Whew! Hello ActiveRain Mastermind members! We just formed our group, and just threw a bunch of great ideas together to meet the deadline today. We are so excited to jump in that we just had to get involved with this month's challenge.
Our team came up with great ideas, (of course I am going to say that, right?) So here goes, our first "group blog."
Ride to Your Client's Rescue!
Real Estate fraud appears to be a growing industry in our current economic times. Because there are so many battlefields - short sale fraud, lease fraud, pre-foreclosure seller scams, loan fraud, title fraud, etc - winning the war seems impossible using only one tactic.
Planning the Attack
A three-fold approach was developed.
1. Educate
a. It starts with us! Attend your broker and local Realtor board meetings to stay informed and speak up. The more we share or hear about unusual or fishy circumstances, the better equipped we will be to educate our clients and sphere.
b. Include safety tips, such as not opening unsolicited emails (no matter how tempting it may be to share your bank account number with a politician in Nigeria and be rewarded $50,000 for doing so) or regularly reviewing your statements, via our monthly newsletters, enewsletters, facebook reminders, blogs, tweets or how ever else we keep in touch with our current and past clients.
c. New rules and regulations will not help. Crooks just find new schemes, they always will.
2. Early Detection/Prevention
a. Set up Google alerts for your current listings and sales addresses. If someone posted a craigslist ad to rent out your seller's vacant house, you will find out about it! Can you imagine what a hero you will be to your absentee owner if you were to alert them to this before the damage is done?
b. Share the Fraud Prevention Link with your clients, there are several resources on her so spend some times checking it out: http://www.freddiemac.com/singlefamily/preventfraud/resources.html
c. Download and customize the mortgage fraud tool kit: http://www.freddiemac.com/singlefamily/preventfraud/toolkit.html
d. Drive by and check on your vacant listings. Even holding open houses (if you don't normally) would be a way to deter the enemy, since they will see that someone has not abandoned the home.
3. Prosecute
a. Support officials and agencies in your area that are tough on these white collar crimes.
b. Get involved at your local agency/board level and strive for stiffer penalties. The usual consequences-a slap on the hand or a small fine-are not strong enough to deter criminals.
c. Offer to check (or point tenants) in the right direction to verify that they are in fact working with the actual owner/landlord and to make sure the property managers are licensed.
Consumers lose trust in our industry as a whole when they are victimized. It is our duty to lead them in this war, arming them with all of the weapons available.
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