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.

Misconceptions about purchasing a home that is over $1 million

In addition to residential real estate, Safe Harbor Title Company manages multimillion dollar commercial real estate transactions on a daily basis.  Our expertise handling these transactions combined with our regulatory knowledge, makes Safe Harbor Title uniquely qualified to provide settlement and title services for luxury home buyers.

There is a misconception that if you are purchasing a home that is over $1 million you need a lawyer.  There are two reasons why that is not necessarily true: 1. Residential mortgage lending, even jumbo loans, is highly regulated by the federal government.  The loan documents “are what they are,” and cannot be negotiated.  Additionally, the terms of the contract are typically worked out among the Realtors and it is rare for contractual issues to arise.  2. As mentioned, we handled transactions with lots of zero’s on the end every day.  We understand that in these situations we may be receiving money from investment accounts (sometimes multiple), as well as from Seller’s and loan proceeds.

Recently we provided settlement and title services for a home in the West End that sold on May 1st for $1.9 million, one of the highest transactions for Residential Real Estate in the month of May. We suggest that you take a moment to read this article from Richmond Biz Sense about that property, it's a pretty great read!

June 2017 Hard Hat Happy Hour - Richmond Biz Sense

We love compliments!

We got an awesome letter from a client who was very pleased with Candace's work. She's an awesome worker and an integral part of our team. These folks are out of Seattle, WA so you can imagine how thrilled we were when we got this in the mail. 

Looking forward to doing more businesses with Marcus & Millichap in the future! 

Double vision: Chesterfield craft brewery to open second spot in city

Original article appears in WVTR

Posted 6:32 pm, May 4, 2017, by Alix Bryan, Updated at 06:46PM, May 4, 2017

Siblings Brittany and Brad Cooper, co-owners of Steam Bell and Canon & Draw. (Mike Platania of Richmond Biz Sense)

RICHMOND, Va. – The Cooper family has double vision; they founded Steam Bell Beer Works in Chesterfield in 2016 and just announced plans to open craft brewery Canon & Draw later this year in the Fan District.

Brad Cooper, who opened Steam Bell after losing his mining job, said they happened along the location at 1529 Main Street, near the Virginia Commonwealth University Monroe Park Campus, during a search around the area which also included Brookland Park and South Richmond neighborhoods.

“We fell in love with it,” he said of the 5,000-square-feet building that has sat empty for years – downstairs, at least.

Blackwood Development has been slowly using historic tax credits to renovate the former Eclipse Linen Service and Laundromat. There are 16 apartments upstairs, above the commercial space.  Canon & Draw will occupy two retail spaces in the recently renovated building.  Nolen Blackwood said the renovation of the building cost around $3 million, reported RichmondBizSense. There are 16 apartments above the commercial space, ranging from 550 to 950 square feet, according to the BizSense report. 

Canon & Draw will have a partition dividing the tasting room area for private events. (Mike Platania of RichmondBizSense)

Things continue to take shape for a family who name is rooted in the craft itself. Traditionally, a cooper’s work included assembly of casks and barrels. A steam bell is used to cover a barrel and helps ply the wood into shape.

Building upon that branding, canon is French for barrel (though related more to artillery), and a drawknife is used to shape hoops for barrels. And when the soon to be released craft soda line is released, it will be called Trussing Craft Fizz, as a nod to the initiation ceremony that all cooper apprentices go through to become a journeyman.

The sodas will be the only product sold at both places; otherwise, they will be completely separate entities. The farmhouse ale focus of Steam Bell will “hop forward” on this side of the river.

“I’m looking at doing some lagers as well,” Brad said.

“Canon & Draw is an opportunity for us to create a brand that is a perfect fit for the area,” said Brittany Cooper, who moved back to Richmond to help her brother with the marketing side of Steam Bell, and who stayed on as a partner while continuing to work remotely at her IBM gig in New York.

“It’s really a completely a different concept,” she added. “It will be higher end, with leather couches and darker wood – cool, eclectic, old Southern atmosphere.”

Canon & Draw or C/D will be open six days a week and have over 10 taps for smaller batch, experimental varieties. Cooper will use a seven-barrel brewing system, and seven-barrel fermenters.

“We are really excited and already working on pilot batches,” he said.

The opening is set for late summer or fall of this year, though the lease details are still being finalized.

The specific area is surprisingly void of any craft breweries, though plenty of bars and restaurants are nearby. Garden Grove in Carytown is over 1.5 miles away, and in the other direction, Triple Crossing is over a mile away on Foushee.

Steam Bell crew. Left to Right.
Bryan Hicks, Maggie Pearson, Jacob Morgan, Connie Cooper, Brittany Cooper, Jody Brunner, Brad Cooper, Joey Johnson, Jeff Stoker and Tom Cooper

There are close to 30 breweries in the Richmond-metro, with more opening this year, but the Coopers see room for more, and aren’t worried about the brewery boom going flat.

“I believe there is, especially with the rise of the tasting room,” Brittany said. “But with distribution, there is only so much shelf space.”

The local bottles and cans still duke it out for space against the regional and national beers in a distribution scenario, Brad pointed out.

“The distribution market is really competitive,” he said.

Brittany added that the business is “market driven” and that you’ve “got to win a customer.”

Something the Coopers seem to have accomplished in Chesterfield. Right out of the gate, Brad said he hit the goal he had proposed in his original business plan.

“I had this dream of what we would start with and then scale it up over years,” he said.

Canon & Draw is near VCU, in the 1500 block of W. Main Street.

“It’s very humbling to get that level of support from people,” his sister added.

“We were getting a lot of support, so we put our heads down — we knew what we wanted to do the next few years — and went aggressively for it,” Brittany said. “In the first six months we released 40 different beers — we never dreamed we would do that.”

In late January 2018, the Coopers will take over space next door and use the extra 3,000-square-feet as a bottling line for beer and Trussing Craft Fizz. Look for flagship flavors like mint/tea and ginger/lime, along with seasonal varieties like apple/sage and blueberry/basil.

Meanwhile, the one-year party to celebrate the success found on Oak Lake Boulevard is June 3. The anniversary beer, a Brett Rye Saison, is currently fermenting in white wine barrels and awaiting it commemorative 500ML bottles – their first bottle release.

“I still have to order the bottles,” Brad said, as he laughed.

_________________________________________________________________

Canon and Draw
1529 W. Main Street, Richmond
Facebook

Steam Bell Beer Works
1717 Oak Lake Blvd, Midlothian
Facebook

Map of Richmond-metro breweries

SCAM ALERT!

If you've been following our blog recently, you've probably noticed that we've talked a little bit about security and privacy. We'd like to share a very real story that happens more often than you'd expect and explains why we're in business.

A buyer finds a property, they fall in love with it and they put in an offer. Simple right? Before the transaction can be completed, usually a title company like ours, comes in and verifies that everything is in order. We make sure that the title is clean and that there aren't any pending liens on the property, but what you wouldn't think to expect is that the seller isn't even the real owner! 

Yes, this happens occasionally and it is truly scary. Maybe a distant family member or even a complete stranger discovers a property that has been unnattended for many years and decides to put it on the market and tries to sell it. Something that is not theirs to begin with! What is somewhat amazing about this is how far some buyers get into the transaction with someone who is not authorized to sell the property. How can you verify who the owner is unless you hire a Title Company? A Real Estate Agent can lookout for signs of fraud but for most properties, there is a public record of it that anyone could easily lookup and learn everything there is to know about it, and therefore appearing to be the owner. 

Having the right title company is important too because you just don't really know what to expect. We've dealt with so many deals across the board both commercial and residential, that at this point, we've seen it all! If something seems amiss with your 

What do we do? (According to Zillow)

What Does a Title Company Do?

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A title company makes sure that the title to a piece of real estate is legitimate and then issues title insurance for that property. Title insurance protects the lender and/or owner against lawsuits or claims against the property that result from disputes over the title.

Title companies also often maintain escrow accounts — these contain the funds needed to close on the home — to ensure that this money is used only for settlement and closing costs, and may conduct the formal closing on the home. At the closing, a settlement agent from the title company will bring all the necessary documentation, explain it to the parties, collect closing costs and distribute monies. Finally, the title company will ensure that the new titles, deeds and other documents are filed with the appropriate entities.

Here’s what potential home buyers need to know about title insurance.

How Does a Title Company Determine That a Title is Valid?

The title company makes sure a property title is legitimate, so that the buyer may be confident that once he buys a property, he is the rightful owner of the property. To ensure that the title is valid, the title company will do a title search, which is a thorough examination of property records to make sure that the person or company claiming to own the property does, in fact, legally own the property and that no one else could claim full or partial ownership of the property.

During the title search, the title company also looks for any outstanding mortgages, liens, judgments or unpaid taxes associated with the property, as well as any restrictions, easements, leases or other issues that might impact ownership. The title company may also require a property survey, which determines the boundaries of the plot of land that a home sits on, whether the home sits within those boundaries, whether there are any encroachments on the property by neighbors and any easements that may impact an ownership claim.

Before a title company issues title insurance, it will prepare an abstract of title, which is a short summary of what it found during the title search (basically, this is the history of the ownership of the property). Then, it will issue a title opinion letter, which is a legal document that speaks to the validity of the title.

What is Title Insurance?

Once the title is found to be valid, the title company will likely issue a title insurance policy, which protects lenders or owners against claims or legal fees that may arise from disputes over the ownership of the property.

There are two main types of title insurance: owner’s title insurance, which protects the property owner from title issues, and lender’s title insurance, which protects the mortgage company. You, the home buyer, will pay for the lender’s title insurance when you close on the house, but it’s also a good idea to make sure you have an owner’s title insurance policy as well (in some areas of the country, sellers pay for these policies; in others, the buyer must purchase it).

For example: You buy a home and get both lender’s and buyer’s title insurance, but then someone comes forward claiming they are the rightful owner of the home. If, in fact, the title was wrong and they are the rightful owner of the home, your title insurance policy will likely pay you the value of the home and the lender the amount they lent you to buy the home.

How Do You Pick a Title Company?

Ask your real estate agent, peers who have recently bought a home or your lender for recommendations for a title company. Then, do your homework on the title companies recommended.

Look for a title company that has years of experience doing this (have they done hundreds or even thousands of these kinds of transactions?). Contact the Better Business Bureau to determine whether the company has any complaints against it.

You should also shop around for the best premium rates in your area; if you buy an owner’s title insurance policy, make sure you get one with as few exclusions as possible and that it covers the full purchase price of the home.

What Does a Title Company Charge?

The cost of title insurance depends on the size of the loan and varies greatly depending on the state. The good news is that the premium is a one-time fee you pay at closing, not an ongoing expense.

According to the Federal Reserve, “a lender’s policy on a $100,000 loan can range from $175 in one state to $900 in another.” You’ll typically pay an additional amount — usually a few hundred dollars or more, depending on the size of the loan and your state of residence — for a buyer’s policy.

Note that you may be able to get a discounted rate on your title insurance if the property was sold within the previous five years; just call and ask.

When Do You Meet With the Title Company and How Often?

You may meet with or talk to an agent from the title company on multiple occasions. First, you may decide to meet with a few agents from title companies before you buy your home to help you decide which company to go with.

If the title company maintains an escrow account for you, the agent may reach out to you to provide details on that account or you may contact him with questions.

If your title company handles your closing, you will meet with a settlement agent in person then. At this time, the settlement agent will explain all the documents related to the settlement before you sign anything. And, of course, if something goes wrong with regards to the title, you will likely meet with one of their agents then.

Consumers should feel free to contact their title company at any time to get answers to their questions on title searches, title abstracts, title insurance, escrow accounts or closings.

View the original article on Zillow by clicking here!

R*Home - Finders Keepers

Original article appears in R*Home - Richmond Magazine

Jodie Strum collects Midcentury treasures to fill her Roslyn Hills home | Photos by Ansel Olson

When Strum moved in, the home was almost entirely brown. She transformed it by painting the walls white with contrasting black beams and installing statement wallpaper. Strum has furnished the home with a mix of Midcentury and contemporary furniture.


When Jodie Strum bought a Midcentury home in Henrico’s Roslyn Hills neighborhood, she scoured the Internet — and area antique stores — for hard-to-find furnishings and home décor items that would help transform the space.

The only thing Strum had no problem finding was the house itself. Her brother was the listing agent, and when he showed her the 2,300-square foot California ranch, built in 1959, she thought she’d walked onto the set of “The Brady Bunch.” Everything — from the walls to the radiators to the living room fireplace — was painted one of three shades of brown. “I didn’t know what I’d do with [the house],” says Strum, a commercial real estate broker, “but I did know I liked the flow.” She purchased it in May 2015.

Strum, who grew up as a member of a large Italian family in Bon Air, had good reason to be impressed by the open floor plan. “When I was young, we ate at my grandmother’s house every Sunday night, all of us wedged in the tiniest kitchen you ever saw,” she recalls. Strum and her siblings have continued the tradition. “We’re big eaters and big entertainers,” she says.

“I wanted to stay true to the Midcentury feel without getting kitschy.” —Jodie Strum

Strum hired Kauffman Construction to bring the house into the 21st century and took to the Internet to learn everything she could about Midcentury home design. Her plan was to keep the best parts of the house intact, while also making the home extremely livable. “I wanted to stay true to … the Midcentury feel without getting kitschy,” Strum says.

Jodie Strum stands in her dining area, which features wallpaper by Matthew Williamson for Osborne & Little. The 1970s table and brass chairs are by Mastercraft, and the light fixture is by Jonathan Adler.

The sunporch features pieces from Strum’s large collection of coveted Russell Woodard furniture, a lucky Craigslist find.

In the kitchen, she opted to save the cabinets but reconfigured them, turning an island into a peninsula and moving the location of the refrigerator. The cabinets got a coat of high-gloss white paint and new hardware, but it was the white glass countertops Strum saw on Houzz and tracked down through a New Jersey-based distributor that really transformed the space.

If she was going to make all those large family gatherings happen, Strum knew she’d need more than just a pretty kitchen. To increase her seating, she added a breakfast bar, which she topped with a heavily epoxied wood countertop, fabricated by Wellborn + Wright. And in the dining room, Strum committed herself to finding a Midcentury table that could extend when the whole family came for dinner. She located a burl wood table with brass inlay, manufactured by Mastercraft in the 1960s, through an antique dealer in Chicago and had it shipped to Richmond.

For finding Midcentury pieces online, Strum relies on Etsy, Chairish, 1stdibs and Craigslist. When a pair of 1960s-era Russell Woodard gliders went up for sale on Craigslist, Strum dropped everything and drove her brother’s truck to Washington, D.C., to pick them up. Her determination earned her the admiration of the couple selling them, and she came home with not two but 17 pieces of the highly coveted patio furniture.

The sunken family room opens to the sunroom and features a cushy velvet couch from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams paired with an Adrian Pearsall chair and a custom table from Epoch Furnishings.

Selecting new lighting that appropriately evoked the era of the house proved to be one of Strum’s toughest challenges. She went with Jonathan Adler chandeliers in the dining room and the den. In the living room, as well as a guest room, she chose Aerin Lauder pendants, which she ordered from Visual Comfort. And in the kitchen, she commissioned two custom light fixtures — made with milk glass and hemp — from Ro Sham Beaux in Charleston, South Carolina.

The key for Strum has been mixing the old with the new. “I find myself gravitating towards the stuff from the ’50s and ’60s because of the quality,” she says, “but I’ve had to force myself to buy some new things, too.” In her den, a reupholstered Eames chair scored at Born Again Furnishings sits beside a Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams sofa and a coffee table that was custom made by Epoch Furnishings from locally sourced wood.

“I find myself gravitating towards the stuff from the ’50s and ’60s because of the quality.” —Jodie Strum

That desire to blend the old with the new extends to other design decisions. “I read an article that said the worst thing you can do to a Midcentury home is paint the brick,” Strum says. “I would watch TV and stare at the brick [fireplace in my den] and tell myself, ‘Jodie, the worst thing you can do is paint the brick.’ When I finally had it painted, I came home and said, ‘Oh, it was supposed to be painted.’ ”

Strum credits the house with helping her find her personal style. “I designed this house myself for a reason,” she says.

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! 

Gail Markey Set to Retire

After over 30 years in the title insurance industry and over 3 years with safe harbor title, Gail Markey is retiring to a life of horses, husband and grand babies (in no particular order 😜).
Thank you for giving us so much of your time, talent and wisdom, Gail. You will be dearly missed but never forgotten!

Buffalo Chain Opens At Stony Point

The creators of the original Buffalo Wing are opening up shop in Richmond.  The new restaurant is opening in Stony Point Fashion Park.  It looks like an amazing space and a great win for Richmond business. Congrats to everyone associated with the deal! Check out this article to learn a little bit more about Anchor Bar.

J. ELIAS O'NEAL FEBRUARY 21, 2017

A taste of Buffalo, New York is adding to Richmond’s restaurant menu.

Anchor Bar opened Saturday at Stony Point Fashion Park. The restaurant – the chain’s first outside New York and Canada – fills the space previously occupied by Champps Americana, which closed two years ago.

Anchor Bar’s claim to fame, according to its website, is that one of its founders, Teressa Bellissimo, in 1964 created the now-ubiquitous chicken wing sauce that gave rise to the term Buffalo wings.

The chain offers nine sauces for bone-in and boneless chicken wings, as well as salads, burgers, sandwiches and pizza.

Anchor Bar operates five locations in New York and two spots in Canada, according to its website. The chain was brought to Richmond by franchisee David Allred, a local IT veteran.

The Stony Point location is 8,500 square feet and includes a private seating area, arcade games and a bar with dozens of local and regional brews on tap.

The location can seat up to 245 people, and employs 91 full- and part-time workers. Allred said seating will increase in the spring, when the restaurant renovates and opens its patio.

“It’s going to be a great amenity when we open it up out there,” Allred said.

Richmond-based MGT Construction built the new space, while Shockoe Slip firm Commonwealth Architects completed the design and architectural renderings.

Reilly Marchant, a broker with Richmond-based Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer, represented Allred in signing the 10-year lease. Fellow Thalhimer brokers Connie Jordan Nielsen and Alicia Farrell represented Stony Point.