Whether you’re buying or selling, you want to protect yourself and your property from scams. Luckily, there are steps you can take to achieve this. Glenn Phillips, CEO of Beach Homes Realty, discusses 6 tips to avoid scams in beach real estate.
- Never Buy Without Title Insurance: Sometimes, the party who listed the property doesn’t actually own it. The actual owner lives some distance away and is unaware that their property has been listed. Scammers use this tactic to trick people excited to buy a beach home into buying it without doing their research. Title insurance helps to protect against this; it researches and assures reimbursement if there is a scam.
- “Check In” on Your Property (Including Lots!): If you’re not using your home or property full-time, check in on it occasionally. If you can’t do it, have somebody you trust to check in on it for you. Make sure they know which property is yours and whether or not you listed it. Checking in on your property helps avoid scammers as well as squatters.
- Verbally Confirm All Payment Instructions: Particularly for buying property, scammers sometimes change payment methods and instructions at the last minute. Buyers who want to be helpful may not question this and go along with it. Before agreeing to these changes, think about who’s contacting you and the nature of the message. Additionally, you should research the phone number or email address and contact them during business hours to confirm.
- Do Your Due Diligence: When buying beach property, do your due diligence in knowing everything about the property. This helps you know where your property boundaries are, what type of beach access you have, and more. Additionally, it uncovers information that detriments the property value, even if it isn’t necessarily a scam.
- Be Wary of Haste: Scammers frequently try to rush the process of real estate. They make “too good to be true” offers and try to hurry you along. They want you to go through with the transaction before thinking about it, talking to someone else about it, or researching it.
- Confirm Funds Have Cleared: No matter if you’re paying or receiving funds, there needs to be time for banks to clear the funds. Allowing a time frame for the funds to clear helps confirm that they are legitimate.
Buying a beach home should be an exciting process. However, scammers work to ruin the wonder of it. So, buyers and sellers alike should keep their guard up when conducting transactions. Be sure to visit beach-homes.com, where you can find agents willing to guide you through the process and protect you and your money.