There are plenty of people out there trying to scam homeowners and renters out of their hard earned money. There are a ton of great contractors that are trying to help people out. How do you find the right ones and where are the scammers lurking? We talk about that and so much more in todays Around the House Show.

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[00:00:25] Eric Goranson: And this is a common problem, especially on social media, especially on places like Craigslist. And that is. People that are renting a home that they don't actually own or have the ability to rent. Then they jump on social media and try to rent it out at a below market rate so they can get a deposit and everything else.

[00:01:08] Eric Goranson: Thanks for joining me today. Find out more about this show, head over to around the house online. com. And if you need help with your next project, feel free to give us a call on our home improvement helpline. And that is 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. That number again is 8 3 3. Two, three, nine, four, one, four, four. And you might end up on a future episode of around the house.

[00:01:56] Eric Goranson: And these are things that I want you to be really careful [00:02:00] about out there, because these are what I call high risk situations that you should pay attention to and take that extra due diligence on. There's so many of these different things out there, but I figured, Hey, we're going down a list here. None of these are in a particular order because they could be higher risk for one person.

[00:02:40] Eric Goranson: Most of the time, my warning lights go up when I have somebody knocking on my door trying to sell me anything. Now, love the kids coming by, doing that kind of stuff. Not a fan of the religious people knocking on my door. Please leave me alone. But here's the thing. This is where I get worried. [00:03:00] About you as the homeowner.

[00:03:28] Eric Goranson: Just so they know if you're out there, you'll have a permit number and you'll be able to go door to door and they've done the research on you. And that way you're not considered a prowler. So they want you to go down and do that, which to me, I like it. Cause it really reduces my door to door knocking here in my neighborhood, which I do, but here's the thing that I'm always worried about that construction company, maybe it's a pest control.

[00:04:20] Eric Goranson: First off, rarely, that's a great deal. And if you followed that person around. Everywhere they're going, they're using that same exact script. So, my warning lights go on as soon as somebody says, I was in the area, so I thought I'd knock on your door and see. Unless you're working right next door to me, I'm automatically in my head thinking it's a scam.

[00:04:59] Eric Goranson: [00:05:00] That deal's done. I don't care if you have something I need and it's the best price in the world. It's over. So that's the first one to be careful with. Now you will see some people out there that will pretend to do this and they're out scoping crime scene. If someone's knocking on the door. Seeing who the potential person is that answers the door.

[00:05:34] Eric Goranson: And then the other one is this is really a prime ground for unlicensed businesses. Maybe they're. Unlicensed contractors. Maybe they're unlicensed pet control companies really depending on what the licensing is in your area, but that's one of those that really gets me nervous when I see this. So something to be really careful with door to door salespeople in that I know there's plenty of legitimate people that go door to door out there, [00:06:00] but there's also a lot of people out there that aren't.

[00:06:24] Eric Goranson: They're showing up on next door. And these are things that you need to be really careful with. Hey, I just moved in the area. I've got this I'm doing, or I'm landscaping, or I'm doing this and make sure their license bond are insured guys, make sure you know who you're working with. And what's going on. And I will say too, I don't use the BBB as one of my typical resources for doing the research on working with any contractor.

[00:07:05] Eric Goranson: Business it was under two years old, but I had no complaints or anything else. So That's where I have a problem with this stuff is when you can write someone a check And good or good rating at that point, guess what? I do not believe that's going to be a solid resource for you. So that's why I take them off my list of solid resources and stuff to work with, because there's still a company out there that's trying to make money.

[00:07:53] Eric Goranson: And so. You're seeing now they actually send out people out there to look for moving trucks and roll up on it [00:08:00] and see if these people are actually licensed moving companies. And many times this is the problem that you will see somebody come out, give you a quote, say, Hey, we're going to move you from point A to point B.

[00:08:33] Eric Goranson: And I want you to make sure guys to follow whatever your state is or whatever your location is Whether whoever is your licensing area for you And maybe there isn't there might not be any licensing for moving companies in your area But in mine there are and so it's a good way to go in and take a look and try to do your research See if they have online reviews Are they part of a national company?

[00:09:19] Eric Goranson: It will also give you a little more, a little more protection there. And then some of the other things that I think is really smart too, is to make sure that if you have those valuables, grandma's stuff, family heirlooms, move it yourself, put it in your vehicle, take it with you. Any of that stuff that is super important that you're worried about.

[00:10:10] Eric Goranson: Welcome to the round, the house show for the next generation of home improvement, where we can help you with your design, DIY, or construction projects, get the right information the first time. I'm Eric G your host and thanks for joining us today. We've been talking about my top 10 scam and theft prevention items on that list to make sure that you don't get taken by all the things out there that are trying to take your privacy, your money, whatever else out there.

[00:10:54] Eric Goranson: I hire one company that has been doing my work for years when I've moved. And once you get that person, [00:11:00] it's great. And always just make sure that they're good license bonded people, that they can be protected if the moving truck gets in an accident, go into your next place. You want to make sure that they're covered and that your stuff is covered.

[00:11:37] Eric Goranson: This is one of those things that I am seeing some massive problems with this out there. Now, first off, there are great people in the industry that do this. Now there are certified companies that out there that have taken a test. They're certified and they're really good. Now there's other companies that aren't that can certified, [00:12:00] but still do a great job.

[00:12:21] Eric Goranson: And there's some debates out there, whether it's right or it's wrong, or if it's needed or what. But I tell you what, where I see the biggest issues with HVAC duct cleaning and where, why you might need it is right after a house is built or remodeled, you can have tons of construction to debris down in floor vents, little less up in ceiling vents.

[00:13:07] Eric Goranson: Sometimes you'll see Southeastern Asian cultures that have. A great cooking style and makes me hungry thinking about it. But these hoods, if it was an older house, rarely kept up to that. So you ended up having a lot of cooking grease that ended up in the air in that area. And sometimes that intake vent will get in there.

[00:13:43] Eric Goranson: I, and I will throw a little shade on next door because they do not do a great job of patrolling their community for illegal contractors and people out there doing duck cleaning scams. There is one on there every few weeks that I run into myself and there are [00:14:00] people always jumping on there trying to push this stuff.

[00:14:23] Eric Goranson: But if these people don't know what they're doing and you have flux ducts that are in walls or crawl spaces and stuff, they can go through and do a significant amount of damage. So my perfect company is one that's either. NADCA certified or is attached to a legitimate healing, heating and cooling contractor.

[00:15:02] Eric Goranson: And I think it's smart every few years to have it done in many cases. But again, it's depending if you have pets, yeah, maybe that's a problem. And I think also it depends on where your registers are. If you have a ceiling register for the return air going back to your unit and you have a bunch of ceiling.

[00:15:39] Eric Goranson: If you had a good filter, no indoor crazy contaminants, that might work great. At the same time, if you have pets or you have any of these other things going on, Remodeling that kind of stuff or you just bought a remodeled house or a new one might be worth at least having them take a look to make sure that's good.

[00:16:17] Eric Goranson: And there are 95 percent I'll say of these people are awesome. And I'm talking the drain cleaning plumbers, but just like everybody, you got to watch out for the 5%. And there are people out there that are on commission. And these are the ones you need to be careful of. The come out, you've got a line that's backed up, they show up, I'm going to run a camera down and then they bring in their phone at the pictures and they start showing you the picture inside of your camera, the roots are in there.

[00:17:07] Eric Goranson: It's not like these guys have video editing software out there. They're going to be sending it right over to you're showing it right there. So they put the camera down. Maybe it's through a roof vent. Maybe it's through the bathroom toilet. Maybe it's through a clean out, whatever. And they will run that down through the system to make sure it's good and comment all the way.

[00:17:48] Eric Goranson: You've got a funky plumbing layout, they're going through the roof. And I'm like, Nope, that's cast iron. He had a cast iron T and the guys bouncing off it. Nope. Hard plug. Maybe it's collapsed. Maybe it's something that's down there. And I'm [00:18:00] like, Nope, sure enough. My little brother opens up the floor and yes, there's a T down at the bottom.

[00:18:20] Eric Goranson: And if you have to have them go out and show you again, while you're out there standing there while they're running the video, feel free, it's worth a little bit of extra time to do it. So you know what you've got. All right, everybody. We'll be right back after these important messages here. If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house, online.

[00:19:05] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the round the house show. This is where we help you with your home every single week. Thanks for joining us. This is the next generation of home improvement where we can help you with your design construction and DIY projects every single week. So you can get the right information, do it right.

[00:19:39] Eric Goranson: So if you're catching us on the radio, we appreciate you catching the station and make sure that you listen to these advertisers that are in the middle of the show here on the radio. These are the guys that keep this show going every single week. We are not a pay for play show. So if you're listening on the radio, make sure you give those advertisers support and say, Hey, thanks for supporting around the house.

[00:20:18] Eric Goranson: Now we would be talking about in the last segments here, we were talking about door to door scams, moving company, scams, duct cleaning by non professionals. Some drain cleaning companies out there that are not good plumbers. Let's put it that way. Next up here is where I really get concerned. And it's a big one.

[00:20:59] Eric Goranson: So this [00:21:00] is where you really have to do your research and understand what's going on. And some of the biggest problems that I see out there is one, they're not flashing these windows and doors correctly, which means there should be flexible flashing around all of these openings when they pull something out.

[00:21:40] Eric Goranson: Is it all caulked in? Is it sealed up? Is there no way for water to get behind it? That's actually more important than if it's double painters or triple pain to me. So if you don't have that stuff right in five to 10 years in many climates, you're taking those windows out because you have rot inside the wall because you've got [00:22:00] water down there.

[00:22:23] Eric Goranson: Because here's what happens. And this is something that happened in the two thousands with vinyl windows during the crash of 08, 09, 010, 2010. That's when we lost a lot of window companies and there were a lot of window companies in the U. S. that had lifetime warranties that went, oops, we didn't make it, we're shut down.

[00:23:08] Eric Goranson: We'll go through, they'll extend themselves out to builders, we'll have a stock market slash real estate market crash. The builders have big loans out to these guys, they file chapter 11 and it takes the window companies down with them. And so then all of a sudden that warranty is gone. Maybe the window company starts up as another company with those assets, but they now don't exist and neither does your warranty.

[00:24:03] Eric Goranson: So if they're installing window brand X, call the manufacturer and say, Hey, do you guys have a relationship with these guys or is there training? How does that work? And see what their customer service department says. I don't think that's a problem asking a bunch of questions with those guys. So something to think about there.

[00:24:40] Eric Goranson: Yeah, I get it, but each company has their own little ways of doing it. And I hope that's getting told to the installers. So do your research on that. And then really that installation is important and windows are like HVAC systems to me. The installation [00:25:00] is as important as the equipment itself. So make sure that you've got that dialed in and ready to go.

[00:25:27] Eric Goranson: Is that going into something that's locked? Is that something that someone's gonna have to fight to get into? Or more importantly, he's gonna have to make some noise to get into. How about those porch pirates? Are you having FedEx, UPS, Amazon, whatever being dropped off at your door? And is that sitting there while you're at the office at the doctor's appointment?

[00:26:06] Eric Goranson: They'll come up, push the button, open up the vault, drop it in there, and that will drop it on the floor of your living room, on the floor of your Most likely garage. It's best, I think, placed in the side of the garage, but you could also put her on its own box outside where it's a more of a monument mount is it's mounted out there or it can be mounted out by your street.

[00:26:47] Eric Goranson: And data, you get a new card because maybe the last one, somebody at the restaurant kiped it from you and took it and skipped it, skimmed it, whatever you want to make sure that you've got that dialed in. So when [00:27:00] that new card shows up, it's awful nice to not go, Oh, I got to check in my mailbox. I better go out and get it versus, ah, when I get out there, I'll get it.

[00:27:28] Eric Goranson: Cause they're going through the neighborhood, checking out everybody's mailboxes. And so now everybody's. They used to leave their mail out there overnight and go, I'll get it in the morning. They got late delivered late in the day. Now they're spending the time to go out there and do that. So spend the time secure those when it's time to replace that mailbox.

[00:28:08] Eric Goranson: We've got, geez, almost, uh, 360 videos up on YouTube. And if you wanna find that link, you can head over to social media, find it there, or you can just head over to around the house online.com. Alright, we come back, we're gonna wrap up this list to my top 10 items that you as a renter or homeowner need to be careful of.

[00:28:54] Eric Goranson: back[00:29:00]

[00:29:17] Eric Goranson: And if you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house online. com. And if you need help with your next project, feel free to give us a call on our home improvement helpline. That is 8 3 3 2 3 9 40 1 44. That number again, 8 3 3 2 3 9 40 1 44. And if you've got a question for us, I'll try my best to answer it for you with the information you give.

[00:30:03] Eric Goranson: And this is a common problem, especially on social media, especially on places like Craigslist. And that is people that are renting a home that they don't actually own or have the ability to rent. And you're seeing this happen in the news where you've got somebody who's coming into an abandoned house, getting it cleaned up, putting it up for rent.

[00:30:44] Eric Goranson: So the first thing is I want you to do some research. If you're out there figuring it out, you can jump on and basically get the tax number for this lot. Get under your county, city, township, whatever it is. Whoever takes [00:31:00] the property taxes in there. And you can jump online and usually see who that person is.

[00:31:27] Eric Goranson: Are they a licensed business? Do the research to find out about them. And see if they're actually a property management company. Because you can sure find out, and it's not that hard to do. A little Google searching, a few phone calls, you can probably figure out if it's real or not. And that's the key right there.

[00:32:08] Eric Goranson: Make sure that you've got that dialed in. That is a huge one right there. And I see people getting taken advantage of. And it's, it just makes me sick to my stomach that somebody can steal thousands of dollars to somebody. And at the same time, there's somebody else dealing with a renter. That's not paying them in the home.

[00:32:45] Eric Goranson: We talked about door to door scams, the door to door salespeople ripping you off. We talked about moving company scams. Duct cleaning by non professionals, some drain cleaning plumbers that are not plumbers, but are out there trying to be drain cleaners and ripping people off. [00:33:00] Some windows companies out there that are doing door to door and that are showing up at home shows that aren't doing quality work, and then we were talking about securing your mail and packages.

[00:33:35] Eric Goranson: Which will create very hard to hack passwords and then it'll save it on your phone. So you have to remember one detailed password and then it will generate new passwords for you on everything else. And then it saves it in one secure location. And if you've got banking, if you've got your wifi password, all that different stuff, not a bad idea to do that.

[00:34:12] Eric Goranson: That can be a problem. So spend the time. Make sure that you've got your house locked down on the internet side of things, and then make sure your banking and all the other important things, which is basically everything you've got out there has a password. And I'm not just talking about a capital letter word and a couple numbers.

[00:34:52] Eric Goranson: That's fine, but use the best password you can and take a look. There are a lot of different password secure companies out [00:35:00] there for apps you could put on that will generate. And put that all in a vault for you so you can have that secure. So it's not a bad way to go. They use the right encryption and when in doubt, use the two level authentication.

[00:35:31] Eric Goranson: And then that's a whole other situation there. So really thinking about your password and your home wifi security is a big deal, especially since so many things are running off of it. And if you've got cameras and things like that inside your house, you want to be the one that can look at that, not anybody else.

[00:36:08] Eric Goranson: So next up here is one that is not really a place you're going to get scammed, but it's something that you should do in case you do. And that is review your homeowner's insurance and make sure that you are covered. Let's talk about being risk adverse here for this. If you think about your homeowner's insurance, it is there to pay for damage, total loss, But when was the last time you reviewed what your house is worth?

[00:36:59] Eric Goranson: And [00:37:00] my house hadn't been on Zillow. So for a while, so it didn't have any idea what the value is. I was underinsured by about 40 percent and that's ugly because there was no way I, if I would have had a total loss of my house, vote out of fire, wildfire, or something like that happened. I would not have been covered where I could have replaced everything in my house for what I had in it.

[00:37:38] Eric Goranson: Maybe some of them are, is your artwork covered? Is your jewelry covered? Is any of your collection stuff? Do you have a baseball collection? Sports memorabilia, rock and roll guitars hanging on the wall. Are you covered? If you have stuff that is out of normal value and you don't have a writer on there, this could get really expensive [00:38:00] really quickly.

[00:38:25] Eric Goranson: Garage empty. They just couldn't move my big toolbox. It was too hard. So somebody came up, pulled the front doors right off. That's a little bit different story, but many garage doors, most can get in there pretty easily. Get the handle release. They push it up and get in there. So make sure you've got a deadbolt.

[00:39:00] Eric Goranson: All right, everybody. Thanks for tuning into this hour of around the house show. If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house online. com. And if you've got a home improvement question, or you just want to comment on this, you can just send us a message over at around the house online.