No way he would get anything of value from me. It's definitely a scam. I was 99% of the way there and then I got another e-mail, part of it follows:
Thanks for your mail ,Yes i appreciate your wanting to help me inoursituation. I am a chemist by profession and i am currently working with NORTHWICK PARK & ST.MARK'S HOSPITAL,17 WATFORDROAD,HARROW,MIDDLESEX,LONDON. I will be in the states for the next oneyear and during my stay i will be working with the UnitedStatesEnvironmental Protection Agency on a private research work. We have a financier that is based in the states and he will be handling the rent deposit payment on our behalf,we will instruct him to send you the check for this as soon as you give us the go ahead to make payment to you.
Due to the limited time that we have before my arrival, i will be making and arrangements with a furniture company to supply the home with furniture, so we will need you to provide us with the measurementsof the living room and bedroom so that i can send it to the furniture company so that they can supply the unit with furniture that will fit in well. As regards the lease agreement, i want you to send it to me for my review,i will eventually have it filled and signed on my arrival in your place as i am of the opinion that such documents are best filled and signed physically.
I did a search for the hospital in England he spoke of and got several sites talking about similar scams. The hospital is real, but something in his combination of name and address only brought up this:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=NORTHWICK+PARK+%26+ST.MARK%27S+HOSPITAL%2C17+WATFORDROAD%2CHARROW%2CMIDDLESEX%2CLONDON&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
I was going to play the guy but the fun of that is wearing off. Just be a waste of time. Then again, I bet it's getting harder and harder for these guys to score with this dogeared routine, and I could imagine them getting excited when they think they've found a live one.
Oopsie, did I pull the rug out from under you? My bad.