Crime Is On The Rise:
Is Your Transaction Secure?
By Dave Davidson
Real Estate Agent, Lake Point Properties
Crime Is On The Rise! According to an October ’23 Realtor magazine post, real estate crime’s on the rise nationwide, including in Vermont.
At Lake Point, reliability, confidentiality and security are among our top priorities. In addition to numerous technical and transaction protocols, we do all of the following to keep our valuable clients safe –
Beware, Title Pirates: our agents are highly suspicious of anybody who solicits them to list their property with zero introduction or context. If it seems too good to be true, we feel it probably is. We make sure all names and info match docs on file at town offices, and we never take a listing without first pulling the deed, tax bill and lister card. After all, it’s irresponsible to even suggest a price for a property unless we have all the facts in order and we’ve seen the conditions in person.
If it’s:
An LLC, probate or divorce sale, legal proof of permission to sell is needed.
A trust property, a copy of the trust document assigning permission to sell is needed.
If the seller married after purchase, all parties must attend Closing.
If there’s more than one party to title, all parties must provide unique contact info and sign all docs.
In every instance, we also maintain regular communication with buyer’s and seller’s attorneys through our transactions—from contract to closing—to be sure all parties and permissions are verified.
Fortunately most scammers give themselves away with obviously fraudulent email addresses, poor communication, and/or atypical behavior and requests. Due to the inherent complications and frequency of communications in real estate (i.e. accessing interiors, placing For Sale signs on property, communicating with town clerks, etc.), it’s pretty difficult for a scammer to complete a sale without somehow being discovered or exposing themselves.
The most dangerous scammers, though, are the ones who intercept and switch wire payment instructions minutes before Closing. As such, we repeatedly warn our clients and customers to be extremely careful in safeguarding their account info. The scammers infiltrate and surveil transactions by hiding within email accounts through spammed malware attachments. As always, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU CLICK!
Our brokerage and agents will never ask for your financial account data. Account info for funds transfers should only be conveyed to your known contact at your closing attorney’s office, and only via outbound call to the firm’s verified and trusted phone number.
