How not to call about a foreclosure
A couple of months ago, Jay wrote about (among other things) Peter's house and the trustee's sale. (And why you shouldn't borrow money from people who write to you out of the blue to offer help with a foreclosure.) I thought that was all settled, but just now I got a phone call. At 9:00 on a Friday night. From a woman who sounded totally stoned, with a kind of slow and spacey way of talking. It went like this:
Me: Hello, this is Jed.
Her: Hello. . . . I'm calling . . . from Washington? I hope I'm not disturbing you?
Me: Um. . . .
Her: My name is Martha . . . and I'm calling . . . about a house that's in foreclosure.
Me [realizing what this is about]: Sorry, I don't have anything to do with that.
Her: Oh. . . . But you do . . . realize . . . that it's in foreclosure, right?
Me: Yes, everything is going as it's supposed to, and I don't have anything to do with it.
Her: Oh. Sorry to bother you.
So I figured, as a public service, I would list three things not to do if you decide to engage in a real estate loan scam:
- Take drugs before calling your intended client.
- Call at 9 p.m. on a Friday.
- Start the conversation by identifying the state you're calling from, providing no other information.