A home listed “for sale by owner” on Zillow for $10,200 got a lot of interest from potential buyers — except for their $1.2 million home, and the actual owners didn't know anything about it until friends showed them the listing.
Jamey and Lauren Bertram own a 5,300-square-foot, five-bedroom Kansas City ranch house that a third party recently listed on Zillow, complete with photos, without their knowledge, according to The Kansas City Star.
Jamey Bertram told The Star on Friday that the home had been “hacked on Zillow” and that he had spent three days trying to fix the problem with “zero help from Zillow.”
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After bypassing Zillow's fraud detectors by pricing the home at its $1.2 million market value, the third-party fraudsters lowered the price to $10,200 and claimed the price was so low because they were trying to “bless a family.” and get a tax break.
“Once a year we sell one or more of our homes to first-time buyers for under $25,000,” the listing said. “This is done to bless a family or individual in need, but also as a tax break for us.”
When interested buyers called the number listed, they were told to send a $200 refundable deposit for a tour.
Bertram called the incident “a hot mess” and said he learned about the list when friends emailed him about it. People were just “showing up” at his front door and asking to see the house.
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Bertram and his wife bought the house in 2019 for nearly $1 million.
Zillow said it had removed the listing on Friday.
A Zillow study published Last month showed Kansas City home prices rising rapidly, with the median home value at $236,292 — nearly 7% higher than last year.