“Another family was moving to our house”

The property market has always been full of unscrupulous people; scams and deceptions are not something strange when it comes to selling and buying properties. However, on some occasions, it is possible to meet someone as vile and ruthless as the real estate agent who sold the same house to two different families.

In this article, we will tell you the story of Melanie Hillshire and how she was scammed by an unscrupulous seller.

“It was the house I always dreamed of”

Melanie Hillshire (name changed to protect the victim’s identity) had the same dream as most people: having her own home to live peacefully with her family. At 38, with two children, Melanie was already tired of having to pay rent. To fulfill her dream and buy her own house, she decided to save most of her salary.

Thanks to a bank loan, and the money that her mother decided to lend her, Melanie already had enough money to buy a charming house on the outskirts of Lincoln. During her visit to the town, she met an alleged real estate agent who showed her a house that immediately fascinated Melanie.

Melanie made an innocent mistake that not only cost her money but also the opportunity to have her own home. Her big mistake was trusting this seller. Influenced by the clever explanations and for being so close to buying her own house, Melanie made a check for all the money she had collected and handed it to the seller. They signed the papers and everything was going perfectly.

Neither she nor her two children, not even her mother was able to guess the terrible scam of which they had been victims; the seller told Melanie that he needed to make some repairs and that she could move to the house in a couple of weeks, handed him the keys and closed his deal with a handshake. That was the beginning of Melanie’s nightmare.

“This is OUR house!”

Melanie and her family arrived very early on the day of the move. They carried all their belongings with them; the family wanted to be able to sleep that same night in their brand new house. The truck brought all their things and Melanie and her children began to fix them inside the house. The first thing that caught her attention was the alleged repairs the seller was going to make during the two weeks: none of them had been completed.

Melanie tried to communicate with him but her calls were directed to voicemail. Despite being upset she preferred to leave that for later, for the moment her priority was to finish the move. However, things were about to take an unexpected turn.

A car stopped in front of their house and a couple looked at it as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They quickly approached her and began to claim her for being invading their property; Melanie didn’t understand what was going on until the couple showed her an identical contract she had signed a few weeks ago: the seller had sold the house to someone else!

The fake seller had charged both families and had them sign the same contract. During the two weeks in which he was supposed to make repairs, he had left Lincoln after he had cashed both checks.

Melanie has lost everything and her complaint is still ongoing, the authorities have not yet found the scammer and at the moment, Melanie’s family has moved to her mother’s house.

Melanie’s terrible story alerts us to the risks of buying a property without taking the necessary precautions. HICH LTD always recommends researching the company that is selling the house.

Avoid being a victim of scams, HICH LTD offers advice and help to your clients to get the most out of the properties. Contact us for more information!