RP "Share This Consumer Alert: Beware of Wire Fraud Schemes When Buying a Home"

June 22, 2017

Buying a home is an exciting time. You’ve saved, found the perfect home and planned the move. Now, the closing day for your home is just around the corner.

The American Land Title Association wants to make sure your home purchase doesn’t get derailed by a dangerous threat that could keep you from getting the keys, painting walls and decorating. Criminals have stolen money meant for the purchase of homes through malicious wire fraud schemes targeting consumers across the country.

Criminals begin the wire fraud process way before the attempted theft occurs. Most often, they begin with a common social engineering technique called phishing. This can take the form of email messages, website forms or phone calls to fraudulently obtain private information. Through seemingly harmless communication, criminals trick users into inputting their information or clicking a link that allows hackers to steal login and password information.

Once hackers gain access to an email account, they will monitor messages to find someone in the process of buying a home. Hacks can come from various parties involved in a transaction, including real estate agents, title companies, attorneys or consumers. Criminals then use the stolen information to email fraudulent wire transfer instructions disguised to appear as if they came from a professional you’re working with to purchase a home. If you receive an email with wiring instructions, don’t respond. Email is not a secure way to send financial information. If you take the bait, your money could be gone in minutes.

“Attorneys and title companies have taken many steps to combat this problem, such as putting consumer warnings on websites and communications, securing email communications and sending notices to consumers and real estate agents informing them of the scams,” said Michelle Korsmo, chief executive officer of the American Land Title Association. “But the criminals are smart and constantly alter their tactics to steal information and money.

“Everyone involved in real estate transactions must also be aware of the potential losses as criminals phish for information and stalk home closings, hoping someone makes a mistake. If someone does mess up, it could cost your savings or retirement.”

Here are five tips to protect against wire fraud:

1. Call, don’t email: Confirm all wiring instructions by phone before transferring funds. Use the phone number from the title company’s website or a business card.
2. Be suspicious: It’s not common for title companies to change wiring instructions and payment info
3. Confirm it all: Ask your bank to confirm not just the account number but also the name on the account before sending a wire.
4. Verify immediately: You should call the title company or real estate agent to validate that the funds were received. Detecting that you sent the money to the wrong account within 24 hours gives you the best chance of recovering your money.
5. Forward, don’t reply: When responding to an email, hit forward instead of reply and then start typing in the person’s email address. Criminals use email address that are very similar to the real one for a company. By typing in email addresses you will make it easier to discover if a fraudster is after you.  

More Homebuyer Tips & Information

The American Land Title Association helps educate homebuyers about title insurance so they can protect your property rights. Check out www.homeclosing101.org to learn more about title insurance and the home closing process.

Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alta.org.

Hard Hat Happy Hour: Bus Barn Takeover

Richmond is continuously growing in unexpected ways. This was further proven to us when we attended the latest Hard Hat Happy with Richmond Biz Sense.

About the event and purpose,

"Now dubbed Cary Street Station, the 7-acre site at 101 S. Davis Ave. is being transformed by developers Tom Dickey and Chris Johnson of the Monument Cos., and Howard Kellman of the Edison Co., into 285 apartments and commercial space, for a combined 280,000 square feet. (...)

Upon completion, Cary Street Station will have nine buildings, including seven rehabbed structures and two built from scratch.

Johnson said last week 47 of the 160 apartments in the existing historic buildings are ready, and 30 already are leased. Another 64 apartments will be completed March 1, an additional 49 will follow later that month, and the new buildings are set to be ready by summer. Leases are in the works for restaurant and office tenants in the Cary Street-fronted commercial space." - via RichmondBizSense

What's so impressive about this particular development, is that it was an area that could have been potentially been left untouched. The recent sprawl of restaurants and with Carytown being just a few steps away it made this project a no brainer for this space to be repurposed into a residential area. It's good to see that there is plenty of people with vision in Richmond who have a commitment to making our city even better than what it is now.

We love being involved in these types of events because it allows us to learn where new projects are being developed in the city, giving us insight into what commercial and residential Real Estate will be like in the future.

HHHunt closes on land for Henrico townhomes

Safe Harbor Title worked closely with the Seller, Purchaser and the Purchaser's legal team to see this transaction through from start to finish.  We look forward to watching this new Henrico County community develop!

Read the full article below, click here to view original source

A rendering of HHHunt's planned three-story townhomes 10700 Ridgefield Parkway. (Courtesy HHHunt)

A site in western Henrico previously eyed for a senior living facility will instead be filled with more than five dozen townhomes by HHHunt.

The developer closed Friday on a 7.5-acre property at 10700 Ridgefield Parkway, where it plans to build 66 three-story townhomes. The site is along Ridgefield Green Drive between Ridgefield and John Rolfe parkways, behind a Walgreens pharmacy east of the intersection.

The purchase price was not disclosed nor listed on online property records Friday afternoon.

Jonathan Ridout, development director for HHHunt Communities, said the purchase price is included in its overall cost estimate for the project, $5.2 million. HHHunt Homes, another division of the company, will construct the project, called Ridgefield Green.

HHHunt Communities purchased the land from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, which bought it in 2004 for $1.6 million. A county assessment most recently valued the property at $1.13 million.

Ridout said the company picked up the project from another developer that secured zoning approval last year. County records list that developer as Wilkins-Bradley Partners LLC.

The property previously was eyed by Bickford Senior Living for a facility it has since constructed at 11200 W. Huguenot Road in Chesterfield County. The Kansas-based company had proposed a project comparable to the 37,000-square-foot, 60-bed facility in 2015, but withdrew its rezoning request after several deferrals by Henrico’s review boards.

Ridout said the project was appealing to HHHunt as an infill opportunity.

“We traditionally do larger, master-planned communities, but we also have been looking for some of these smaller infill projects. This is just in a great location,” he said.

“You’ve got the John Rolfe YMCA that’s right across the street from it; it’s so close to the other parks, little league fields; it’s got great schools.”

Each unit at Ridgefield Green will be at least 1,540 square feet and include a front-entry one-car garage and customizable interiors. Prices for the units, ranging from two to three bedrooms and 1½ to two bathrooms, will start in the low $300,000s.

The property will include a small park area with tables and open space in the center of the community. A development plan was approved by the county in January, and Ridout said the company is securing construction approvals.

Construction is scheduled to begin this month, with the first units opening by late August or early September.

Known for larger communities such as Wyndham, Wellesley and Twin Hickory in Henrico and Charter Colony in Chesterfield, HHHunt has added several projects to its plate in recent months. On the multifamily side, it’s planning its next wave of townhomes at Rocketts Landing, where construction on an apartment building recently began.

Last month, the company announced plans for a 520-home age-restricted community on 200 acres next to Capital One’s Goochland County campus. It also is planning more than 1,000 homes on 250 acres near Virginia Center Commons, recently selling a portion of that project slated for apartments to Virginia Beach-based Kotarides Builders.

Jonathan Spiers is a senior reporter and assistant editor at BizSense. He covers residential real estate, public companies, and advertising/marketing. He's a graduate of Virginia Tech. He can be reached at Jonathan@richmondbizsense.com and (804) 308-2447.

2017 Market Review with GRACRE

Why do so many agents and customers choose Safe Harbor Title to handle their Commercial and Residential Real Estate Transactions? Yes, a lot of you may know that customer service is a top priority for us however, our knowledge of the local market is what really keeps us on top. 

We had the opportunity to attend a fantastic presentation put together by GRACRE at the Westin in Richmond. What was so interesting about this specific presentation is that it didn't just focus on Commercial or Residential but instead how these two Markets affect each other and the overall impact for potential investors and buyers. For example, we're seeing a growing trend in Richmond of a mixture of both - we see shopping centers that have residential housing built into them. One of the first mixed used spaces is West Broad Village in Short Pump. You can find grocery stores, restaurants, a hotel, apartments and townhouses all in the same complex. That same concept is starting to expand to other areas of Richmond and is very much a trend. 

Another interesting point of the presentation is the number of food chains that have started to appear in Richmond, we are seeing more and more national grocery stores opening their doors in our market, this points to a healthy growth in Residential Real Estate. This growth is not reflected with national retail stores but they hope for this to change soon. 

The overall take is that a growing number of people are interested in buying in areas that have accessible amenities and commodities without the need of driving. Instead, people are yearning to have more of a "city living". 

We like to know what is happening in city because it allows us to provide insight to the trends and smart investment choices with the agents and customers that we work with. If you ever have any questions about the area that you're looking to buy or whether or not you think your investment will hold up, don't hesitate to give us a call!