property scams

Real estate agents do this every day....nothing new here.

From ninemsn.

Property investors fall prey to scams

Property investors are falling prey to con-artists who have turned away from the Gold Coast to cash in on Melbourne's property boom.

Mother-of-two Shirley Taylor fell victim to a marketeer when she was offered a discount price on a Melbourne property only to find out later it had been sharply overvalued.

After attending a four-day seminar, at a cost of $4,700, Mrs Taylor told ABC's Four Corners program she was offered the chance to get a 10 per cent discount on a property in Port Melbourne.

She was told the property was valued at $630,000 but signed a contract for the property at what she believed was the discounted price of $570,150.

"They had told us on day two (of the seminar) this won't last, you've got to get in there quick because a lot of investors out there waiting so we thought that in order to be able to buy the property, we had to go immediately," Mrs Taylor said.

"I was really intrigued because I thought gee this is a pretty quick way of making a profit and, if I keep doing that, we couldn't lose if they are doing the buying and sourcing for us."

But a later independent valuation on the unit showed the property was worth only $515,000.

"I feel like a sucker now but at the time I had a winning feeling because they made me feel like it was an investment that only the privileged could access," she said.

Mrs Taylor was then approached by a Collins Street law firm who advised her to go ahead with the purchase.

But one of the law firm's partners who became the Taylors' lawyer also gave lectures for the group that offered the family the discounted property in the first place.

"I asked this person how she got to know about me because I hadn't engaged a lawyer," Mrs Taylor said.

"She said: 'oh, we've been given your contact details ... and we actually have seen the contract'."

Other disgruntled property buyers said they had lost tens of thousands of dollars on the resale of houses because purchase prices were inflated by up to 20 per cent.

Property writer Terry Ryder said people who offer real estate advice should be regulated.

"I think the biggest problem in all of this is the lack of regulation by federal authorities in particular," he said.