Friday, November 12, 2010
NAR prohibits sexual orientation discrimination!
NAR Bars Sexual Orientation Discrimination!
The change to Article 10 of the REALTORS® Code of Ethics passed in a roll-call vote by a greater than 9-to-1 margin.
It had been previously approved by the Professional Standards Committee and the Board of Directors at the 2010 Midyear Meetings in Washington D.C.
Here is the amended language of Article 10:
REALTORS® shall not deny equal professional services to any person for reasons of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or sexual orientation.
REALTORS® shall not be parties to any plan or agreement to discriminate against a person or persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or sexual orientation.
REALTORS®, in their real estate employment practices, shall not discriminate against any person or persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or sexual orientation.
A related recommendation amending Standard of Practice 10-3 was approved as well:
REALTORS® shall not print, display or circulate any statement or advertisement with respect to selling or renting of a property that indicates any preference, limitations or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or sexual orientation.The amendment was discussed prior to the vote.
A few of the questions raised were:
1. Is "sexual orientation," without qualifiers or any further explanation, the right phrasing?
2. Is NAR denying private property rights (ostensibly, the right of property owners to refuse to do business with people of a certain sexual orientation due to their moral beliefs)?
3. Should NAR precede the federal government in adding sexual orientation as a protected class?
In response to the third question, a delegate from Minneapolis pointed out that the purpose of the Code of Ethics was to hold REALTORS® to a higher standard. Another delegate who approved of the amendment said the Code of Ethics was a living document. Delegates approved the Code change by voice vote, but one delegate called for a vote by ballot. In ballot voting weighted by size of local association, the amendment passed by more than 93 percent.
- Brian Summerfield, REALTOR® Magazine
Mold Remediation: What to Expect When You Hire An Expert
By: Karin Beuerlein
Published: October 13, 2010
Mold remediation can be a pricey venture. Here’s what to look for and expect when you call in the professionals.
Who you gonna call?
Mold remediation is the Wild West of home improvement. The field largely is unregulated, and anybody can call himself an expert and call just about anything mold. There’s no required separation between who diagnoses the problem and who fixes it. And home inspectors, who evaluate your home’s major systems, don’t necessarily know much about mold remediation.When you need professional mold remediation, look for an independent consultant with credentials in mold remediation and investigation. Such professionals should:
Demonstrate completion of industry-approved coursework in mold investigation given by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene or the American Council for Accredited Certification (formerly the American Indoor Air Quality Council).
Provide a written report that includes lab results of air and surface samples.
Work independently from a mold remediation outfit.
Refrain from selling you products.
Investigate the mold
Mold remediation begins with an eyeball investigation that takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours, depending on where the problem is hiding--in plain sight or behind walls.Next, the consultant may suggest taking air and surface samples, necessary only to identify your particular mold for health or legal reasons. Always ask the mold remediation consultant why he wants to take samples: He should be able to articulate whatever hypothesis he is trying to confirm.
Make a mold removal plan
If cleanup is a simple DIY project, the consultant will advise you about procedures, protective equipment, and tools. He should also tell you where/what moisture problem gave birth to the spores. If cleanup is beyond amateur status, the consultant should draw up a mold remediation and removal plan that a professional mold remediation company or trusted demolition and building contractor will follow. Make sure the professionals you hire have a long track record, provide references, and are bonded and insured.Cleanup can be as simple as spraying and disinfecting drywall, or as complex as:
HVAC disinfection
Drywall, stud, and insulation removal
Cleaning personal belongings
HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filtration
How much it costs
Mold consultant: $250-$500 (which might include air and surface samples: always ask).
Air samples: $18-$225 apiece, depending on the laboratory.
Simple mold removal: $500 for surface mold removal.
Extensive mold remediation: $6,000-plus for severe infections that require extensive demolition, disinfection, and restoration.
Check your insurance
Homeowners insurance typically covers mold remediation and removal only if the problem results from a sudden emergency already covered under your policy, such as a burst pipe. Insurance usually doesn’t pay if the mold resulted from chronic moisture, deferred maintenance, or floodwaters (unless you carry flood insurance).As always, consult your insurance agent before contracting for work.Karin Beuerlein has covered home improvement and green living topics for HGTV.com, FineLiving.com, Better Homes & Gardens and the Chicago Tribune.
By: Karin Beuerlein
Published: October 13, 2010
Mold remediation can be a pricey venture. Here’s what to look for and expect when you call in the professionals.
Who you gonna call?
Mold remediation is the Wild West of home improvement. The field largely is unregulated, and anybody can call himself an expert and call just about anything mold. There’s no required separation between who diagnoses the problem and who fixes it. And home inspectors, who evaluate your home’s major systems, don’t necessarily know much about mold remediation.When you need professional mold remediation, look for an independent consultant with credentials in mold remediation and investigation. Such professionals should:
Demonstrate completion of industry-approved coursework in mold investigation given by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene or the American Council for Accredited Certification (formerly the American Indoor Air Quality Council).
Provide a written report that includes lab results of air and surface samples.
Work independently from a mold remediation outfit.
Refrain from selling you products.
Investigate the mold
Mold remediation begins with an eyeball investigation that takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours, depending on where the problem is hiding--in plain sight or behind walls.Next, the consultant may suggest taking air and surface samples, necessary only to identify your particular mold for health or legal reasons. Always ask the mold remediation consultant why he wants to take samples: He should be able to articulate whatever hypothesis he is trying to confirm.
Make a mold removal plan
If cleanup is a simple DIY project, the consultant will advise you about procedures, protective equipment, and tools. He should also tell you where/what moisture problem gave birth to the spores. If cleanup is beyond amateur status, the consultant should draw up a mold remediation and removal plan that a professional mold remediation company or trusted demolition and building contractor will follow. Make sure the professionals you hire have a long track record, provide references, and are bonded and insured.Cleanup can be as simple as spraying and disinfecting drywall, or as complex as:
HVAC disinfection
Drywall, stud, and insulation removal
Cleaning personal belongings
HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filtration
How much it costs
Mold consultant: $250-$500 (which might include air and surface samples: always ask).
Air samples: $18-$225 apiece, depending on the laboratory.
Simple mold removal: $500 for surface mold removal.
Extensive mold remediation: $6,000-plus for severe infections that require extensive demolition, disinfection, and restoration.
Check your insurance
Homeowners insurance typically covers mold remediation and removal only if the problem results from a sudden emergency already covered under your policy, such as a burst pipe. Insurance usually doesn’t pay if the mold resulted from chronic moisture, deferred maintenance, or floodwaters (unless you carry flood insurance).As always, consult your insurance agent before contracting for work.Karin Beuerlein has covered home improvement and green living topics for HGTV.com, FineLiving.com, Better Homes & Gardens and the Chicago Tribune.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Four years into the housing crisis, myths about foreclosure still litter the minds of even the smartest of real estate consumers. When it comes to matters as high stakes as your home, confusion can cost you thousands - or even your home. Whether you’re a buyer looking at foreclosures, a homeowner struggling to keep your home or a seller concerned making sure your home can compete with the foreclosed homes on your block, these foreclosure myths are prime for the busting, with no further ado.
Myth #1: Foreclosure happens fast. With unemployment and underemployment still affecting nearly 1 in every 4 Americans, no one is immune from fears that a pink slip might quickly turn into a foreclosure notice. According to NeighborWorks America, nearly 60 percent of families seeking foreclosure counseling cited a lost job or cut wages as the reason they were facing foreclosure. While the Obama Administration's Home Affordable Programs haven't been nearly as effective as predicted in actually preventing foreclosures, they have had the effect of extending the foreclosure process for many families. Even though the legal process of foreclosure can happen in as few as 6 months in most states, it is currently taking much longer for the average foreclosure to get to completion. Recently, JP Morgan Chase revealed that their average borrower who loses a home to foreclosure has not made any payments in 14 months nationwide; 22 months in FLorida and 26 months in New York.To be sure, some see this as a good, others view it as unnecessarily dragging out the overall market's recovery. Many insiders will point out that these delays in foreclosure may be calculated to save the banks the costs of owning and maintaining foreclosed homes, not to help homeowners. In any event, the fact that foreclosure does not happen nearly as fast, in many cases, as expected does give families who are temporarily down on their luck some extra time to try to get back on their feet and save their homes.
Myth #2: Buyers can’t get clear title or title insurance on foreclosed homes. When the foreclosure robo-signing scandal first hit, there was widespread concern that buyers would not be able to get clear title on foreclosed homes, because the former foreclosed owners might be able to come get their homes back when the improprieties in the bank's foreclosure documentation processes came fully to light. At the same time, several of the country's largest title insurance companies publicly balked at issuing policies on bank-owned homes until the issue was resolved. At this point, the banks claim they have revamped their processes, and all banks have stated that they have found not a single borrower whose home was repossessed without them having missed the requisite number of mortgage payments. Nevertheless, a number of governmental investigations are still in progress.The fact is, buyers of bank-owned properties in nearly every jurisdiction are protected from later title attacks by foreclosed homeowners by the bona fide purchaser rule, under which courts would prefer to simply award cash damages to be paid by the culpable bank to a wrongfully foreclosed-on homeowner, rather than reversing the sale or ownership to the new, innocent buyer. Additionally, the title insurers have now changed their tune and restarted issuing insurance policies on bank-owned homes which protect buyers' interests, after working with the banks for them to take responsibility in the event a former homeowner prevails in a wrongful foreclosure suit. While there are still many intricacies of title to be resolved for foreclosure buyers who purchase homes at trustee sales and auctions, or for cash buyers who often went without title insurance in the past, on the average, Trulia-listed, bank-owned property purchased with an average mortgage and title insurance, the chances a buyer's title will later be successfully challenged by the foreclosed homeowner on the basis of robo-signing? Exceedingly slim.
Myth #3: Buyers should wait for the shadow inventory to be released. Many a buyer, discouraged with the homes they see on the the form in their price range, has decided to sit still and wait for the banks to release for sale what is called their "shadow inventory" - rumored to be anywhere from 4 to nearly 6 million homes that have already been foreclosed, but not listed for sale, or will be foreclosed in the near future. The fact is, to the extent that the banks have acknowledged the existence of a pool of homes they own but are not selling, they have expressed that their reasoning for holding the homes off the market is to avoid flooding the market and driving home values down any further. For that reason, buyers should not expect to see a massive influx of these shadow homes onto the market anytime soon - if ever. The banks' current modus operandi is that as they sell a home, the replace it with another home in that market - if they sell 50 homes in a town that month, they'll put another 50 on the next. So, don't hold your breath waiting for a fabulous new flood of homes. Instead, set up a Trulia alert to notify you when homes that fit your search criteria come on the market, and be ready to call your agent and go visit any and every one that looks like it might be a good fit.
Myth #4: If you’re looking for a deal, you’re looking for a foreclosure. Despite what they may say, no buyer’s heart's fondest desire is to buy a foreclosure. But almost every buyer dreams of buying a great home - and getting a great deal on it. Many people think that to get a great value on their home on today's market, it means they must buy a foreclosure. As a result, the value and other advantages of buying an individually-owned home on today's market are frequently overlooked. Individual sellers with homes on the market right now are generally quite motivated, and understand that their homes are competing with discounted short sales and foreclosed homes. Many of these sellers are slashing prices in an effort to get them sold - the most recent Trulia Price Reduction Report revealed that 27 percent of homes on the market across the country have had at least one price reduction. Now that's what I call a sale!Further, individual owners are often much more negotiable on a wide range of contract terms than a bank which owns a foreclosed home. You can work with non-bank owners on things like repairs, closing dates, choice of escrow provider, closing costs and even included personal property much more flexibly than you can when the bank is on the other side of the bargaining table. On top of that, many individually-owned homes are in pristine, move-in condition; that is much rarer with foreclosures. So, don't underestimate the value of the deal you might be able to get on a non-foreclosed home. Just get clear on what you can afford and look at all the homes that are available in that price range, without discriminating against non-foreclosures.
Myth #5: Having a foreclosure on your credit history means it'll take years and years before you can buy again. One of the most Frequently Asked Questions in the Trulia Voices Community by homeowners who are facing or have just lost a home through foreclosure is how long it will take before they'll be able to buy again. Until recently, the standard wisdom was that 5 years, minimum, would have to have elapsed between the foreclosure and the new home purchase. Now, though, borrowers can obtain an FHA loan with the low, 3.5 minimum down payment requirement as soon as 3 years following a foreclosure. To do so, though, all your other ducks must be in a row. Post-foreclosure buyers need a credit score of 620-640 to qualify for an FHA loan; higher for a non-FHA loan - given that the foreclosure itself usually dings anywhere from 100-150 points off the credit score (not necessarily counting a full year or more of pre-foreclosure missed payments), former homeowners who want to buy again need to ensure they have no other late payments or credit dings after they lose thier home. You must have clean credit with no derogatory marks like late credit card payments following the foreclosure, and you may also be required to document 12 to 24 months straight of on-time rent payments after the foreclosure. Further, the bank may impose a lower debt-to-income ratio on post-foreclosure borrowers than on borrowers who have not had a foreclosure, in an effort to keep your mortgage payments low, keep you from overextending yourself and boost the chances you'll be a successful homeowner over the long-term this time around. The bank will also need to see 2 years of continuous employment history in the same field, and documentation that you meet other loan qualification requirements.
Thanks to Tara-Nicholle Nelson
Myth #1: Foreclosure happens fast. With unemployment and underemployment still affecting nearly 1 in every 4 Americans, no one is immune from fears that a pink slip might quickly turn into a foreclosure notice. According to NeighborWorks America, nearly 60 percent of families seeking foreclosure counseling cited a lost job or cut wages as the reason they were facing foreclosure. While the Obama Administration's Home Affordable Programs haven't been nearly as effective as predicted in actually preventing foreclosures, they have had the effect of extending the foreclosure process for many families. Even though the legal process of foreclosure can happen in as few as 6 months in most states, it is currently taking much longer for the average foreclosure to get to completion. Recently, JP Morgan Chase revealed that their average borrower who loses a home to foreclosure has not made any payments in 14 months nationwide; 22 months in FLorida and 26 months in New York.To be sure, some see this as a good, others view it as unnecessarily dragging out the overall market's recovery. Many insiders will point out that these delays in foreclosure may be calculated to save the banks the costs of owning and maintaining foreclosed homes, not to help homeowners. In any event, the fact that foreclosure does not happen nearly as fast, in many cases, as expected does give families who are temporarily down on their luck some extra time to try to get back on their feet and save their homes.
Myth #2: Buyers can’t get clear title or title insurance on foreclosed homes. When the foreclosure robo-signing scandal first hit, there was widespread concern that buyers would not be able to get clear title on foreclosed homes, because the former foreclosed owners might be able to come get their homes back when the improprieties in the bank's foreclosure documentation processes came fully to light. At the same time, several of the country's largest title insurance companies publicly balked at issuing policies on bank-owned homes until the issue was resolved. At this point, the banks claim they have revamped their processes, and all banks have stated that they have found not a single borrower whose home was repossessed without them having missed the requisite number of mortgage payments. Nevertheless, a number of governmental investigations are still in progress.The fact is, buyers of bank-owned properties in nearly every jurisdiction are protected from later title attacks by foreclosed homeowners by the bona fide purchaser rule, under which courts would prefer to simply award cash damages to be paid by the culpable bank to a wrongfully foreclosed-on homeowner, rather than reversing the sale or ownership to the new, innocent buyer. Additionally, the title insurers have now changed their tune and restarted issuing insurance policies on bank-owned homes which protect buyers' interests, after working with the banks for them to take responsibility in the event a former homeowner prevails in a wrongful foreclosure suit. While there are still many intricacies of title to be resolved for foreclosure buyers who purchase homes at trustee sales and auctions, or for cash buyers who often went without title insurance in the past, on the average, Trulia-listed, bank-owned property purchased with an average mortgage and title insurance, the chances a buyer's title will later be successfully challenged by the foreclosed homeowner on the basis of robo-signing? Exceedingly slim.
Myth #3: Buyers should wait for the shadow inventory to be released. Many a buyer, discouraged with the homes they see on the the form in their price range, has decided to sit still and wait for the banks to release for sale what is called their "shadow inventory" - rumored to be anywhere from 4 to nearly 6 million homes that have already been foreclosed, but not listed for sale, or will be foreclosed in the near future. The fact is, to the extent that the banks have acknowledged the existence of a pool of homes they own but are not selling, they have expressed that their reasoning for holding the homes off the market is to avoid flooding the market and driving home values down any further. For that reason, buyers should not expect to see a massive influx of these shadow homes onto the market anytime soon - if ever. The banks' current modus operandi is that as they sell a home, the replace it with another home in that market - if they sell 50 homes in a town that month, they'll put another 50 on the next. So, don't hold your breath waiting for a fabulous new flood of homes. Instead, set up a Trulia alert to notify you when homes that fit your search criteria come on the market, and be ready to call your agent and go visit any and every one that looks like it might be a good fit.
Myth #4: If you’re looking for a deal, you’re looking for a foreclosure. Despite what they may say, no buyer’s heart's fondest desire is to buy a foreclosure. But almost every buyer dreams of buying a great home - and getting a great deal on it. Many people think that to get a great value on their home on today's market, it means they must buy a foreclosure. As a result, the value and other advantages of buying an individually-owned home on today's market are frequently overlooked. Individual sellers with homes on the market right now are generally quite motivated, and understand that their homes are competing with discounted short sales and foreclosed homes. Many of these sellers are slashing prices in an effort to get them sold - the most recent Trulia Price Reduction Report revealed that 27 percent of homes on the market across the country have had at least one price reduction. Now that's what I call a sale!Further, individual owners are often much more negotiable on a wide range of contract terms than a bank which owns a foreclosed home. You can work with non-bank owners on things like repairs, closing dates, choice of escrow provider, closing costs and even included personal property much more flexibly than you can when the bank is on the other side of the bargaining table. On top of that, many individually-owned homes are in pristine, move-in condition; that is much rarer with foreclosures. So, don't underestimate the value of the deal you might be able to get on a non-foreclosed home. Just get clear on what you can afford and look at all the homes that are available in that price range, without discriminating against non-foreclosures.
Myth #5: Having a foreclosure on your credit history means it'll take years and years before you can buy again. One of the most Frequently Asked Questions in the Trulia Voices Community by homeowners who are facing or have just lost a home through foreclosure is how long it will take before they'll be able to buy again. Until recently, the standard wisdom was that 5 years, minimum, would have to have elapsed between the foreclosure and the new home purchase. Now, though, borrowers can obtain an FHA loan with the low, 3.5 minimum down payment requirement as soon as 3 years following a foreclosure. To do so, though, all your other ducks must be in a row. Post-foreclosure buyers need a credit score of 620-640 to qualify for an FHA loan; higher for a non-FHA loan - given that the foreclosure itself usually dings anywhere from 100-150 points off the credit score (not necessarily counting a full year or more of pre-foreclosure missed payments), former homeowners who want to buy again need to ensure they have no other late payments or credit dings after they lose thier home. You must have clean credit with no derogatory marks like late credit card payments following the foreclosure, and you may also be required to document 12 to 24 months straight of on-time rent payments after the foreclosure. Further, the bank may impose a lower debt-to-income ratio on post-foreclosure borrowers than on borrowers who have not had a foreclosure, in an effort to keep your mortgage payments low, keep you from overextending yourself and boost the chances you'll be a successful homeowner over the long-term this time around. The bank will also need to see 2 years of continuous employment history in the same field, and documentation that you meet other loan qualification requirements.
Thanks to Tara-Nicholle Nelson
Saturday, October 9, 2010
In response to recent queries about banks temporarily halting foreclosures to investigate improper procedures, NAR will be issuing the following item in Monday’s Washington Report.
Please keep in mind that banks are unilaterally doing this nationwide. There is no federal policy involved. Washington Report, Monday, October 11 In September and October 2010, several lenders suspended foreclosures in two dozen states due to questions about whether foreclosures were being processed consistent with applicable state law requirements. Concerns are being raised by state and federal elected officials, as well as consumer and fair housing groups, about the validity of ownership of mortgages that have been securitized and resold.
At the center of the controversy is Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS). This firm is responsible for electronically tracking the transfer of assignment of mortgages. Class-action suits are being brought against MERS alleging that the use of the system circumvents state laws. On October 1, 2010, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released statements regarding servicer compliance with foreclosure processing of Fannie and Freddie loans. In the releases, both organizations reiterated that servicers must comply with applicable state laws governing foreclosures.
Although nearly all of the foreclosures in question are expected to be fixed eventually, the current situation is creating difficulties and a new hurdle to the recovery of the housing and mortgage markets. NAR members are reporting that upcoming sales have been delayed indefinitely or cancelled, to the detriment of all involved. Additionally, homes on the market without clear title will make sales much more difficult. While banking executives focus their attention on this problem, it is possible that servicers may be somewhat more receptive to approving loan modifications and short sales, since they avoid the foreclosure procedural problems altogether. NAR has also developed the following talking points that can be used when responding to queries:
There’s no way of knowing what percentage of foreclosures that were improperly processed were, in fact, inappropriate or wrongly taken. The assumption is that for most of them, this may be only a technicality and that the property ultimately would have been repossessed.
For owners who believe their home was wrongly foreclosed, they may wish to contact a real estate attorney to investigate the possibility of a property claim. However, that could prove costly and time consuming – regulations vary by state.
For banks, it may make sense to modify loans or agree to short sales to expedite disposal of inventory.
For buyers, the assumption is that listed foreclosures come with clear property title but they should discuss any necessary contract contingency with their attorney. Foreclosures in limbo are likely to be withdrawn from the market.
It’s too early to tell if there’s an impact on the market but we will be monitoring the situation.
Please keep in mind that banks are unilaterally doing this nationwide. There is no federal policy involved. Washington Report, Monday, October 11 In September and October 2010, several lenders suspended foreclosures in two dozen states due to questions about whether foreclosures were being processed consistent with applicable state law requirements. Concerns are being raised by state and federal elected officials, as well as consumer and fair housing groups, about the validity of ownership of mortgages that have been securitized and resold.
At the center of the controversy is Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS). This firm is responsible for electronically tracking the transfer of assignment of mortgages. Class-action suits are being brought against MERS alleging that the use of the system circumvents state laws. On October 1, 2010, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released statements regarding servicer compliance with foreclosure processing of Fannie and Freddie loans. In the releases, both organizations reiterated that servicers must comply with applicable state laws governing foreclosures.
Although nearly all of the foreclosures in question are expected to be fixed eventually, the current situation is creating difficulties and a new hurdle to the recovery of the housing and mortgage markets. NAR members are reporting that upcoming sales have been delayed indefinitely or cancelled, to the detriment of all involved. Additionally, homes on the market without clear title will make sales much more difficult. While banking executives focus their attention on this problem, it is possible that servicers may be somewhat more receptive to approving loan modifications and short sales, since they avoid the foreclosure procedural problems altogether. NAR has also developed the following talking points that can be used when responding to queries:
There’s no way of knowing what percentage of foreclosures that were improperly processed were, in fact, inappropriate or wrongly taken. The assumption is that for most of them, this may be only a technicality and that the property ultimately would have been repossessed.
For owners who believe their home was wrongly foreclosed, they may wish to contact a real estate attorney to investigate the possibility of a property claim. However, that could prove costly and time consuming – regulations vary by state.
For banks, it may make sense to modify loans or agree to short sales to expedite disposal of inventory.
For buyers, the assumption is that listed foreclosures come with clear property title but they should discuss any necessary contract contingency with their attorney. Foreclosures in limbo are likely to be withdrawn from the market.
It’s too early to tell if there’s an impact on the market but we will be monitoring the situation.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
10 Reasons to Buy a Home
Time magazine is being overly pessimistic in its recent cover piece that called into question the benefits of homeownership. In fact, now is a great time to buy. And what's more, tomorrow will be a great time to own, because the fundamental strength of homeownership hasn't changed. Why is now a great time to buy? Here are 10 reasons:
1. You can get a good deal. Prices are down 30 percent on average. They're at a level that makes sense for people's income.
2. Mortgages are cheap. At 4.3 percent on average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, your costs to own are down by a fifth from two years ago.
3. You can save on taxes. When you add up the deductions for mortgage interest and others, the cost of owning can drop below renting for a comparable place.
4. It'll be yours. The one benefit to owning that never changes is that you can paint your walls orange if you want (generally speaking; there might be some community restrictions). How many landlords will let you do that?
5. You can get a better home. In some markets, it's simply the case that the nicest places are for-sale homes and condos.
6. It offers some inflation protection. Historically, appreciation over time outpaces inflation.
7. It's risk capital. If the economy picks up, you stand to benefit from that, even if you're goal is just to have a nice place to live.
8. It's forced savings. A part of your payment each month goes to equity.
9. There is a lot to choose from. There are some 4 million homes available today, about a year's supply. Now's the time to find something you like and get it.
10. Sooner or later the market will clear. The U.S. is expected to grow by another 100 million people in 40 years. They have to live somewhere. Demand will eventually outpace supply.
Source: Wall Street Journal, Brett Arends (9/16/10)
Time magazine is being overly pessimistic in its recent cover piece that called into question the benefits of homeownership. In fact, now is a great time to buy. And what's more, tomorrow will be a great time to own, because the fundamental strength of homeownership hasn't changed. Why is now a great time to buy? Here are 10 reasons:
1. You can get a good deal. Prices are down 30 percent on average. They're at a level that makes sense for people's income.
2. Mortgages are cheap. At 4.3 percent on average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, your costs to own are down by a fifth from two years ago.
3. You can save on taxes. When you add up the deductions for mortgage interest and others, the cost of owning can drop below renting for a comparable place.
4. It'll be yours. The one benefit to owning that never changes is that you can paint your walls orange if you want (generally speaking; there might be some community restrictions). How many landlords will let you do that?
5. You can get a better home. In some markets, it's simply the case that the nicest places are for-sale homes and condos.
6. It offers some inflation protection. Historically, appreciation over time outpaces inflation.
7. It's risk capital. If the economy picks up, you stand to benefit from that, even if you're goal is just to have a nice place to live.
8. It's forced savings. A part of your payment each month goes to equity.
9. There is a lot to choose from. There are some 4 million homes available today, about a year's supply. Now's the time to find something you like and get it.
10. Sooner or later the market will clear. The U.S. is expected to grow by another 100 million people in 40 years. They have to live somewhere. Demand will eventually outpace supply.
Source: Wall Street Journal, Brett Arends (9/16/10)
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Aaaaargh! This subject is rearing its ugly head again, the mythical 3.8% sales tax on all real estate sales. I'm re-posting the letter to the Verde Independent regarding this issue and my response to it.
8/7/2010 1:29:00 PMLetter: This bill is set to hurt the retiring generation
Editor:Under the new health care bill - did you know that all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8 percent sales tax? The bulk of these new taxes don’t kick in until 2013 (presumably after Obama’s re-election). You can thank Nancy, Harry and Barack and your local Democrat Congressman for this one. If you sell your $400,000 home, there will be a $15,200 tax. This bill is set to hurt the retiring generation who often downsize their homes. Is this Hope & Change great or what? Does this stuff make your November and 2012 vote more important?Oh, you weren’t aware this was in the Obamacare bill? Guess what, you aren’t alone. There are more than a few members of Congress that aren’t aware of it either (result of Clandestine midnight voting for huge bills they’ve never read). AND, there are a few other surprises lurking.
Lavone Turnipseed, Camp Verde
8/10/2010 10:57:00 AMLetter: This tired old rumor simply is not true.
Editor: I am compelled to respond to Lavone Turnipseed’s letter to the editor of Sunday, Aug. 8, entitled “This bill is set to hurt the retiring generation.”
Lavone repeats the tired old rumor that “under the new health care bill all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8-percent sales tax.” Happily, this is simply not true.
Can I give you some hard facts? The facts are that, yes, certain sales by high-income households will be affected by the new Medicare tax, possibly 1.5 percent of US households. (Not 1.5 percent of the US population - I said households.)
This tax applies only to people with an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $200,000 for a single person or $250,000 for a couple.
The tax only kicks in after you take your capital gains exemption.
How about an example?
A couple with an AGI above the $250,000 limit sells their primary residence for $2 million. They make a $750,000 profit. Capital gains laws protect $500,000 of that $750,000, assuming that they have lived there for two out of the past five years. The 3.8-percent tax applies only to the $250,000 left over. Their tax liability under this new Medicare tax is $9,500. With all of the problems facing America right now, I’m not going to have a lot of heartburn over the fact that somebody in those income brackets profited $750,000 and had to give Medicare $9,500 of it.
Mr. Turnipseed, please don’t be embarrassed that you were fooled. Somebody made this up and then published it, and then somebody else repeated it and it has spread like wildfire throughout certain circles.
To read the Health Care bill, go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/15/house-health-care-bill-fu_n_234372.html
To verify my research, go to http://www.factcheck.org/2010/04/a-38-percent-sales-tax-on-your-home/
Or, http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/realestate.asp
Or, http://www.realtor.org/small_business_health_coverage.nsf/docfiles/government_affairs_myth_busters.pdf/$FILE/government_affairs_myth_busters.pdf
Carol Anne Warren
President, Sedona Verde Valley Association of REALTORS®
8/7/2010 1:29:00 PMLetter: This bill is set to hurt the retiring generation
Editor:Under the new health care bill - did you know that all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8 percent sales tax? The bulk of these new taxes don’t kick in until 2013 (presumably after Obama’s re-election). You can thank Nancy, Harry and Barack and your local Democrat Congressman for this one. If you sell your $400,000 home, there will be a $15,200 tax. This bill is set to hurt the retiring generation who often downsize their homes. Is this Hope & Change great or what? Does this stuff make your November and 2012 vote more important?Oh, you weren’t aware this was in the Obamacare bill? Guess what, you aren’t alone. There are more than a few members of Congress that aren’t aware of it either (result of Clandestine midnight voting for huge bills they’ve never read). AND, there are a few other surprises lurking.
Lavone Turnipseed, Camp Verde
8/10/2010 10:57:00 AMLetter: This tired old rumor simply is not true.
Editor: I am compelled to respond to Lavone Turnipseed’s letter to the editor of Sunday, Aug. 8, entitled “This bill is set to hurt the retiring generation.”
Lavone repeats the tired old rumor that “under the new health care bill all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8-percent sales tax.” Happily, this is simply not true.
Can I give you some hard facts? The facts are that, yes, certain sales by high-income households will be affected by the new Medicare tax, possibly 1.5 percent of US households. (Not 1.5 percent of the US population - I said households.)
This tax applies only to people with an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $200,000 for a single person or $250,000 for a couple.
The tax only kicks in after you take your capital gains exemption.
How about an example?
A couple with an AGI above the $250,000 limit sells their primary residence for $2 million. They make a $750,000 profit. Capital gains laws protect $500,000 of that $750,000, assuming that they have lived there for two out of the past five years. The 3.8-percent tax applies only to the $250,000 left over. Their tax liability under this new Medicare tax is $9,500. With all of the problems facing America right now, I’m not going to have a lot of heartburn over the fact that somebody in those income brackets profited $750,000 and had to give Medicare $9,500 of it.
Mr. Turnipseed, please don’t be embarrassed that you were fooled. Somebody made this up and then published it, and then somebody else repeated it and it has spread like wildfire throughout certain circles.
To read the Health Care bill, go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/15/house-health-care-bill-fu_n_234372.html
To verify my research, go to http://www.factcheck.org/2010/04/a-38-percent-sales-tax-on-your-home/
Or, http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/realestate.asp
Or, http://www.realtor.org/small_business_health_coverage.nsf/docfiles/government_affairs_myth_busters.pdf/$FILE/government_affairs_myth_busters.pdf
Carol Anne Warren
President, Sedona Verde Valley Association of REALTORS®
Thursday, September 2, 2010
real estate scams
Let’s talk about real estate scams. As homeowners get more broke and desperate the shysters get more innovative. Why do we, the REALTORS® need to know about the schemes out there?
· A bad guy’s preferred method of getting at our people is with our introduction. Yikes!
· When one of our clients gets in the middle of a situation that they have questions about we hope that their first move would be to call us for advice. Our first response has to be to advise them to call their lawyer. They’ll ask “Why?” and then we can explain what it was that raised up the hairs on the back of our necks.
Scam #1: This one ran rampant through our area a few years ago, with a particularly offensive twist. (I’ll tell you about the twist in a minute.) A guy combs through the foreclosure notices in the paper and then contacts the homeowners, telling them everything that they want to hear. This “rescuer” promises to save their homes and their credit. All that they have to do is quit-claim the property to him, because that will confuse the lender and delay the foreclosure. Of course, since it’s still really their house they should send him the payments and he will forward them onto the lender. Sometimes the “Rescuer” takes out a second mortgage on the house, sometimes he rents it out and sends the Sheriff to evict the former homeowners, sometimes he flips it if there’s enough equity. No matter what he does he makes out like a bandit and the homeowners end up with tears in their eyes, credit shot, and no home.
What happened here was even worse – the “Rescuer” was a REALTOR®. (He’s a former REALTOR® now.) He didn’t have to comb through foreclosure notices – he just searched MLS. He billed himself The Savior of The Distressed Homeowner and contacted the list agents and persuaded them that he was there to help. (Bring me your tired, your broke, your in foreclosure clients….) This was a while back, so at the time we didn’t have a lot of clues about how to help distressed clients – this “Rescuer” seemed to be Heaven sent since he had a plan and some answers. The list agents introduced him to their clients and gave him a 50% referral on their listing. He took up-front fees for part of his services, and placed liens on the properties for the rest of his fees and then he sat back and did absolutely nothing. He didn’t negotiate with the lenders, he didn’t return the increasingly frantic phone calls from the agents and clients, he just collected his referral fees and his lien payments if the property sold and said “Oh, well!” if the property foreclosed.
Our REALTOR® community talks to each other, so we figured out what was happening PDQ and somebody called their attorney and somebody else called the Attorney General’s Office and the “Rescuer” got stopped, but he did some damage in the meantime.
Scam #2: An unscrupulous lender advertises (usually on the internet in those annoying little pop-up boxes) that distressed homeowners can re-finance out of their money problems. If they still look good on paper he can get them a re-fi with all of the up-front costs rolled into the loan, plus a little cash in their pockets, plus a month or so with no payment. Since drowning people will grasp at any straw these lenders get lots of takers. People in financial trouble ended up with a new mortgage on their house that carried a payment higher than the one they couldn’t make in the first place and they started defaulting left and right. That was OK with these lenders – hey, they got their origination fee, right? This is why we should always recommend that our people use a local lender that we know from experience is honest and reputable.
Scam #3: A person (one of the pieces of this scam is that they have to use an overseas bank) contacts the list agent on a property. He explains that he saw the property on the internet and absolutely loves it and wants to buy it, cash, quick close. He refuses to use a title company – either he had bad luck with them or he pretends not to understand the concept, but he will use whatever attorney the agent recommends. He also doesn’t understand the concept of earnest money – he wants to offer a huge amount of earnest, if not the entire purchase price right now. (Nice hook, huh?) The agent ZipForms him the contract and he mails it back with this huge earnest money check (drawn on a foreign bank) to give to the lawyer to deposit.
Immediately something horrible happens in his life and he regretfully must withdraw from the contract, as is his right since he’s still in his inspection period. The attorney must wire him his earnest money right this minute!
The attorney does wire him the money back. A few days later the attorney finds out that the earnest money check that the buyer sent has bounced higher than a frog on a hot street. He has now wired funds (that are as good as gold) out of the country to cover a check that isn’t worth the paper it was written on. Oops!
A cute variation of this scam is that the deal is all agreed on and the earnest money is sent two or three or four times, separately. Then the buyer calls and says that his company made a mistake – wire the excess back to him immediately, please and thank you.
The secret to this one working is that the funds have to be wired back before we find out that the check(s) is no good, which is why an overseas bank is necessary. They want an attorney because title companies have systems and ways for verifying funds that they hope an attorney doesn’t.
Thanks to Joanne Holiday of Russ Lyon for the “heads up!” on this one.
Scam #4: A buyer looks at a property. He loves it, he wants it, he’s prepared to pay full price in cash. (Starting to sound familiar?) There’s only one tiny glitch: he has to close the escrow on his property in Florida to get the funds for this one. There’s only one tinier glitch: this property in Florida needs one final thing (survey, elevation study, skunk removal…..) that costs $75,000. There’s always a good story as to why he doesn’t have that $75,000. He proposes some creative financing: if the seller will front him the $75,000 he will be able to close the escrow in Florida and buy their property. Of course, when Florida closes they will be paid off, plus interest, plus the sale. They will get a first mortgage against this multi-million dollar property to secure their trust.
You go online to the Ogalalacoochee County records and see that yes, this buyer does own 20 acres there. You go on realtor.com and find a REALTOR® there and call him and find out that that 20 acres is a toxic waste dump that even the gators won’t go near. If you had gone along with this scheme the buyer would have been in the wind with the $75,000 and the seller would have eventually owned that worthless 20 acres.
Scam # 5: A person goes onto the internet and grabs some pictures of an expensive property. Then they go to Craig’s List (or wherever) and post the property for rent. They ask for a ridiculously reasonable monthly rent, plus first and last and cleaning, or whatever is legal in that state. A prospective tenant sends them the money, they execute a lease, and the tenant shows up at the house all ready to move in only to find that the actual owner of the property has never heard of the person that the tenant was dealing with.
This one has also happened with sales, but it’s a little trickier. The trick here is that (again) the seller refuses to use a title company.
Scam #6: Home repair, radon, snakes, mold remediation, ghost removal, siding, methane gas, bugs……..the list goes on and on. A guy knocks on the homeowner’s door, telling them about this great service that he’s offering. Either the price is incredible or he scares them with the horrible things that will happen to them and their family if they continue to live in this contaminated house, or both. This awesome deal is only available this second, and only if they pay at least half up front. The homeowner writes a check and the guy takes it straight to the bank and then leaves town, never to be seen again.
It seems obvious how to protect yourself from this one, doesn’t it? But, even if the homeowner insisted on the time that it takes to check out the guy with the Registrar of Contractors, often the real contractor whose name has been used has never heard of the guy. Same with the Better Business Bureau – it’s easy to get cards and invoices and truck magtnetics printed up with a contractor’s name on them.
Very simply, a good contractor will give them a bid that’s good for at least 30 days, and reputable contractors don’t tend to go knocking door-to-door trying to scare people.
Scam # 7: The buyer sees the property and loves it and wants it and is prepared to pay full price, cash. (Here we go again!) He goes to the seller and explains that he has a certain amount of cash, but the rest of the purchase price is in Euros or yen or peanut butter or gold and the exchange rate is killing him. He proposes to the seller that they make a deal at the amount of cash that he has in pocket and then he’ll give the seller the Euros or whatever under the table.
The seller likes this plan because he only has to pay commission and title fees and maybe taxes on the disclosed amount. Escrow closes, the seller signs the docs and the buyer hands over the goods. The seller goes to the bank or the money exchange or the gold merchant only to find that his goods are counterfeit and the buyer now owns the house for the disclosed amount.
Scam # 8: A former client informs their REALTOR® that they’ve discovered a disclosure issue with the property that they bought through that agent. If the REALTOR® will write a check to “make it good” then the former client won’t file a complaint with ADRE or AAR and won’t file a lawsuit. Give me a break!
As professionals, we can see the red flags in each of these scams. The scary thing is that my Mother-in-law might fall for any one of them. She lives in a kind and gentle world where people don’t do things like this to each other. Her world view is the reason that the elderly are these bastards’ favorite prey.
What are the red flags? The insistence on money up front, on nothing but pretty assurances. Urgency - action must be taken NOW. A deal that’s too good to be true. The feeling that maybe the good guys are finally going to get a break. A proposition that even in a perfect world would be too perfect. Unverifiable funds. The promise that everything will be OK – all they have to do is write one little check.
As a final chuckle, this came at the bottom of a scam email. This sort of tag line would also be a red flag.
PRIVATE: This is Not A Public Communication!This private email message, and any attachment(s) is covered by theElectronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2521, and is forthe sole use of the intended recipient and contains privileged and/orconfidential information! To all public servants, including but not limitedto Federal, State, or Local corporate government(s): I accept your oath ofoffice as your firm and binding contract between you and me, one of thePeople, whereby you have promised to serve, protect, and defend me,guarantee all of my unalienable rights, and defend the Constitution for theunited States of America! Any/all political, private, or public entities,International, Federal, State, or Local corporate government(s), privateInternational Organization(s), Municipality(ies), Corporate agent(s),informant(s), investigator(s) et. al., and/or third party(ies) working incollusion by monitoring My (this email) email(s), and any other means ofcommunication without My express written permission are barred from anyreview, use, disclosure, or distribution! With explicit reservation of allMy rights, without prejudice and without recourse to any of My rights! Anyomission does not constitute a waiver of any and/or all intellectualproperty rights or reserved rights! Notice to Principal is Notice to Agent! Notice to Agent is Notice to Principal!
Yep – that sure stopped me from forwarding it to the Attorney General’s Office.
· A bad guy’s preferred method of getting at our people is with our introduction. Yikes!
· When one of our clients gets in the middle of a situation that they have questions about we hope that their first move would be to call us for advice. Our first response has to be to advise them to call their lawyer. They’ll ask “Why?” and then we can explain what it was that raised up the hairs on the back of our necks.
Scam #1: This one ran rampant through our area a few years ago, with a particularly offensive twist. (I’ll tell you about the twist in a minute.) A guy combs through the foreclosure notices in the paper and then contacts the homeowners, telling them everything that they want to hear. This “rescuer” promises to save their homes and their credit. All that they have to do is quit-claim the property to him, because that will confuse the lender and delay the foreclosure. Of course, since it’s still really their house they should send him the payments and he will forward them onto the lender. Sometimes the “Rescuer” takes out a second mortgage on the house, sometimes he rents it out and sends the Sheriff to evict the former homeowners, sometimes he flips it if there’s enough equity. No matter what he does he makes out like a bandit and the homeowners end up with tears in their eyes, credit shot, and no home.
What happened here was even worse – the “Rescuer” was a REALTOR®. (He’s a former REALTOR® now.) He didn’t have to comb through foreclosure notices – he just searched MLS. He billed himself The Savior of The Distressed Homeowner and contacted the list agents and persuaded them that he was there to help. (Bring me your tired, your broke, your in foreclosure clients….) This was a while back, so at the time we didn’t have a lot of clues about how to help distressed clients – this “Rescuer” seemed to be Heaven sent since he had a plan and some answers. The list agents introduced him to their clients and gave him a 50% referral on their listing. He took up-front fees for part of his services, and placed liens on the properties for the rest of his fees and then he sat back and did absolutely nothing. He didn’t negotiate with the lenders, he didn’t return the increasingly frantic phone calls from the agents and clients, he just collected his referral fees and his lien payments if the property sold and said “Oh, well!” if the property foreclosed.
Our REALTOR® community talks to each other, so we figured out what was happening PDQ and somebody called their attorney and somebody else called the Attorney General’s Office and the “Rescuer” got stopped, but he did some damage in the meantime.
Scam #2: An unscrupulous lender advertises (usually on the internet in those annoying little pop-up boxes) that distressed homeowners can re-finance out of their money problems. If they still look good on paper he can get them a re-fi with all of the up-front costs rolled into the loan, plus a little cash in their pockets, plus a month or so with no payment. Since drowning people will grasp at any straw these lenders get lots of takers. People in financial trouble ended up with a new mortgage on their house that carried a payment higher than the one they couldn’t make in the first place and they started defaulting left and right. That was OK with these lenders – hey, they got their origination fee, right? This is why we should always recommend that our people use a local lender that we know from experience is honest and reputable.
Scam #3: A person (one of the pieces of this scam is that they have to use an overseas bank) contacts the list agent on a property. He explains that he saw the property on the internet and absolutely loves it and wants to buy it, cash, quick close. He refuses to use a title company – either he had bad luck with them or he pretends not to understand the concept, but he will use whatever attorney the agent recommends. He also doesn’t understand the concept of earnest money – he wants to offer a huge amount of earnest, if not the entire purchase price right now. (Nice hook, huh?) The agent ZipForms him the contract and he mails it back with this huge earnest money check (drawn on a foreign bank) to give to the lawyer to deposit.
Immediately something horrible happens in his life and he regretfully must withdraw from the contract, as is his right since he’s still in his inspection period. The attorney must wire him his earnest money right this minute!
The attorney does wire him the money back. A few days later the attorney finds out that the earnest money check that the buyer sent has bounced higher than a frog on a hot street. He has now wired funds (that are as good as gold) out of the country to cover a check that isn’t worth the paper it was written on. Oops!
A cute variation of this scam is that the deal is all agreed on and the earnest money is sent two or three or four times, separately. Then the buyer calls and says that his company made a mistake – wire the excess back to him immediately, please and thank you.
The secret to this one working is that the funds have to be wired back before we find out that the check(s) is no good, which is why an overseas bank is necessary. They want an attorney because title companies have systems and ways for verifying funds that they hope an attorney doesn’t.
Thanks to Joanne Holiday of Russ Lyon for the “heads up!” on this one.
Scam #4: A buyer looks at a property. He loves it, he wants it, he’s prepared to pay full price in cash. (Starting to sound familiar?) There’s only one tiny glitch: he has to close the escrow on his property in Florida to get the funds for this one. There’s only one tinier glitch: this property in Florida needs one final thing (survey, elevation study, skunk removal…..) that costs $75,000. There’s always a good story as to why he doesn’t have that $75,000. He proposes some creative financing: if the seller will front him the $75,000 he will be able to close the escrow in Florida and buy their property. Of course, when Florida closes they will be paid off, plus interest, plus the sale. They will get a first mortgage against this multi-million dollar property to secure their trust.
You go online to the Ogalalacoochee County records and see that yes, this buyer does own 20 acres there. You go on realtor.com and find a REALTOR® there and call him and find out that that 20 acres is a toxic waste dump that even the gators won’t go near. If you had gone along with this scheme the buyer would have been in the wind with the $75,000 and the seller would have eventually owned that worthless 20 acres.
Scam # 5: A person goes onto the internet and grabs some pictures of an expensive property. Then they go to Craig’s List (or wherever) and post the property for rent. They ask for a ridiculously reasonable monthly rent, plus first and last and cleaning, or whatever is legal in that state. A prospective tenant sends them the money, they execute a lease, and the tenant shows up at the house all ready to move in only to find that the actual owner of the property has never heard of the person that the tenant was dealing with.
This one has also happened with sales, but it’s a little trickier. The trick here is that (again) the seller refuses to use a title company.
Scam #6: Home repair, radon, snakes, mold remediation, ghost removal, siding, methane gas, bugs……..the list goes on and on. A guy knocks on the homeowner’s door, telling them about this great service that he’s offering. Either the price is incredible or he scares them with the horrible things that will happen to them and their family if they continue to live in this contaminated house, or both. This awesome deal is only available this second, and only if they pay at least half up front. The homeowner writes a check and the guy takes it straight to the bank and then leaves town, never to be seen again.
It seems obvious how to protect yourself from this one, doesn’t it? But, even if the homeowner insisted on the time that it takes to check out the guy with the Registrar of Contractors, often the real contractor whose name has been used has never heard of the guy. Same with the Better Business Bureau – it’s easy to get cards and invoices and truck magtnetics printed up with a contractor’s name on them.
Very simply, a good contractor will give them a bid that’s good for at least 30 days, and reputable contractors don’t tend to go knocking door-to-door trying to scare people.
Scam # 7: The buyer sees the property and loves it and wants it and is prepared to pay full price, cash. (Here we go again!) He goes to the seller and explains that he has a certain amount of cash, but the rest of the purchase price is in Euros or yen or peanut butter or gold and the exchange rate is killing him. He proposes to the seller that they make a deal at the amount of cash that he has in pocket and then he’ll give the seller the Euros or whatever under the table.
The seller likes this plan because he only has to pay commission and title fees and maybe taxes on the disclosed amount. Escrow closes, the seller signs the docs and the buyer hands over the goods. The seller goes to the bank or the money exchange or the gold merchant only to find that his goods are counterfeit and the buyer now owns the house for the disclosed amount.
Scam # 8: A former client informs their REALTOR® that they’ve discovered a disclosure issue with the property that they bought through that agent. If the REALTOR® will write a check to “make it good” then the former client won’t file a complaint with ADRE or AAR and won’t file a lawsuit. Give me a break!
As professionals, we can see the red flags in each of these scams. The scary thing is that my Mother-in-law might fall for any one of them. She lives in a kind and gentle world where people don’t do things like this to each other. Her world view is the reason that the elderly are these bastards’ favorite prey.
What are the red flags? The insistence on money up front, on nothing but pretty assurances. Urgency - action must be taken NOW. A deal that’s too good to be true. The feeling that maybe the good guys are finally going to get a break. A proposition that even in a perfect world would be too perfect. Unverifiable funds. The promise that everything will be OK – all they have to do is write one little check.
As a final chuckle, this came at the bottom of a scam email. This sort of tag line would also be a red flag.
PRIVATE: This is Not A Public Communication!This private email message, and any attachment(s) is covered by theElectronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2521, and is forthe sole use of the intended recipient and contains privileged and/orconfidential information! To all public servants, including but not limitedto Federal, State, or Local corporate government(s): I accept your oath ofoffice as your firm and binding contract between you and me, one of thePeople, whereby you have promised to serve, protect, and defend me,guarantee all of my unalienable rights, and defend the Constitution for theunited States of America! Any/all political, private, or public entities,International, Federal, State, or Local corporate government(s), privateInternational Organization(s), Municipality(ies), Corporate agent(s),informant(s), investigator(s) et. al., and/or third party(ies) working incollusion by monitoring My (this email) email(s), and any other means ofcommunication without My express written permission are barred from anyreview, use, disclosure, or distribution! With explicit reservation of allMy rights, without prejudice and without recourse to any of My rights! Anyomission does not constitute a waiver of any and/or all intellectualproperty rights or reserved rights! Notice to Principal is Notice to Agent! Notice to Agent is Notice to Principal!
Yep – that sure stopped me from forwarding it to the Attorney General’s Office.
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