INDUSTRY INSIGHT
TITLE INSURANCE
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HOW TO KEEP YOUR MONEY AND PERSONAL INFORMATION SAFE IN A REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION.
First and foremost, if you are in the market for a new home, congratulations! Rates are, historically, still very low and Pittsburgh home values have remained strong over many decades.
Young couples love coming back to Pittsburgh to raise their children and be close to family; seasoned professionals love our direct flights to London and easy access to other major metropoles; and, of course, Pittsburghers love the cultural district, professional sports teams, rivers and cost of living. Pittsburgh is, definitely, a special place to call home.
Starting the real estate process can be intimidating for anyone who does not work with contracts or transferring large amounts of money in their daily lives( which is most readers of this article!). It is important to be vigilant for yourself.
Here are some helpful tips to keep your personal information safe and not fall victim to email or wire fraud schemes.
Make a secure list of contacts. Real estate agents, loan officers, title companies and their assistants and staff will all ask for your personal information. From day one, I would encourage all buyers and sellers to make a secure list of contacts. This list should include names, phone numbers and emails for all transactional parties and should only come from someone you trust.
For example, if your realtor has an assistant, only the realtor should provide the assistant’ s name and email. If your loan officer has a processor, only the loan officer should provide the processor’ s name and email. Keep this list of email addresses safe and only communicate with people on the safe list.
Do not trust digital identity. Criminals begin their fraud schemes most often with phishing emails. If the hackers gain access to an email account, they can monitor messages and create fake accounts to mirror someone in the transaction. Criminals use email addresses that are very similar to the real ones.
By creating a secure list of contacts, you should be able to detect fraudulent emails by simply hovering over the sender’ s name and comparing it to your safe list information.
Call— don’ t email. Don’ t be in a hurry. When someone is asking for your personal information, especially your Social Security number, it’ s always best to call and provide that verbally. Do not send non-public, personal information in emails.
Be suspicious, especially when it comes to money. Sending wire transfers is very safe when consumers are vigilant about the process and wire instructions. Funds due for closing are often requested in the form of a wire transfer. Here’ s why … most are large disbursements, post-closing— including seller proceeds, mortgage payoffs and realtor commissions— therefore immediate funds from the buyer are preferred( if you don’ t want a closing delay).
At Blue Sky, we make specific recommendations to consumers to keep their funds secure when sending wires:
1) Collect an original set of wire instructions from the office. Meet in person, and know that the wire instructions came directly from the source.
2) When sending wire instructions by email, Blue Sky only does so securely. Even then, we still ask the consumer to call us, on a known phone number, to verify verbally before hitting the send button.
3) When in doubt, you can first send $ 100. Once verified by the office, in writing, with a Federal Reference Number from the Federal Reserve Bank— which will match the consumer’ s Federal Reference Number— only then send the difference.
4) Never, EVER trust an email, text or phone call changing the wire transfer instructions, especially from someone who is not on the safe list. In the same vein, never take wire instructions from a third party. The realtor should not be providing instructions for the title company. You should communicate directly with the receiver and no one else.
5) Before you hit send, ask yourself whether you verified that the instructions are correct. And if you never see that money again, what will you do?
Verify immediately. As soon as you send the wire, after confirming the instructions verbally, you should notify the party that the wire was initiated. The first 24 hours is the best time to recover a wire transfer if you should fall victim to fraud.
The instances and complexity of wire fraud in the real estate world are alarming. The fastest-growing schemes are directed at consumers, like you! Buying a home is an exciting time and we want everyone to be safe, so that your experience is not derailed by a dangerous threat.
When working with Blue Sky, we will remind you— from day one— how to protect yourself and make ourselves available to you, anytime, to answer questions.
Amy Vogel, Keller Williams
2940 South Park Road, Bethel Park, PA 15102 blueskycsi. com 412.595.7263
Katie McGurk Mannarino is the President of Blue Sky Closing Services, Inc. She has closed thousands of residential and commercial real estate transactions over 25 years and is a trusted member of the real estate community. Ask your realtor about Blue Sky Closing Services, Inc.
Gina Fonzi, Coldwell Banker
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