Do you ever get those notices from your car loan company or your credit card and they say, Hey, your privacy or your information has been compromised and is out running around wild on the dark web? You get them and think, what am I going to do about that? I just toss them because what are you going to do? Well, if you are buying or selling a home, there are some precautions you can take to try to keep your information private.
I had a listing in August, this poor gal, we were trying really hard to sell her, her condo down at APTAs, cute little place. And we just hit a point in the market where it just wasn’t really happening. We were getting some showings. People were coming to the open houses. On her for sale sign, I put a laminated flyer on the sign. Then someone walking by could scan the QR code and learn a little bit about the property. Well, people saw the sign and knocked on this woman’s door and wanted a showing! I was just horrified. I ended up taking everything down and told her I was so sorry. I thought we were doing a good promotion for her property.
All I did was give people the idea that they could just walk up to her door and ask for a tour. It was the craziest thing. Seriously, never had anything like it.
When you are selling, there are things you can do to keep some privacy:
Yard sign:
When you are selling your home and if you are occupying the home, it is best to map out a plan to try to keep as much privacy and sanity as you can when you are selling. That might be no sign or a sign with a rider on the bottom that says, “Do not disturb occupants.” That one works really well. It’s really effective because when the public sees that, they don’t know who’s living there. They don’t know if it’s a seller or a tenant or somebody who is not very friendly.
Lockbox:
The other thing is a lockbox. A lockbox has a key in it that an agent needs their phone to open it. Best to not have the lockbox on the front door, maybe around the side of the house. Or ask for a loose lockbox that can be set out for an appointment.
Years ago, an agent, she’s not in the business anymore, she went to one of my listings. It was an appointment only. She went ahead and used the lockbox and went inside, the poor seller was taking a shower. She and I were both horrified. So of course, we put the lockbox inside and it would be set out for an appointment. The lesson is, to be careful with the sign. Be careful with the lockbox. Have a mapped-out plan. When you are at the listing table with your agent, besides asking, what are you going to do to promote my property? Maybe ask, what are you going to do to help me preserve my privacy?
Remember, if your house is for sale, listing agents are not sitting outside of your hours 24/7 making sure nobody comes to your property. Of course, I want to get people to come to your property, but I can’t protect you from people. I just can’t protect anybody from the craziness that goes on in real estate. But, do I try.
Information requested by Escrow or other parties:
Are you a buyer? Are you just starting the process? Don’t give personal information to your agent. Your agent doesn’t need it. They don’t need your social security number, they don’t need your bank account numbers. They don’t need any of that. And if they are asking for it. Please ask why they need it.
If you send me your proof of funds for purchase to make an offer black out the account number. If you don’t have a way to do that, one of the things I recommend is printing out that proof of funds at your house, blacking out the account number, and then taking a picture of it and sending it to your agent.
Take out the middleman or any people in the middle. Call the Escrow Company. Do not give it to your agent because that’s one more place your information is and can be compromised. I try to just keep as much of that information, basically off my computer as possible.
Buyer once your house sells:
When your home is sold, keep in mind the recorder publishes that information. It’s public
Information about who bought the property and the address. If you do not want that to happen, I recommend that you have a talk with the Escrow company when you are purchasing and let them know you do not want this information published. They will tell you how to prevent it. It may require that you go to the county recorder’s office yourself and make a formal request.
All these are steps that you can take to try to hang onto some of your privacy. I understand it’s really very hard. There are eyeballs everywhere and everybody seems to have everybody’s information. But you can certainly, you can certainly try. What I recommend is if privacy is a concern to discuss it up front and as quickly as you can before the sale gets going. Privacy is harder and harder to protect but at least we can try!