For Most People, Buying a Home Represents the Largest Investment of Your Lifetime.
The home buying process can be one of the most exciting experiences you will ever have or it may be one of the most stressful and time consuming processes you can experience. This could be true whether you are looking to buy your first home or even if you have purchased multiple homes in your lifetime.
There is one very important piece to the home buying puzzle that will make or break your experience… your Realtor.
Note from the Broker Christopher Hunt: Make sure you choose who you work with wisely. Just because two individuals have the same license doesn’t mean they have the same skill set. We have all received a fantastic haircut and a terrible one, those two individuals have the same state cosmetology license.
A Realtor has access to all the property information and market statistics you need. There are several factors to consider, and many decisions to make when purchasing a property. That is why it is critical that you ensure that you have all of the available resources necessary to make an educated decision throughout this process. A Realtor will help guide you through the entire purchasing process. Why wouldn’t you hire a trained, state licensed Florida Realtor to purchase the largest and most expensive asset of your lifetime.
Did you know, it is absolutely illogical to buy a home without using a Realtor. Why? It’s the best part, the seller pays the Realtor’s commission.
As with most endeavors, in order to achieve success you must have a plan and that plan will include several steps.
Step One: Contact us to represent you as your Realtor.
Allow us to guide you through the appropriate steps to make your experience a success.
Cyber Fraud – Wire Fraud
ESCROW/CLOSING FUNDS NOTICE: Hunt Brothers Realty, Inc. does not accept escrow deposits or funds for closing transactions. Please contact the Title Company or Law Firm selected on your contract for wiring instructions. Under no circumstance should you send any funds to any party without verbally verifying the recipients information and authenticating their credentials.
Courtesy Article provided by the National Association of Realtors, May 2016: When NAR General Counsel Katie Johnson asked a group of real estate professionals whether they or someone they knew had clients that were victims of wire fraud, more than one-third of the audience at the Idea Exchange Council for Brokers raised their hands. Johnson laid out the top legal friction points currently facing practitioners during the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C. last week. Wire fraud topped the list as a sophisticated scam causing consumers to lose millions of dollars each year. Hackers are gaining access to e-mail accounts through captured passwords, and they’ll search inboxes for messages related to real estate transactions, Johnson said. Once they find a victim who’s in the process of buying a home, they’ll send a spoof e-mail that looks like it’s from their agent, title representative, or attorney, and it will say there are “new” wiring instructions, which includes a fraudulent account. The home buyer will then unwittingly wire funds directly into the hacker’s account, Johnson said. , Read the rest of the article here.
“Once they send it, the money is gone,” she added. “Millions of dollars are lost on this.”
How Does Buying a Home Affect the Community in Which You Live?