make sure that it looks good. Duck cleaning isn't for everybody, but I do think that if you get it done every five years, that's usually in most cases, pretty good.

[00:18:18] Eric Goranson: And if you've got a good filter, that does reduce a lot of the stuff. You've got a lot of pets and kids. A lot of trash can come down through those vents. Some as a homeowner, you can stick down your shop vac down there carefully and clean out at least where the boots are for your floor vents and that kind of stuff.

[00:18:34] Eric Goranson: And it makes for a better project. All right, when we come back, I've got more for you, including some for renters, just as soon as around the house returns.[00:19:00]

[00:19:00] Eric Goranson: Hey, this is Ron Keel, the metal cowboy from Keel, the Ron Keel band and stealer. We are rocking around the house with Eric G.

[00:19:13] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the around the house show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. I appreciate you guys tuning in today. What we've been talking about my top 10 scams that are hurting homeowners and renters for 2024 stuff that you should be watching out there that could cause a bunch of headaches for you.

[00:19:30] Eric Goranson: If you want to get ahold of me, if you've got any questions, 833 239 4444, that's 833 239 4144. In our last few segments here, we've been talking about it. Let me give you a quick little recap. Paying for insurance you didn't need, door to door contractors, foundation companies, and duct cleaning. And I'm going to have to cruise through a bunch of these so we can get through our top 10.

[00:19:52] Eric Goranson: So here we go. Next one here. Handyman on Craigslist and social media. [00:20:00] Now, here's the thing that you need to be careful. There are some great handyman, handy people out there that do great work, but the ones that I'm concerned about lurk online. Now, here's what happens when my state, if you do a handyman project under a thousand dollars, you can get away with not being licensed, bonded, insured.

[00:20:20] Eric Goranson: But if you do anything that costs over a thousand, you have to be a licensed bonded and insured contractor to protect you, the homeowner. And you know something, I'm cool with that. And for a number of reasons, and let's talk about this for just a moment. My thing is if you hire someone to come work on your house, if they are not a licensed bond and insured contractor, they are your personal employee.

[00:20:45] Eric Goranson: Now, you as a homeowner, as an employer, now are responsible for their work for their injuries or their death and not to take this in a dark place. Friends. But that's where the liability starts [00:21:00] to get really big. If they're up there cleaning your gutters and fall off a second story ladder and they're debilitated, guess what?

[00:21:07] Eric Goranson: You are now paying for their health and their care for the rest of their lives if they have a good attorney where they want to go after that. And that's where homeowners get taken. Now, I'm not saying that they're doing this on purpose, but this is where you have to be careful. Now, the scam part of it comes in when you've got somebody showing up at your door, you found them on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace or even worse next door.

[00:21:33] Eric Goranson: And they say, Hey, okay, that's going to be a 800 to that little project. I need 500 bucks up front. So I can go buy materials and everything else and you go, okay, here's 500 bucks. I only take cash. Okay, cool Give them the cash and they're never to be seen again or even worse They come over Start doing the work They're horrible at it because they used to be a contractor and they [00:22:00] they didn't they shouldn't have been a contractor to be honest Because they don't have the skills to do it Now they hack everything up and instead of that 500 bucks you've gotten into it They've done two thousand dollars of the damage and it's going to cost you Much more to get the job done correctly in fix now I had a person that reached out to me friend of a friend that hired a contractor off of one of these places and They did a complete home remodel for him and I think they had a hundred and fifty thousand bucks or so Maybe a hundred and seventy five thousand bucks into this remodel And it was so poorly done that all those materials were gonna have he was gonna have to pay To get those things ripped out, pulled out, hauled to the dump.

[00:22:46] Eric Goranson: Now he's going to have to pay 135 bucks a ton to dispose of it. Now he's going to have to pay somebody 200, 250 thousand bucks to come in and do it right. And literally, there was not one thing that you could see in this house that was done right. The showers were toast, [00:23:00] could not be used, would not be waterproof.

[00:23:03] Eric Goranson: There was electrical done wrong, not to code. How bad was this contractor? They ran a 110 plug for the double oven and that was in the back of the oven cabinet. And yes, they tried to build their own cabinets to save money to get it under budget. So, yeah, it was a horrible situation. And it's 1 of the extremes hiring these people off of these places is not a good thing.

[00:23:28] Eric Goranson: And I want you to make sure that you're protecting yourself because 1, you don't want the, you don't want somebody to get hurt. Of course, but you don't want to be personally responsible for it either. So that's going to be on you to do your due diligence. And I know there's areas out there. They're like the Wild West, even though I live out in the Wild West.

[00:23:45] Eric Goranson: These are the things that you got to be careful of because many states, there is no licensing for that. So, you just want to make sure you find somebody that's got their own business and their own insurance. And then at least there, if they don't have to be licensed, they're bonded and insured. That way, [00:24:00] you've got that taken care of.

[00:24:01] Eric Goranson: And yes, most repairs don't need building permits or things like that, depending on your local area. Always follow up on that. So, that's a big one right there. One of the next ones out there that I run into, that's a huge deal. And that is pressure washing, cleaning of your roof. These are another one of those that I think ends up being a huge, massive deal.

[00:24:23] Eric Goranson: What happens here is they come by and go, Oh, you got moss on your roof or look at the discoloration up there. And Hey, I'm going to pressure wash. I'm going to jump up there. I'm going to spend a few hours. I'm going to charge a 700 bucks to get up there. And I'm going to have that thing looking bright and clean.

[00:24:38] Eric Goranson: The problem is they get up there and make it look bright and clean, but they've now taken about 15 years of the lifespan off your roof with the pressure washer. If you have a roof that is a composite three tab or architectural shingle up there, I want to see a soft wash only. And I want whoever's up there to be following the cleaning [00:25:00] directions of whatever brand shingle you have, whether it's Owens Corning or GAF or certainty or malarkey, whatever brand you're using, I want you to be following their directions on how to clean it and not one of them is a pressure washer.

[00:25:15] Eric Goranson: So that's what I want you to be careful of. So many people go around and pressure wash it and they just wash the granules off and you have just destroyed that roof. And our roof is one of the most expensive single projects you can tackle on your home these days. So, be very careful that those pressure washers out there, if they don't know what they're doing, can do some significant damage.

[00:25:38] Eric Goranson: And that's where things get expensive. And it gets even more expensive if you got a color on your roof that's been discontinued. Now, I had that happen in my little brother's house over in eastern Washington. He ended up hiring a company to come up and do some painting and they spilled paint all over his roof from the 2nd story to the 1st story.

[00:25:57] Eric Goranson: And of course, you could see it from the road. And then they came up [00:26:00] there with grinding wheels and a pressure washer. And took the granules off. So the green color that had been discontinued all of a sudden looked more black and you could see it from the road. And of course, the white paint was on there, too, and spots.

[00:26:14] Eric Goranson: So, they had to pay to reroute it because luckily they were licensed bonded insured. So they were covered by their insurance and they came in there and had to reroute his entire house because they failed the mask off the painting area. These are things you got to be really careful with and making sure that you don't have somebody up there damaging that because that's the last thing you need.

[00:26:33] Eric Goranson: Now, for you renters out there, I've got one here that's important, and this is people renting off of Craigslist or social media, things like that. What we're seeing is homes that have been either abandoned or bank owned properties, and we're seeing scammers go in there. Get a key or they'll rekey the house and they'll turn around and put that place up for rent.

[00:26:59] Eric Goranson: You'll give the [00:27:00] deposit. You'll go move in. And all of a sudden you got the sheriff on the door saying you're trespassing. You need to get out of here. So these are problems that we're seeing out there for people. And I see it on the news all the time. And this is those properties that have either been abandoned or maybe the bank owns them or whatever reason there's nobody in them.

[00:27:18] Eric Goranson: And so what we're seeing is we're just seeing a ton of these properties that are out there, especially in today's economic situation. These homes that are empty, all it takes is for somebody to rekey that lock. And all of a sudden they're just have access to that house. Nobody's watching it. And all of a sudden they're in there doing this big scam and they'll go out and rent that thing to three or four people.

[00:27:38] Eric Goranson: They'll get the deposits. And all of a sudden that stuff. Is on the news again, and you're out thousands of dollars for the time you put your deposits down. Now, one little tip that I have for you. Is jump on the tax records and see who owns it. Usually your county or township or whatever has a tax record of who the owner is.

[00:27:57] Eric Goranson: And so when you sign those papers, I want to make [00:28:00] sure that you have verified who the owner is, the property, and that they have the idea to shoot to show it. Now, if they're a property management group, then I'd go over and sign in their office. That way you can know that you're dealing with the right people, do your research and make sure that you're solid that way.

[00:28:15] Eric Goranson: And that way you're good to go. And that way you're protected. Now we come back. I've got 3 more here for you. And we'll talk about that just as soon as around the house returns. Don't go anywhere.[00:29:00]

[00:29:02] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the around the house show. If it's the 1st time catching us, I do appreciate you. I'm Eric G. We've been talking today about the top 10 scams that are hurting homeowners and renters in 2024. Just to recap that quickly, paying for insurance you don't need like title lock insurance, door to door contractors, the old I was in the area, foundation companies that are using fear to nail you, duct cleaning companies that are not NADCA certified and aren't doing the job right.

[00:29:31] Eric Goranson: Handyman on social media on next door and Craigslist that you have to be careful of. We're talking roof pressure washing where they damage those shingles and take your money. Social media rental homes that are not theirs to rent, but they're renting them anyway. Those are what we've been talking about so far.

[00:29:47] Eric Goranson: The next one is something that just happened here locally that I think is a bigger issue that I've seen come up a couple times now, and this is new for 2024. We've had title companies and we've had banks with [00:30:00] some pretty significant breaches of security where they have all these people's information.

[00:30:06] Eric Goranson: So we had that happen here recently. And great example, and this is something you need to be careful if you're buying a home. So homeowner bought their dream home had a hundred and something thousand dollars ready to go into escrow. They got what their mortgage company, the title company, they've been working with their realtor.

[00:30:24] Eric Goranson: Everything's going smoothly. And they say, Hey, you're going to be getting an email today from us to make sure that we can make sure and send bank transfer from your bank, which I believe was Wells Fargo to their bank, which I believe was Chase. So I think that's what the new story was. Sorry if I'm incorrect in the banks, but I'm 99 percent sure that was the case.

[00:30:47] Eric Goranson: So cool. They did it. They didn't realize that the email that they had that day was a scam. Because somebody had broken into allegedly into their system and caught that was going to have to happen that day. And so [00:31:00] those scammers that had done the breach, it looks like turned around and said, Hey, we're going to send them that email early, and then we're going to take that money.

[00:31:08] Eric Goranson: Did the transfer didn't get a thing back on the transfer and what that's weird got a hold of everybody and Realized that hadn't gone through so they got a hold of their bank and supposedly had stopped it is what they were told Which was awesome, but for over the last month their escrow payment has been in limbo between the bank And the other bank because it got lost in the netherworld of the internet.

[00:31:34] Eric Goranson: So that was in somebody's box, but those two banks were not playing well together because they were not sharing the information so they could research it. I saw in this news story, there was just a ton of issues of this homeowner who was stuck. They're trying to buy the home. The people selling the home are like, you have your escrow payment.

[00:31:52] Eric Goranson: Where is it? Oh, it's stuck between banks. So everybody's caught up in the middle of this disaster. So I would be really [00:32:00] careful and what I would do on those wire transfers like that Probably to be able to help do that. I would go physically down into my bank branch to do that versus doing something online Walk into your bank branch and say hey i'm buying a home.

[00:32:14] Eric Goranson: I need to transfer this. Does this look like everything is good? Now they're going to be able to say, okay, that's a real account here. You can get on the phone and talk to your escrow company and make sure that you've got the numbers, right? I would be much more physical in how you do this. So that way you're more protected and not just go off a link and do it online.

[00:32:33] Eric Goranson: And I know that's a pain, but when you're talking about protecting your money, I think that's super important for you to do as a homeowner, because nobody wants to lose that to some scammer out there. So be careful on that one. Now, the next one up is for people out there buying homes and this is like this one, but it's different and it's something you got to be careful about.

[00:32:52] Eric Goranson: Now, I've talked about this many times, but this is one of the biggest scams and I call it a scam because no one is [00:33:00] out there looking for this. And there's a lot of people that are doing it and it's just been swept under the rug. And I've been waving this flag for a number of years. So I do apologize for our regular listeners that have heard me say this before, but I can't say enough for the new people out there that are tuning in.

[00:33:16] Eric Goranson: What happens is let's say you go out and you decide to buy a home and it's a nine thirties farmhouse. It's gorgeous. This is your dream home. And it's 2, 200 square feet. You go through the inspection process. It's beautiful. You get ahold of the tax assessor and you see what the taxes are and it says, Oh, it's 2400 square feet.

[00:33:37] Eric Goranson: And you're paying so much a square foot for this house, because that's part of the reason why they're, you know, figuring it out so much a square foot. Usually on the listings, you'll even see what the square footage prices. Now, the problem is you go down to your building department because you want to build a shed out back or you want to do something like that.

[00:33:54] Eric Goranson: And you look at your house and go, wow, you show it's only 1400 square feet. [00:34:00] So what's happened is over the years, maybe it happened five years ago. Maybe it happened 50 years ago. The problem is you just paid for 2400 square feet and you lost a thousand square feet. Let's say. Maybe it's 1, 200. Maybe it's 1, 400 or whatever.

[00:34:15] Eric Goranson: You lost a thousand square feet, which means maybe you were paying 350 a square foot. You just lost a ton of money. So did the bank. So here's what happens. Somebody decides one day I'm going to enclose in the porch. That's my project gets done. I'm going to finish that basement. No building permits pulled.

[00:34:35] Eric Goranson: I'm going to take that attic space and make it into two bedrooms and a bath. Then they go sell the house. The tax assessor has already been through it one time. They looked at it and went, wow, you've got a great 2, 400 square foot house. Problem is the building department, which is the one that matters when you're talking about your house.

[00:34:51] Eric Goranson: They see your house at 1400 square feet. So you just paid a thousand square feet that you didn't get. So that to me is a scam. [00:35:00] And so what I want to see is every time you go out and purchase a house, every time you go out there, maybe it's once or twice in your life, talk to the building department and find out what's going on with that house.

[00:35:13] Eric Goranson: How many square feet is it? What are the property lines? I want you to do all your due diligence to figure it out. And if you can afford to, and I would recommend this, if you can find where those pins are on the property lines, have a survey done, make sure you know what you're getting that way. You get what you're paying for.

[00:35:32] Eric Goranson: I can't tell you how many times I've seen people just about in tears because they realize that they're going to have to do some significant remodels to get. I've seen people have to pay a hundred thousand dollars to get that inspected, to get their thousand square feet back. And they have to build it.

[00:35:47] Eric Goranson: Here's the problem. You got to bring it up to current code 2020 24 code. So they did the basement. Oh, wow. They didn't put the egress windows in the electrical. It's not right. They didn't insulate it right. And all of that, or even worse, [00:36:00] you do the attic space. You got to reframe it because they just used the two by fours that were part of the trust system up there as the floor system.

[00:36:06] Eric Goranson: So it's bouncy. Now you have to re engineer that, which means you're going to do the stairs different. Now they want new footings in the basement. That's finished as well. So. This can be hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get your square footage back. So please guys, do your research on that. It's a simple call or jump online to the building department and see what they say that is.

[00:36:24] Eric Goranson: And that could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars on your house purchase. And if you haven't done it, you've got an older home that might've had an addition done or a space finished. Do your research and see what you got, because you might not have got what you are paying for. So that's a big one.

[00:36:41] Eric Goranson: Now, here's one. The last one here on my list is for renters out there, and I've been victim to this, and sometimes you have to decide if you want to fight it or not, but landlords that don't give your deposits back now. I know how to fix things. I have had a, I had a landlord when I was in between houses when [00:37:00] I sold 1 went renting in 1 area, make sure the kids were in school and then bought another house later.

[00:37:07] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what, this is 1 of those things that is so frustrating when you have a security deposit. And now, great example. I know what I'm doing. When there were times things would break, I would help the guy out, and I had their written permission. Make sure things were fixed correctly. I had wanted the painting in the house.

[00:37:27] Eric Goranson: He was supposed to paint it before I moved in. He didn't. I repainted it while I was there. Asked him if we could use these colors. Everything was approved, all done by email. Everything was legit. I even did the work for free. But then when it came time to get my deposit back, guess what? I didn't really like that color.

[00:37:45] Eric Goranson: So I had to repaint it. So I'm not giving you a deposit back. Unfortunately, I had, fortunately, I had the whole thing documented, but it was going to cost me more to go fight them to get that back. In my situation, [00:38:00] I just had to suck it up and eat it. But I had the ability to do, I want to make sure for people out there.

[00:38:05] Eric Goranson: When you get that rental, take your camera on your phone, as soon as, even before you sign it, whatever, walk through when it's empty, take a look at it, run through the house. Today's phones have the metadata on it, so you don't have to worry about trying to document that. That's easy in court. Walk around the house and film it.

[00:38:24] Eric Goranson: Like you're trying to document every little nook and cranny. If stuff's worn out, if the carpet's worn out, when you get it, note it, talk about it. If there's scratches or dings, talk about it. That way, if you have to go to small claims court, you have something documented that you can hold people accountable with.

[00:38:41] Eric Goranson: And that way, you're going to be good to go. Cause the last thing I want to see you is get burned out there of not getting that deposit back. Now, if you damage stuff, I get it. Make sure that, uh, either you have it repaired with their permission or make sure that they're giving you the approximate credit because things like carpet, things [00:39:00] like paint, things of that stuff are wearable surfaces.

[00:39:03] Eric Goranson: And if it was brand new and you came in and your cat tore it up or damaged it That's on you and that's completely okay, but I just want to make sure you're good All right, everybody that is it for our number two of the show. Thanks for tuning in today I really appreciate you If you want to catch more of around the house catch us in the podcast on wednesday for a midweek special If not, we'll see you next weekend.

[00:39:23] Eric Goranson: Thanks for tuning into around the house. We'll see you soon