Archives for 2018

More and more phishing scams are targeting real estate professionals and their clients, attempting to dupe you out of money. There are several steps to take to make sure that you and your clients aren’t the next victims.
The National Association of REALTORS® issued an all-member alert on Sunday warning members of the latest email phishing attempt targeting the industry. The email appeared to be under the REALTOR® Party banner and solicited members to help “Support Diana” with a financial donation through a GoFundMe page. NAR warned that the email was not from the association or the REALTOR® Party. NAR says it will never solicit donations for personal or individual charities.
The latest is part of a string of phishing scams targeting the real estate industry in business email compromise that focus on both businesses and individuals to get them to do wire transfer payments. A recent report from the cybersecurity firm eSentire found that real estate was the second most-targeted industry hit by malware events in the second quarter of 2018.
Law enforcement, along with NAR and other business trade associations, have been meeting to address the security threats posed to businesses. In one growing BEC scam, for example, scammers will infiltrate an email account of a real estate professional and send out an email to a client that appears to be from the professional, redirecting them to send their funds to a fraudulent account. Sometimes scammers won’t target funds, but instead will go for personal identification information or even W2 tax forms for identity theft. Victims will receive a spoofed email on behalf of a participant in a real estate transaction—agent, title company, or law firm, say.—with instructions to change their payment type or location to a fraudulent account. Funds that are transferred are nearly impossible to track once they are deposited.
From 2015 to 2017, the FBI reports a 110 percent rise in the number of such scams involving real estate transactions.
How do you keep you and your transactions safe? The FBI offers some of the following suggestions through its public service announcement warning businesses:
Verify all requests of a change in payment type and location. Scammers often request that payments that are originally scheduled for check deposit be made via wire instead. Also, they request changes to the original recipient’s financial information. Real estate professionals and their clients should verify with their main contacts whenever they receive information via email that is involving financial changes or financial solicitations.
Be wary of communication that is exclusively over email. Scammers will take public information available on real estate listing sites and use it to then target victims. They may see listings that are “under contract” and then use the contact information of the real estate agent to insert themselves into the transaction, posing as the agent. “Be wary of any communication that is exclusively email based and establish a secondary means of communication for verification purposes,” the FBI writes. Also, don’t always assume a website that uses the padlock security icon—containing “https” in the URL—is safe. Scammers are increasingly using the icon on their sites, so it is not a foolproof indicator.
Set a code phrase with main contacts. Victims have reported also receiving phone calls from scammers requesting personal information for verification purposes. To verify the person is correct, encourage clients to establish code phrases that could be used to verify two legitimate parties, such as client to real estate agent or financial institution to client.
Act quickly if you think you’ve been scammed. Time is critical. Contact the financial institution first and request a recall of funds. Then, contact your local FBI office and report the fraudulent transfer. File a complaint at www.ic3.gov or bec.ic3.gov. The IC3 will assist the financial institutions and law enforcement in the recovery efforts of the funds.
Watch this video created by NAR’s legal team for more tips on how to avoid wire fraud in transactions.

By: NAR
Click here to view source article.

Online retailers are getting physical.
A growing number of brands born on the internet are now opening brick-and-mortar stores and moving into the suburban malls once considered doomed as more Americans shopped online.
But they’re taking it even further by doubling-down on the tactile experience. Online mattress retailer Casper, for instance, is opening stores that allow customers to book naps and test out mattresses before buying. Indochino — the online tailor — decided to borrow from the old Savile Row model where customers can be measured face-to-face for custom suits.
“Online brands have embraced clicks-to-bricks,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s retail division. “Shoppers love to touch, interact and try on in person and malls are upping the ante by offering immersive experiences that are exciting and memorable.”
The store openings mark a major shift for formerly online-only brands that just a few years ago believed they didn’t need a physical presence to generate robust sales growth.
Digital natives are now finding that the cost of acquiring new customers online is soaring as competition for eyeballs has increased the cost of online ads on Google and other platforms. At the same time, opening a store has become more affordable as higher mall vacancies have prompted landlords to offer flexible leases and other perks. It can be 10 times more expensive to acquire a new customer online as it is with a physical store, said Jim Ward, who heads up recruiting for online brands for mall owner CBL.
There are now roughly 600 stores across the country from these online natives, according to Green Street Advisors, a real estate research firm. Bonobos, which now has 60 stores and sells men’s clothing, plans to have 100 by 2020. Online eyewear retailer Warby Parker, which opened its first store in 2013, will have nearly 100 stores by year-end.
Others are following suit. Casper plans to have about 200 stores in the next two to three years, up from the current 20. And Fabletics, an active sportswear brand co-founded by celebrity Kate Hudson, aims to quadruple the number to 100.
For a brand that’s less than 10 years old, new store openings mean a 45 percent increase on average in online traffic, says a recent survey by International Council of Shopping Centers.
But not every mall is benefiting from the shift by online retailers. Digital brands are clustering in top-tier shopping centers, driving an increasingly large gap between the poshest of malls and those struggling to fill vacancies. While many online brands are planting stores in tourist destinations around New York and Los Angeles, they’re also launching stores in Oklahoma City and Birmingham, Alabama.
“We’re not considering anything outside of the premiere malls,” Dave Gilboa, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker.
The physical stores often provide a level of convenience that the web lacks.
At the upscale Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, pre-dental college student Calev Glick, 20, stopped by Indochino on a recent Friday to get measured for a suit for synagogue. He considers himself an “Amazon guy” because he doesn’t have much time to go out shopping.
“At a traditional department store, you kind of hope it fits,” Glick said. “Here, I am getting all the help I need. I am going to be here two hours and I’m going to get it shipped to my house.”
Digital natives still account for a tiny fraction of overall mall tenants, yet they could soon have a “material” effect on mall revenues, says Bill Taubman, chief operating officer of mall operator and owner Taubman Centers.
Ron Harries, head of retail for Fabletics, said that opening physical stores wasn’t in the company’s original plan in late 2014, but it realized that a physical location could acquire customers more efficiently.
“This gives you an opportunity to reach customers who are not shopping online,” Harries said.
In fact, Fabletics enjoys a two-and-a-half times increase in revenue from its most active customers within a 30-mile radius of a Fabletics store. Customers who live near a store are more likely to return an online purchase at that store, Harries said. That creates more opportunity for an extra sale. The sportswear company also electronically tags items in its stores and tracks what went in and out of the fitting room so it can learn which items shoppers were most likely to try-on but not purchase.
Online retailers are also finding that they can provide a fuller, more immersive set of customer services at physical stores than they could on web browsers.
At Indochino, customers first get measured by a stylist. Then they inspect 200 different fabrics in suits and select different styles before having it shipped for free two to three weeks after purchase. The price of a suit is about $400 to $500, and any extra tailoring is free of charge.
“We want customers to feel that they created a one-of-a-kind garment that they can’t get anywhere else,” said Drew Green, CEO of Indochino, noting he’s pulling customers once loyal to a traditional brand at the mall. “I believe we are providing a disruptive, alternative experience.”
By: Anne D’Innocenzio (ABQ Journal)
Click here to view source article.

NAR Code of Ethics Requirement – Due December 31, 2018

 
REALTORS® are required to take the NAR Code of Ethics training every 2 years. You have two options to fulfill this requirement. The current two-year cycle began 1/1/17 and ends 12/31/18.
Satisfy NAR Requirement With Online Course
NAR currently offers two options, one of which is a free course that fulfills the NAR licensing requirement but is no longer offered for CE credit. If you would like to receive CE credit along with fulfilling the NAR requirement, you must complete the paid CE version.
Complete CE Version (PAID)
Complete Non-CE Version (FREE)
Failure to meet the requirement will result in suspension of membership for the first two months (January and February) of the year following the end of any two (2) year cycle or until the requirement is met, whichever occurs sooner. On March 1 of that year, the membership of a member who is still suspended as of that date will be automatically terminated.
The Code of Ethics is the foundation of the REALTOR® organization and provides the standards of practice and professionalism that customers expect and deserve. REALTORS® are required to complete ethics training of not less than 2 hours, 30 minutes of instructional time within two-year cycles. The training must meet specific learning objectives and criteria established by NAR.

Changes to the U.S. Tax Code that potentially can save you thousands of dollars were enacted last year as part of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act. The changes include a new deduction available to you as an independent contractor or sole proprietor for reducing your tax liability by 20 percent. How to take this deduction and apply other changes in the law are discussed in a series of video tutorials released by NAR last month.
The tutorials are timely now that the year is winding down and final 2018 tax filings need to be submitted to the IRS.
The tutorials are organized into a dozen topics that affect your taxes, both as a real estate professional and as a homeowner or renter. I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the changes and to pass along this email to your colleagues.
John Smaby
NAR President
Tax law changes, by topic:
Elimination of business entertainment deduction. 
Taking the 20 percent business income deduction. 
Changes to the mortgage interest deduction. 
Limits on state and local tax deductions. 
Curtailment of casualty deduction. 
Curtailment of moving expenses deduction. 
Retention of capital gains exclusion on home sale proceeds. 
Changes in tax rates. 
Increase in standard deduction. 
Elimination of personal exemptions. 
Doubled child credit. 
Access and share page that includes videos, links, slides, transcripts, and embed codes.
By: NAR
Click here to view source article.