1. Those who comment on posts of house hunters with "No Agent", followed by another comment of a picture of a house are absolute fake. No landlord advertises houses like that. Run.
2. Those who post houses with very few photos and very scanty information. Which genuine agent or Landlord hides the price or location of a vacant house? If you must ask for location, price, contacts and basic features, that's a criminal you're dealing with. Report them.
3. Those who post houses but block people from commenting or asking questions. They put their contacts for you to call. If you love your life, don't engage them.
4. Their posts are full of errors. Poor grammar. They write everything in CAPITAL LETTERS, without even punctuating. Marketing is a career of serious communication. Scammers are in too much hurry to proofread their posts. Avoid these.
5. They don't want to meet you. Anyone claiming to have a vacant house but cannot meet you for viewing should be treated as a scammer. Genuine agents or landlords give your viewing the first priority.
6. They want you to pay for a house you haven't seen. Simple. No exceptions.
7. They want you to pay immediately, threatening to rent out the house to another person. Do not pay for the house just because you have seen it. Sometimes a conman will take you to a house that is unlocked, pretending to be the owner. You pay for the house while you're inside.
The above red flags are not the only ones. These scammers keep inventing tricks to separate you from your money.
To get a genuine house, here are 4 powerful tips.
1. If you love your money, health and life, never trust any house posts from unregistered companies, however desperate you are.
Of course some people are genuine advertisers while others are scammers.
But you can't know with certainty who is real and fake.
Verified genuine advertisers know where to post their houses. Just not on social media platforms.
Better to be safe than sorry.
2. Deal only with registered property agents.
They have offices you can visit, or websites or pay bill numbers bearing their company names.
After you get a lead to a house, ask to visit their office or meet them in the property.
Avoid street deals at all cost.
Go to that property, carry a friend and don't be in a hurry while inspecting the house.
Ask even to talk with the resident caretaker.
No serious Landlord or agent will ask you to pay for a house because it might be taken by another person.
3. Stop looking for leads to houses on social media.
You don't want to get the unwanted attention of the criminals waiting to scam you.
They will show you NO MERCY.
However intelligent you think you are, you are not a match for them.
4. Search for houses on registered websites, that verify Landlords/Agents before posting houses.
Here, you can find leads to a house in 2 minutes, even at night, free of charge.
And get all the details of the house even before calling the verified landlords or agents for pin location.
If you don't find one, ask their customer care to connect you with a landlord or agents they can verify, in their network.
Meaning you no longer need to walk the whole day searching for vacant houses.
No more swollen feet, headaches, exhaustion and confusion associated with walking around looking for vacant houses.
No need to pay someone your sweet money to find you a house. You can do house hunting on your own, in the comfort of your current place.
You can compare many houses in one place before choosing the one suited to your needs.
And you don't need to fear being conned, robbed or raped by criminals; you're safe.
Good examples are Renters Hub (National Rentals Platform) and Buyrentkenya.
Renters Hub is purely a rentals website, so, you are not bombarded with ads of land, chairs, eggs or tight fitting jeans.
Renters Hub even guarantees to return your money back should you ever be scammed on their platform.
And if you don't get exactly what you're looking for, just leave a house request as guided by the system. You'll be notified when the house is posted.
If you found this information valuable, please share it with just 2 of your closest friends and help them be safe.
You're welcome.