Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Never Do This if Your House is on the Market!

A couple of weeks ago I was in the middle of showing a house when the phone rang. I continued to show the house, pointing out the deep closets and hardwoods in good condition, when the answering machine turned on.

"This is Joe. Leave a message," we all heard.

"This is a collect call from an inmate at the Monroe County Jail. Do you accept the charges?" was the message that was left!

We all looked at each other and quickly left. Negotiating with a seller who is buddies with local inmates didn't appeal to my clients.

The moral of the story is if your house is on the market, either turn off the anwering machine or hit the mute button!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow, clearly a problem and good advice for sellers! This more than likely is a phone scam ... let me explain. In a previous career I worked in the criminal justice system here in Monroe County. What the inmates would do at the jail is call any number collect and then somehow, using a numeric code, be able to use the answering lines billing to make their long distance call. This should be reported to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Jail Bureau because more than likely it is an inmate trying to defraud someone. Hope this help!

From Carmen Lonardo
realestateonthemove.blogspot.com