Bordeaux Smith Realty

Last week Larry and I traveled to Wilmington, NC to take a wire fraud class (and get a little beach time at Carolina Beach). It’s real and it’s terrifying. Unsuspecting buyers wire their money for a closing and it is redirected to someone else’s acct. we heard stories of over $300,000 being lost through wire fraud. Some safeguards to this: Your realtor should be using a secure email and should not be involved with wiring instructions. Beware of any professional using a yahoo or gmail account because those emails are absolutely not secure. When closing day nears, the closing attorney may request from you a notarized form with wiring instructions. Although it may seem like a hassle, everyone in the transaction wants to protect you and your money. If you are required to wire money to a closing attorney for closing, call the attorney’s office and ask them to send you wiring instructions via an encrypted email. Once you receive the encrypted email, call the attorney’s office back usi...

Yep, you can dress the best and make loads of money, but when something is going on with the crapper, you want some help. If a home for sale has a septic system, the buyer should always get a septic inspection.  The inspector  will look at the tank and drain field to determine if the septic is functioning properly and the tank has no leaks. A $500-$800 dollar inspection could literally save you thousands in the long run if there is something wrong with the septic, a buyer would want to know that in the due diligence period so that if the seller refused to repair it, the buyer could walk. Personally, I had a home that I was listing and when I called the county to get the septic info, I was told that the septic permit had been turned over to the state   I was like...what?!?!?!!!  Thankfully, it only costs my seller about 5K to get it in compliance with the state but he was told it could cost up to 40K. Moral to the story. Do not buy a For Sale By Owner without your ...