Fremont Real Estate and Beyond

A special City of Hayward task force will discuss a moratorium on increasing rents and other tenant protections during a meeting on Thursday, March 21.  An agenda for the meeting was released March 19. The Council Homelessness-Housing Task Force was established to advise the City Council on rental housing policies.  During the March 21 meeting they will study the rent moratorium and these other issues: A mandatory mediation program with binding arbitration triggered when rents are increased more than five percent.  (Single family homes and condominiums would be exempt); Elimination of the vacancy decontrol provisions of the current Residential Rent Stabilization Ordinance; Protecting Section 8 voucher holders from discrimination; Requiring landlords file rent increase and eviction notices with the City of Hayward; and Explore ...

  Lower risk of wire fraud attempts by reducing risky email communication e-Sign opening documents Save time with our "smart" responsive questionnaire Send and receive secure messages Access on mobile or desktop       Enrollment is simple. Include your clients' preferred email and phone number when opening escrow and we’ll take care of the rest.       Thank you for choosing First American Title!

I received this from the Fremont Police and wanted to share with everyone. https://local.nixle.com/alert/6404263/?sub_id=406327 In April, 2017, Fremont Police received information from a Fremont landlord involving an ongoing fraudulent home rental scheme conducted by two brothers dating back to 2015. At least five (5) property owners fell victim to these serial renters, suffered a significant financial loss and damage to their homes as a result. The investigation revealed Mohammed QADIR (30) and his brother, Habibullah QADIR (42), engaged in intentional fraudulent and deceptive practices to obtain at least five residential property leases in Fremont. Once the properties were rented to them, they failed to pay rent and forced the landlords to evict them while they remained in the properties rent-free, for months at a time. In summary, Mohammed QADIR, acting alone or collaborating with Habibullah QADIR, sought to obtain leases for single-family houses in high-end neighborhoods in Fre...

For any agents out there--it could someone from any country, so be on the lookout! A person claiming to live in China will contact an agent and ask to purchase property in the area. The person will entice the agent with a request to write an offer and get the transaction open. They claim they will be in the U.S. for the closing. They also will ask to recommend an attorney to assist with the review of documents and assist with the transaction. After they get a referral from the agent they will contact the attorney and state they were referred by the agent. They will ask for help on the transaction. The attorney will probably ask for a retainer agreement and amount to be placed in trust with the attorney. After some prodding, the person from China will have a check delivered to the attorneys’ office drawn on a British Columbia Bank and allegedly paid through Wells Fargo in the U.S.—a process used in the past and not used so much today because of wire transfers. The check will be for f...

In an effort to improve listing accuracy for consumers, Zillow/Trulia have decided to end manual listing inputs and pull directly from MLSs.  This will start May 1 this month.  Zillow/Trulia have been known to have zombie listings where agents forget to delete/mark sold the manual listings on the site and the home continue to show "for sale," which can mislead the consumer.

Propublica published a report about the ability of Realtors and Sellers to exclude potential buyers by race when advertising on Facebook.  This is a very serious violation of the Fair Housing Act and I hope they change it.   https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-lets-advertisers-exclude-users-by-race

I mentioned earlier in the year about how the Federal Government started requiring title companies to identify buyers behind LLCs that purchase high end real estate in Miami and New York City.  They have now expanded the requirement to 6 new counties-- (1) all boroughs of New York City (2) Miami-Dade County and the two counties immediately north (Broward and Palm Beach) (3) Los Angeles County, California (4) three counties comprising part of the San Francisco area (San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties) (5) San Diego County, California (6) the county that includes San Antonio, Texas (Bexar County).  The monetary thresholds for each geographic area can be found in this table More info here-- https://www.fincen.gov/news_room/nr/html/20160727.html

The FTC released an urgent memo to all real estate professionals and their clients about a sophisticated phishing scam aimed at taking buyer's deposits.  Always call the title company directly to confirm the wiring instructions! FTC Consumer Blog issued a post focused on hackers who have been breaking into some consumers’ and real estate professionals’ email accounts to get information about upcoming real estate transactions. After figuring out the closing dates, the hacker sends an email to the buyer, posing as the real estate professional or title company. The bogus email says there has been a last minute change to the wiring instructions, and tells the buyer to wire closing costs to a different account. But it’s the scammer’s account. If the buyer takes the bait, their bank account could be cleared out in a matter of minutes. Often, that’s money the buyer will never see again. More info here-- https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/scammers-phish-mortgage-closing-costs

Starting in New York and Miami, the federal gov't is asking title companies to identify buyers who use an LLC who purchase luxury real estate.  This may roll out nationally. More details here-- http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/us/us-will-track-secret-buyers-of-luxury-real-estate.html?_r=1 http://www.inman.com/2016/01/13/no-more-secret-luxury-real-estate-cash-buyers

Starting Sept. 14, HUD is including a mandate that instructs lenders to inform borrowers when they first meet to get a home inspection prior to purchasing a home. The mandate will be added to the HUD/Federal Housing Administration Single Family Policy Handbook and will include a document called "For Your Protection, Get a Home Inspection." HUD has asked the American Society of Home Inspectors to provide buyers with information about why they should get a home inspection, why the FHA does not guarantee the value or condition of a new home, and information on radon gas testing and other safety and health issues.

I'm lucky to not have encountered this issue.  As always, call the escrow officer to confirm any changes in wiring instructions and have the instructions emailed to you DIRECTLY from the escrow officer!

Summer is right around the corner and people are looking for rentals for either living or vacation.  The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a reminder for consumers to be on the lookout for rental scams. According to the FTC report, scammers know that finding the right apartment or vacation rental can be hard work, and a seemingly good deal is hard to pass up. They’ve been known to game some vacation rental websites and bulletin boards. The take-away: when looking for a rental, it’s renter beware. The reminder included some common scams that have been reported to them by consumers and real estate agents, including: Hijacked Ads: Some scammers hijack a real rental or real estate listing by changing the email address or other contact information, and placing the modified ad on another site. Phantom Rentals: Other rip-off artists make up listings for places that aren’t for rent or don’t exist, and try to lure the renter in with the promise of low rent, or great ame...

As part of their obligations under the Real Estate Settlment Procedures Act (RESPA) and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an updated "Special Information Booklet" which is now known as the "Your Home Loan Toolkit."  The toolkit attempts to modernize and simplify the information presented to consumers and is designed to work better with the new forms and processes under RESPA/TILA harmonization that go into effect on August 1, 2015. Download the toolkit at the link below-- http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201503_cfpb_your-home-loan-toolkit-web.pdf