[ HTJ Podcast ] The U.S. Real Estate Forensics’s -Top 10 Signs of a Potential Scam-Ep.6

 

 

HANNA MUSIDI:

Hi, my name is Hanna and today we have our US tax expert, Derren. We also have our US real estate and legal expert, Jay. We will be discussing Us real estate forensic.

 

VOICE-OVER:

This podcast channel it’s about you, successful international entrepreneurs, successful ex-pats, successful investors. Sponsored by HTJ.tax

 

HANNA MUSIDI:

Hi, we’re live. Hi, my name is Hanna and I’m based in Indonesia and I’m working in an international tax consultant team. And today we will talk about your US real estate forensic. And this episode is about a real estate scam. So right now I’m here with two of our experts. So first of all, Derren, would you mind introducing yourself?

 

DERREN JOSEPH:

Hi, thanks, Hannah. Hello everybody. So we continuing this series. My name is Derren Joseph, and I’m an international tax consultant with a team called Moores Rowland and my specialty is an international tax in general, but US international in particular. Good to be here.

 

HANNA MUSIDI:

Jay, would you mind introducing yourself?

 

JAY KNIGHT:

Yeah, sure. My name is Jay Knight. Thanks very much for having me again. I am an international real estate investor and I also am a real estate broker from California, so great to be here. Thank you.

 

HANNA MUSIDI:

Okay. Number six, too good to be true testimonial aka fake news. So Derren, do you have anything to say about this?

 

 

DERREN JOSEPH:

You know that happens all the time. Whether you have actors who give false testimonials or I’ve seen cases that I suspect. I don’t know, but it appears as if the person who is on stage, especially in Asia, right? So it’s someone who’s local is on stage saying that while they’re speaking, there’s a PowerPoint thing running behind and you can see them in front of their home and whatever. Often enough, those transactions in happened, that that person really didn’t close on the deal. They claim to have done so, but they may not have. And again, to me, it’s hard to tell, it’s hard to tell because. It’s hard to believe that one of your own community, somebody who may not, who may be loosely known within your network standing on a stage representing a foreign company and claiming that they have done this, and they’ve made so much money, but I guess a sign is when they run, would they claims that it’s so easy because we know this there’s no such thing as easy right. There must’ve been hiccups. There must have been some challenge along the way. There must have been something that was unexpected. So, if you were having a conversation with someone you knew and trusted, you’d expect to get like a balanced perspective. Yes, I did win, but it did take a little bit longer than I expected to close. Or there were these fees that I didn’t really factor in, or there is a rental guarantee, but it’s only for a certain duration of time and a caps out that a certain amount, you know, there’s always something that balance. It makes it like an even conversation. But when that person is just there as if they are a part of the sales effort, as opposed to just a genuinely satisfied customer, then that should raise red flags. And again, all I say is bring the critical awareness that you have from your nine to five business to this opportunity. And that’s all, if someone is trying to sell you something in your nine to five, it is, as you said, it’s too good to be true chances are it is, you know, just use your… you know, easy.

 

HANNA MUSIDI:

I see. So, Jay, do you have anything to add on that?

 

 

JAY KNIGHT:

Well, actually. I mean, I think being a real estate investor and having a brokerage company for a long time, it’s like anything else. I mean, it’s very rare that someone who doesn’t have any kind of background in this is this going to walk into the industry after taking a simple course or going to a simple seminar and, you know, parlaying that into, you know, this huge success in a short period of time, it just doesn’t happen. Like in any business, it just doesn’t happen that way. So when you see somebody like, really promising you, or giving you a strong indication that, hey, all you need to do is complete this course or, or come to this seminar. And you’re gonna, even though you don’t have any background knowledge in this, you can start making 200,000 a year or whatever. Now there are times where that can happen because depending on market location, there are certain factors that could play a role in being able to make a lot of money. I know I made about $60,000 off my first deal, but you know, that’s not very common. And even 60,000 is not normally what these people are telling you. They’re telling you, you make a hundred thousand each deal and so forth. They can make 200,000 so forth. So I would just say that, be very wary of any kind of strong indicators that are, that are giving to you that, this isn’t, this, isn’t an easy business to get into that you don’t really need to have a lot of background information or knowledge about it. All you need to do is take this course when you can walk out and do it, just doesn’t work that way in the real world. And definitely not in the real estate investment world. So anytime you see something like that, again, I like Derren says, use your critical analysis and just be careful, proceed cautiously.

 

 

HANNA MUSIDI:

Actually, I have something to add to what Derren say, because I used to be an actress or model. Some of my friends, we just like the number one artists or model, when one real estate open. For example, they open a compound, they give this actress or model a house if they can sell ten houses,so if they can sell ten houses, you just convince your friends or you convince your fans or anything like that. Just to buy 10 house, you will get a house. Our apartment is the same thing. So I think these is like, same like making deals. But then again, most of the smart models or actors, they make a deal. Something like, okay, I will do it, but first you need to pay me because I’m promoting your business. But some of them, they don’t want to pay, they will just say, okay, you sell ten houses then I will give you a house or an apartment, something like that. So, yes, I mean, it’s really smart. So, the scam is really there.

 

 

JAY KNIGHT:

Yeah, and what they do, they do it very cleverly. I mean, they’ll get people who, probably like the sisters or their cousins of the company or whatever, to make these testimonials, people know you can never verify and they’ll never give them their full name. They’ll just use their first name, like Joe from Nebraska or Jessica that’s from Florida. They never give their full names, which is understandable to some degree, but it does make you think that, there is some, this can be anybody, there’s no real way to devalidate it. It’s just taking their word. And it really is. There really is no validation in that. So just be careful, just be somewhat cautious when you see that kind of stuff.

 

 

HANNA MUSIDI:

I know so many comments from Joe on this part and then just get from this. Yeah, I know that. I know that blows my mind. Really. Okay.

 

VOICE-OVER:

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Table of Contents: [ HTJ Podcast ] The U.S. Real Estate Forensics’s -Top 10 Signs of a Potential Scam-Ep.6

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