Imagine finding out that the property you just purchased is not actually yours because the seller never owned it in the first place. This is a growing problem where criminals transfer the deed to a property or home Continue Reading
You have a showing and are excited to hear about the feedback, but you find out the buyers’ realtor had been making disparaging statements about you in your own home. This is what happened during a showing when the Continue Reading
Every property owner wants the transition into their new home to be seamless. However, sometimes the previous owner, who gladly accepted your hard-earned money for the purchase of their home, leaves personal Continue Reading
This seems to be a popular question lately, so we wanted to share PBI Group’s thoughts on the matter. Residential real estate brokerages often have a website and email domain for their agency but not all or Continue Reading
Cyber insurance is now a requirement for many real estate brokerages. This comes as more and more cybercriminals are successful in their attempts to steal information and money from real estate agents nationwide. At Continue Reading
The days of having IT systems running on your own computer hardware, in a closet at the office are a thing of the past. Almost everyone has cloud-based IT vendors running some portion of their IT stack including Continue Reading
Often times during the sale of a home, there are upgrades that require either exclusion from the contract or a separate agreement (e.g. selling furniture with a home side deal). There is potential for disclosure Continue Reading
A heated real estate market can cause agents and buyers to be careless and reckless. Often buyers feel like they need to remove purchase contingencies to make their offer more competitive. Removing a house Continue Reading
Dual agency usually happens when an agent represents both the seller and buyer of real estate in a transaction. However, it also occurs when separate agents licensed to the same brokerage firm represent both sides Continue Reading
Real estate transactions pose dangers to buyers and sellers. For example, some might think the Seller’s Disclosure form from a realtor-owned listing would be watertight. However, they would be wise to Continue Reading
Real estate agents may take on more responsibility and significant liability risks than they might realize upon entering the profession. For example, if an agent lists a house for sale without disclosing that Continue Reading
Cyber insurance carriers have been raising rates over the past year or so, often by 100%. To help fix the route cause of cyber events which lead to claims and subsequently increased premiums; Corvus has published Continue Reading
MFA (multi-factor authentication) or 2FA (two-factor authentication) is the same thing. These are security terms that represent an additional layer of login security for systems with valuable information such as Continue Reading
Cybersecurity Awareness Training is starting to gain momentum among real estate agencies who are looking to help their agents and staff stay ahead of the bad guys. There are several service providers who offer Continue Reading
Real Estate broker-owners/management….a friendly reminder that this NAR data security and privacy document is a great summertime read. Hopefully, you can find the time during your slower season(s) to Continue Reading
We have been asked over the years if events such as ice cream socials, holiday toy drives, garage sales, etc, conducted by real estate agents within their communities to market their personal/team brand are covered Continue Reading
If you missed or would like to watch/listen again here is the webinar recording with the presentation slides. Link to Presentation * Every coverage situation is different, and the final outcome depends on the unique Continue Reading
Here is a recent situation which unfortunately impacted one of our clients and worth sharing in the hope that increased awareness will limit the chance of this happening again. This situation is a twist on the Continue Reading
BI/PD stands for Bodily Injury and Property Damage. Most Real Estate E&O policies include some measure of BI/PD coverage, such as limited lockbox coverage or open house coverage, but the broadest E&O Continue Reading
Here is a helpful guide to understanding some of the things to look for when attempting to figure out if an email is real or fake. Click here to view a full-size PDF of the above image. Viewing this infographic Continue Reading
Lots of discussion since the Equifax breach about freezing or monitoring your credit report. Let’s just discuss the basics briefly. #1 View your credit report from all 3 agencies. There is a free, authorized by Continue Reading
This should go without saying but we still receive many real estate E&O insurance claims revolving around conflicts of interest. Always be mindful of, and avoid at all costs, actual or potential conflicts of Continue Reading
Financial Fraud Kill Chain (FFKC) is FBI program designed to recover funds for customers who have been victimized by fraudulent international wire schemes. The FFKC is a cooperative program to attempt to Continue Reading
A spotlight on a PBI Group and Hanover Insurance claim against two real estate agents involving greedy buyers who wanted to keep staging furniture used by sellers to help sell the house. Fact Scenario: An agent Continue Reading
Documenting conversations and decisions made during a real estate transaction is an extremely important best practice for E&O compliance. When you find yourself in the middle of a lawsuit, having proper Continue Reading
One of the best ways to avoid having an E&O suit filed against you is to avoid the extremely difficult clients. Yes, that means walking away from someone who wants to pay you for your services. We know how hard Continue Reading
Passwords are a fact of life on the Internet today—we use them for everything from ordering flowers and online banking to logging into our favorite airline Web site to see how many miles we have accumulated. The Continue Reading
Trust is paramount, develop it buy showing your clients you are there for them through the exciting and stressful journey of a real estate transaction. Let your clients know they are your top priority by keeping Continue Reading
Service oriented real estate professionals can sometimes get themselves into trouble if they feel compelled to give advice on matters that are beyond their professional scope. You are not hired to be an expert in Continue Reading
It is very easy to get caught up in all these free/cheap cloud storage services which enable us access to anything we need, at our fingertips, in just a few clicks, while on our phone in line at Starbucks. The Continue Reading
Today another client called with a wire transfer fraud situation where their client wired approximately $300,000 for closing to a fraudulent bank account. Thankfully this real estate agency purchased cyber liability Continue Reading
I, < Agent> will never request or forward alone someone else’s request * to my Client, via any form of electronic communication including email, text message or voice mail asking to transfer any funds. Continue Reading
Tradeshow season is among us and I am sure your agents are looking forward to their regional or national conferences. Please make sure you share this piece of simple advance before they leave: Do not plug in any Continue Reading
As discussed in our previous post 5 Simple Steps Real Estate Agents can do themselves to reduce Cyber exposure, setting up the remote locating feature on your smartphone is a smart thing to do now. It takes 5 Continue Reading
It is time to officially stop using Yahoo email address and migrate to a new email provider. The news today of yet another breach that exposed 1 billion user accounts, is the largest such attack in the history of Continue Reading
First off, this stuff can be confusing and daunting… it is for everyone. Take 1 step at a time, together with your technical resource you will figure it out together. Remember you don’t have to be first when Continue Reading
Like a shield wall for an army, Security Awareness Training is a valuable tool to help reduce your cyber liability exposure by employing a formal process of educating agents regarding cybersecurity threats. The Continue Reading
Funds Transfer Pledge: When you secure a new buy-side or sell-side client it is time to have this conversation (and have it again 1-2 weeks prior to closing)….. a Fund Transfer Pledge is a verbal and written Continue Reading
