Asked by Andrew from Maine
Hi –
I have a question regarding ‘barn scams.’ I know the usual drill with ‘normal’ items, like selling your wares on eBay or Craigslist. Is there anything more to know when selling your old barn?
I did recently run into a traveling real estate scammer who tried to pretend like he was buying our house, only until he could solicit deposits from his prospective unwitting tenants.
He was going to convert it (or pretend to convert it) from residential to commercial. I never expected anything like that, really. Anything similar happen with any of your barn geeks?
Thanks,
Andrew
Thanks for your question Andrew,
The only thing I have heard of and it is quite a large problem is start up reclaim lumber companies will often offer to remove a barn simply in exchange for the lumber. In my experience this most often ends badly.
There usually just isn’t enough value in the lumber of any barn to pay for the costs of labor, equipment, cleanup, and insurance. Be wary of anyone offering to remove a barn simply in exchange for the lumber within. That’s not to say that it can’t be done, buy it is rather rare to find a barn like that. Most of the time these little start ups don’t intend to ‘scam’ anyone they just miscalculate their expenses.
-BarnGeek