CLOSE THE DOOR BEFORE IT COSTS YOU!
It’s too bad the world has changed to such an mistrusting place. But, we’ve done it to ourselves. Gone are the days when buying something at the door that you didn’t like would cost you a few bucks. Today’s mistakes can cost you THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. Here’s a story that will having you nailing your front door shut!
We were looking for a classroom rental as we had a new project coming up and we were also planning to sell our home. When listing a home to sell and before any real estate transaction began, we took our due diligence to find out all we could about our client’s Barrhaven home. A good real estate agent should do this right at the beginning as your get ready to put your home on the real estate market. Through our questioning we found out our client had recently rented a new furnace. The old one (old is a relative term) was 10 years old which is considered about 1/2 way through the life of a furnace. Through further investigation we found out the the door-to-door sales representative promised that with the higher efficiency and the full coverage and warranty for 10 years, that in the end there would be a savings. Through documents, we saw that the rental was just over $100 a month for 10 years! THAT”S $12,000!!! OMG. A new furnace for a home of the size our client’s is can range from $3500 – $5000! You’ll need to save a lot of natural gas and the furnace would have to be repaired many, many times before you could ever see enough”savings” to balance out.
While trying to market this very popular Barrhaven home, we met immediate and strong resistance from buyers. There was no way they would take over this rental contract. In the end, the sellers had to pay out the contract at a cost of approximately $11000! What a shame and a costly error. The seller’s are smart, hard working and really lovely people who don’t deserve this kind of treatment. But, they fell into the same trap that hundreds of other people have done before them and we’re sorry to say, more will be caught like this in the future.
The moral …… do your homework. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is!! If the deal proposed is only available “RIGHT NOW, TODAY ONLY,” then pass on it. If the deal is a good one and legitimate, you can get that same deal tomorrow.
Call friends, family, your lawyer or your real estate pro to get advice on these door-to-door scams. Don’t get caught. For every service that is sold door-to-door by scammers, there are hundreds of legitimate companies with good reputations who provide the same type of services. Get referrals from your real estate pro.
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