Selling your home can be cause for celebration — unless, of course, you never actually listed it.
This is the situation a Chicago man recently found himself in, after discovering a property he owned was listed for sale without his knowledge or consent.
Frank Diaz had purchased an abandoned fixer-upper on Chicago’s West Side with the intention of flipping it. His plan was to turn the workers cottage into a three-unit building, according to CBS News Chicago.
“That’s what I do. I fix them up and then rent or sell them,” Diaz told the news outlet. But that plan was nearly derailed when he discovered someone else had put the property up for sale — without his knowledge or permission.
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How a mystery realtor listed the home without the owner’s consent
In late May, Diaz discovered that his property was listed for sale, complete with marketing videos, on a real estate broker’s social media page and on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), a property listing and information portal for licensed real estate professionals.
The house was advertised as an off-market, all-cash deal for $200,000. Licensed realtor Anthony Kirkland with Coldwell Banker was listed as the agent on the property.
“I have never met him before,” Diaz told CBS News Chicago. Yet, some of the social media videos were taken inside the house, leading Diaz to conclude that whoever filmed those videos had been trespassing.
The locks had also been changed and a realtor’s lockbox was attached to the door.
Kirkland told CBS News Chicago that “somebody was posing as the owner” and that he removed the listing once made aware. However, despite being the agent who posted the property, he declined to say who had initially claimed to be the owner or who had given him the go-ahead to list it.
Diaz has since filed an ethics complaint with the Chicago Association of Realtors. “You do your job as a realtor and you reach out,” Diaz told CBS News Chicago, “and if they would have done enough digging, they would have known my number, and they would have called me if I wanted to sell the property.”
In a statement to CBS News Chicago, the association said that when a complaint is lodged, “it triggers a formal due process that includes a hearing” that can result in a fine, suspension, expulsion in membership and possibly referral to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
“I would like to know what happened,” Diaz said. “Someone had listed my property without my consent.”
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Title theft is a growing problem
Diaz isn’t the only victim of this type of crime. Earlier this year the Boston Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a statement warning property owners and real estate agents about an increasing number of “quitclaim deed fraud” incidents, which is also known as home title theft.
The perpetrators forge documents to record a fake transfer of property ownership. They can then sell or rent the property, “forcing the real owners to head to court to reclaim their property.”
“Deed fraud often involves identity theft where criminals will use personal information gleaned from the internet or elsewhere to assume your identity or claim to represent you to steal your property,” according to FBI Boston.
But deed fraud takes many forms. For example, fraudsters can search public records to find vacant land or properties without mortgages or liens and then ask a real estate agent to list them. Or, an elderly homeowner could be targeted by family members and manipulated into transferring over the property into their name.
While the FBI doesn’t keep statistics specifically related to quitclaim deed fraud, there were 58,141 reported victims of real estate fraud in the U.S. between 2019 and 2023, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) — adding up to a whopping $1.3 billion in losses.
So, if you own a vacant property, you’ll want to know how to protect yourself.
Protect yourself from quitclaim deed fraud
The only way to truly protect yourself is with a homeowner’s policy of title insurance, David Fleck, a real estate fraud attorney, told Realtor.com.
This is different from an owners policy of title insurance because it helps protect you against fraud after the purchase of the property, whereas traditional title insurance only protects you prior to the purchase.
“All title insurance companies, all the big ones, now offer it,” Fleck told Realtor.com.
To reduce your risk, the FBI recommends the following:
- Set up title alerts with your county clerk’s office, if available
- Create Google Alerts or other online monitoring for your name or property address
- Watch for red flags like missing utility or tax bills, or sudden usage spikes at a vacant property
- Avoid remote closings when selling or buying property and verify identity in person
- Ask for proof of ownership, such as recent utility bills or tax statements, before working with a new seller
It may seem far-fetched that a complete stranger could sell your property without your knowledge or permission, but it happens — and being aware that this type of crime exists is the first step in protecting yourself.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
