Consumers run a gauntlet of fraud, scams, cons and come-ons, before, during and after they buy a home and it's making them more and more suspicious of home-related transactions than they are of many others.

The Better Business Bureau's "Businesses with Most Inquiries and Complaints, 2002" reveals when consumers sought business reliability reports to last year, the Top 5 types of businesses they checked on were all home-related. The reports reveal BBB member and non-member companies' complaint histories, if any, when available, and how companies resolve complaints.

Seven home-related companies are among the Top 8 most inquired about firms. They are No. 1, work-at-home promotions; No. 2 mortgage and escrow companies; No. 3, roofing and gutter contractors; No. 4 general contractors; No. 5, moving and storage companies; No. 7, home remodeling contractors and No. 8, home builders.

At No. 12, the insurance industry, which has a strong housing segment, saw inquiries increase a whopping 183 percent last year, compared to 2001. Right behind insurance, in inquiry increases, was yet another industry related to real estate and housing, debt consolidation. It saw inquiries increase by 162 percent, but did not make the Top 12 list of most inquiries.

Among the Top 7 home-related businesses consumers inquired most about, the rise in the number of consumer inquiries ranged from 40 percent to 105 percent.

The increases in all BBB inquiries can be attributed, in part, to increases in the home buying and home owning population as well as increases in related purchases.

The bureau says large increases in inquiries can also be attributed to the Internet. Last year was the first full year consumers had Internet access to the bureau's business reliability reports and BBBs around the nation logged 38.2 million pre-buying inquiries in 2002, nearly double the 19.2 million in 2001. Half of all BBB business reliability reports are now issued over the Net and two-thirds of BBB complaints are handled online.

However, in 2001, the seven home-related industries were already among the Top 12 most checked-on companies. Last year they simply traded places.

Among the seven industries, from 2001 to 2002, mortgage and escrow companies moved up two notches from No. 4 to No. 2 and home remodeling contractors moved up one notch. Work-at-home companies retained the No. 1 spot and the rest of the seven home-related industries moved down one notch.

Skyrocketing inquiries about insurance companies caused insurance to zoom from the No. 28 spot to No. 12 in just one year.

The trades on the 2002 list that are not directly related to the home industry were No. 6, franchise auto dealers; No. 9, auto repair shops; No. 10 Internet services (on the Top 12 list for the first time); and No. 11, modeling/talent agencies, which rose from No. 21 in 2001.

It's important to note, for actual complaints, only No. 8, home furnishing stores and No. 11, moving and storage companies were home-related companies that made the Top 12 complaints list.

However, the increase in consumers checking up on home-related companies is in line with a barrage of troubling reports about questionable business practices in virtually all segments of the real estate and housing industry. In the past several years, the reports have surfaced with alarming frequency.

Published: April 30, 2003

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.