Pismo Beach

sudoadmin
November 14, 2019

HOMES CAN STRIKE “SOLD” DURING HOLIDAYS

Selling your home during the holidays can be seen as an added hassle to the hustle and bustle, but it may provide the best opportunity if your Christmas wish is to sell! The holiday season is a time many sellers consider taking their home off the market due to a lower number of buyers and the inconvenience of showings, but your agent can’t sell your house if it’s not on the market. In fact, for properties such as hard to sell homes and vacation rentals, the holiday reduced inventory may be your best probability of the year to sell.

TO SELL OR NOT TO SELL DURING THE HOLIDAYS?

Reduced inventory during the holidays means your home has a better chance of being “the prettiest girl at the dance” resulting in a lot more dates for showings. Come Spring, newly listed properties will flood the market and buyers will have a lot of choices and may never see your house.

Older homes that have drawbacks such as location or need updating have a much better opportunity to be seen and sold! Visiting friends and family during the holidays are a fresh new set of buyers, but they can’t consider buying your home if they don’t know it’s for sale.

HOLIDAY SEASON IS PEAK FOR VACATION RENTALS

The Vacation Rental Industry is booming and the holidays are one of their busiest times of the year for rentals and purchases. In fact, November and December is prime buying time for Property Investors and the Central Coast mild temperatures are a great location influencer for the purchase of those rentals. According to a 2018 survey, the Central Coast has the top three location criteria for what vacation home buyers are looking for: 33% of vacation home buyers purchased in a resort area, 24% purchased in a rural area and 18% in a small town. So even if the home your selling is your primary residence, keep options and availability open for out-of-town investment buyers during the holiday season.

If selling your home is on your Wish List, take advantage of the good fortune that only the holiday season offers. As the #1 broker on the Central Coast, C21 Hometown Realty’s Agents have the most homes listed and the most homes sold! To get your home sold this holiday season, visit one of the ten local offices throughout the Central Coast or click on c21home.com.

About CENTURY 21 Hometown Realty – Hometown Realty is the leading real estate firm on the Central Coast of California with offices spanning Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo county offering expert agents and convenient locations.

Bysudoadmin
OnNovember 14, 2019

sudoadmin
February 20, 2019

Beware of Wire Fraud

BEWARE OF FAST GROWING WIRE FRAUD SCHEME

THE NIGHTMARE
You are hours away from closing escrow on your dream home when the unimaginable happens…you receive an email from what looks like your real estate agent changing wire instructions. In your hurried, so much to do, so little time state, you follow the instructions and before you know it your down payment and ultimately your dream home are gone!

FASTEST GROWING CYBERCRIME
Wire fraud in real estate is one of the fastest growing cybercrimes in the country. The FBI reportedly received 301,580 complaints in 2017 and losses exceeded $1.4 billion, and in the real estate/rental sector alone, more than 9,600 victims lost over $56 million in the same year.

GONE FOREVER
According to a CNBC report quoting Ryan Kalember, senior vice president of cybersecurity strategy for email security company Proofpoint, “It’s important to remember that in these cases, they lose the funds permanently.” Banks are rarely are responsible for a wire authorized by the customer, even if the customer was tricked into sending it. And if the funds are overseas, there’s little U.S. law enforcement can do to recover it.

PROTECT YOURSELF
There are steps homebuyers should take to make sure they are protecting themselves from falling victim to fraudsters, according to Kalember and the FBI.
1. Be vigilant: Homebuyers should first just be aware that they may be a targeted by scammers in this manner, and should act accordingly to verify any suspicious correspondence associated with their home purchase or sale.

2. Voice verify: It might seem cumbersome in an already long home buying process, but following up emails with a voice verification is a must, Kalember said. That’s especially true if the email involves e-signing a document, logging into a new website, transacting money or supplying any kind of financial information

3. Talk to your bank: While not all banks may follow the guidelines you suggest, most will honor your request to not allow any wire transfers without a voice verification or other checkpoint from you. This is especially true for business accounts, but even individuals going through a real estate transaction can request a note be added to their primary accounts to put additional steps in place before allowing wire transactions to go through.

4. Don’t react immediately to email: Emails asking you to take some type of action, purporting to be from the title company, attorneys, realtors, bank lawyers or others involved in a transaction may not be authentic. Regard any of them with suspicion, and you should follow up on known phone numbers for the individuals making the request to confirm.

About CENTURY 21 Hometown Realty – Hometown Realty is the leading real estate firm on the central coast of California with offices spanning Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo county offering expert agents and convenient locations.

Bysudoadmin
OnFebruary 20, 2019