Sale Leaseback Scam Warnings Continue As Desperate Borrowers Will Do Anything To Save Homes From Foreclosure

Buried in a recent story in the Sarasota Herald Tribune is this warning on sale leaseback foreclosure rescue scams:

• "Rent-buyback" schemes are proliferating, the Federal Trade Commission recently warned, because so many homeowners are behind on their payments and are willing to do anything to save their homes from foreclosure. In a typical scam, the con artist offers to take title to the property and simultaneously provide an official-looking rental agreement or lease-option contract that purports to give the owner the right to repurchase the house after they regain their financial footing.

• In reality, though, the con man then starts collecting the rent but never makes any payments to the lender -- or else couches the agreement in complicated legalese with terms so burdensome that repurchasing the house becomes impossible. Either way, the original owner winds up losing the home and any equity that was in it.

Source: Rent-buyback scams target desperate homeowners.