For sale by owner scams and how to spot them

Listing a home for sale by owner puts your address, photos and phone number in front of real buyers and everyone else at the same time. Most of what follows is predictable. Six scams account for most of the trouble FSBO sellers run into, and each has a simple check that stops it.

1. The buyer who overpays

A buyer, often out of town, agrees to your price and sends a cashier's check or deposit for more than agreed. Then they ask you to wire back the difference, or to pay their "moving company" from it. The check bounces after you have sent the money.

The FTC's guide to fake check scams puts it plainly: it can take weeks for a bank to find out a check is fake, and money showing in your account does not mean the check was good. The check: never accept more than the agreed amount, and let a title company or closing attorney hold any deposit.

2. Your home, advertised as a rental

Scammers copy the photos and description from real for-sale listings, put their own contact details on them, and post the home as a rental. Renters pay a deposit for keys that never come, and sometimes they turn up at your door. The FTC describes the method in its page on rental listing scams.

The check: search your address and a line of your description on rental sites and marketplaces every week or so while you are listed. Report any copy to the site it is on and to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. A small "not for rent" line on your sign and ad helps too.

3. Fake wire instructions at closing

Close to closing, an email that looks like it came from the title company changes where your proceeds go, or asks you for bank details "to set up the payout." It is the seller's side of the same email fraud that targets buyers.

The check: confirm any payout or wire detail by calling the title company on a number you looked up yourself, never one in the email. The buyer's side is covered in how to avoid wire fraud at closing, and the same rules apply to you.

4. "Can you read me the code I just sent?"

A buyer says they want to be sure you are real and texts that they are sending you a code. The code comes from Google Voice. Reading it out lets the scammer set up a Google Voice number linked to your phone number, which they then use for other fraud.

The check: never share a verification code with anyone, for any reason. A real buyer does not need one.

5. Pay-first marketing and "buyers ready to go"

Once your ad is up, you will hear from companies offering to put you on the MLS, send your home to a list of cash buyers, or guarantee a sale, for a fee paid now. Some flat-fee MLS services are legitimate, but anything promising a buyer in exchange for money up front deserves suspicion.

The check: look up the company yourself, read reviews outside its own site, and do not pay for a promised buyer.

6. The wholesaler posing as a buyer

Some "cash buyers" are wholesalers. They sign a contract with a long inspection period and a small deposit, then try to sell that contract to a real investor for a fee. If they cannot, they walk away near the end and your home has been off the market for weeks. Watch for an "and/or assigns" clause after the buyer's name. The differences are laid out in how to tell a real buyer from a wholesaler.

The calls that come with an FSBO listing

Not every unwanted call is a scam. Lead services pick up FSBO ads, attach the owner's cell number and sell the list to real estate agents the same day, so expect agents asking for your listing. Why it happens and how to opt out of those lists is in why do realtors keep calling me. The simplest fix is to put a free second number on the ad, not your cell.

Rules that stop most of these

• Use a title company or real estate attorney for the contract, the deposit and the closing.
• Never accept a payment above the agreed price, and never send money back.
• Confirm every wire or payout detail by phone, on a number you found yourself.
• Never share a verification code.
• Show the home in person, with someone else there, and ask for a lender's pre-approval or proof of funds before you give a buyer much of your time.

Not sure about a message?

If a buyer's text or email feels off, paste it into the free message scanner. It tells you whether it reads like a wholesaler, an investor, an agent or a scam, and shows the signals behind the verdict.

The takeaway

Selling by owner is safe enough when the money moves through a title company and you treat overpayments, code requests and changed wire instructions as the red flags they are. Real buyers will not mind any of those checks. Scammers will disappear.