Stay a Step Ahead of Scammers; this article discusses how to avoid being scammed when buying your home. Every buyer should be warned upfront about potential wire scams related to closing, but agents should warn customers about other potential scams too. Title agents, Mortgage Brokers, and Realtors should regularly visit the U.S. Federal Trade Commission website or AARP.org to keep apprised of the latest scams. At the same time, the National Association of Realtors has a data privacy and security toolkit to help agents know their potential responsibilities and liability for client data or information. To read the full article. Source: Inman (04/25/23) Boardman, Teresa.
Real Estate Scams Is A Global Problem
It’s not just in Florida or the USA, it’s a global problem. Your realtor, closing agent, and mortgage broker should warn all their buyers about these wire fraud scams. Be alert to receiving text messages or emails asking you to send funds for your real estate transaction. Call the published and verified phone number of the agency you’re working with, and confirm the email or the text message first.
Avoid Being Scammed What The Experts Say
Most experts say scams have become more sophisticated and convincing thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). When looking to buy a home, we must verify anything we hear or read, especially when we receive a text message or email about sending funds for closing or escrow deposits. Verify the source of the message when you’re looking to rent a home, as sadly, there are many rental home scammers.
How Do We Avoid Wire Fraud Scams
Call the verified phone number of the attorney’s office or the Title company. Contact your Realtor and mortgage broker too and alert them of the message or email to ensure it is from the reputable agency requesting funds to complete the purchase. The bank wiring instructions you have been given in the email or text message are from the companies we are working with and are not scammers.
Don’t click on links until the source has been verified
Do not respond to the email, click on the link, call the phone number, or text back to confirm or opt-out unless you are sure it’s the phone number of the reputable company you’re working with. If you do, the scammers will try scamming you again, as they now know they have an excellent way to contact you and will try and scam you again.
How We Help Our Buyers And Sellers Avoid Being Scammed
We are a licensed Real Estate broker established in 1996. We do our best to keep abreast of all scams and how they can affect our homeowners, buyers, sellers, and tenants. We work with the same title agency to facilitate the closing of all our buyers and sellers’ real estate transactions. We all verify the identities of the people we work with to complete real estate transactions. We’ve worked with the same title agency for more than twenty years. I’m not adding their contact details in this article in case a scammer reads it!
If you want to know who the companies we work with to complete real estate sales, call us! Do a reverse search on our phone number on Google or your favorite search engine to verify that you’re reading this article from a legitimate source. You can check the licensing of any agency in Florida here.
Avoid Being Scammed When Buying Or Selling Homes in Florida
Good news travels fast, and bad news travels faster. Research any company you want to do business with online through popular search engines or the appropriate agencies. An excellent place to verify any Florida corporation is Sunbiz. Ask friends or family for recommendations, or if you have worked with a good realtor in the past, why not use them again?
If the property you want to buy, sell or lease out to tenants is in Davenport, Kissimmee, or Orlando, we can help you. Here’s a link to our unsolicited verified reviews. If you’re buying or selling anywhere in Florida, perhaps we can refer you to reputable realtors. call us at 407-933-2367 or in the UK 0161-300-9595 or email: hello@renterschoicehomes.com
