Identity theft

9 Alarming Statistics About Identity Theft (via Identity Theft 911 blog)

Identity theft is a serious problem worldwide. This crime flourishes when thieves are given access to your personal information, allowing them to commit crimes under your name or spend your money unbeknownst to you. You may be under the impression that identity theft could never happen to you. You…

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Protecting your privacy

Guard your information

Information on you is very important for many things in live like buying a home, creating a good credit profile, hunting for jobs etc. There are people in this world who find an adventure in stealing such an information. This probably satisfies the detective in them or the need to know for ulterior motives. The information may be stole for many reason: Fun sake, Making prank calls, or any other ulterior motives. As per the data published by Canadian Anti-fraud centre and mass marketing fraud (ref.below) the loss in September 2011 was close to $3.275 Millions

Most of the people are unaware on how to make sure their privacy is kept under guard. The result; some unscurpulous elements take advantage of this ignorance. We are in an era of internet marketing and commerce, where we have to leave our information for the vendor or service provider to know that he is interacting with a live human being and not with a robotic program. When you are submitting information online, be careful to read the privacy regulations of the information seeking page and make sure you are not submitting your data to a spam site or a phising website. The spam site floods your mail inbox with all those silly messages from pharmacies, surveys, product informations, and much more while the phising websites are designed to steal your personal information to be used either for hacking your computer system, or operate your accounts for their own ulterior motives. This doesn't mean that you stay scared and obstruct your online business.  Use of a reputed internet monitoring program and anti-virus is a solution to such spam and phising websites.  I have been using a program that effectively removes all such online threats and I am enjoying all net commerce and share information online.

Apart from online privacy protection here are a few tips to keep your self safe:

Remove and damage sticker
with your information on it

1. Don't throw out any letter or envelope with your addess on it. Try shredding all such matter.
2. Don't discard used prescription containers without removing your information on the stickers. Remember, these stickers carry your patient ID/your date of birth and medication. These can be used for getting some fake cards/debits cards or unimaginable motives.
3. When you receive a call from an agency you never heard of before, be cautious. Don't disclose your vital information over the phone. If they say that they are calling from reputed companies like Rogers, Bell, Telus, or any other service provider you have an account with, ask for their associate number and telephone number. It is better to call them back so that you are sure you are speaking with a bonafide person or customer service representative.
4. Password protect your cellphone. A friend of mine suggested me that I change the contact for my home to something different so that if it goes in some bad hands they can't trace your home. some people use like Ghar or base or ground zero.  It could be any thing unidentifiable.  Also it is not wise to have your family members appear as contact with their relations like, Spouse, or better half, or my love etc. Please keep it indescript.
5. Faxing your credit card information to a service provider is better than emailing it or saying it over the phone.
6. Always check for encryption or make sure the server is secured when you divulge your information. The encryption and securd server scramble your information which is not readable in transit.

The list is endless and not exclusive in any sense.

Example telephonic spamming 

Someone calls you and pretends to be calling from a credit card company saying that a suspicious activity has taken place on your card. You are given all information and you have only to say yes or no to that question. This is how the convo goes on:

Caller: Hello sir, am I speaking with Mr. human being?
You: Yes
Caller: Do you remember having shopped within last 2 hours?
You: yes/no
Caller: <if yes> Did you shop for over $800? <if no> We suspect a fraudulent transaction has taken place sir.
You: Yes/no
Caller: To make sure you are not charged for this expense and that we do proper investigation let me verify a few things with you sir. Sir, my name is _________________ and my associate number is 123456 (whatever). Should you need to call me again or if the call drops you can call me at 123-456-7890. Your call will be recorded for quality purpose (to make it look authentic). Are you okay to go ahead now?
You: Yes, yes (eager to get out of this issue)
Caller: Is your name Mr. human being?
You:Yes
Caller: Do you have a visa with CIBC?
You: yes
Caller: Are the last four digits 9999? (Can be from stolen card statement from your mailbox)
You: yes
Caller: Expiry date: 01/13?
You: No it is 01/14
Caller: Thanks. That was intentional sir. Now to maker sure you have the card in your possession, can you read out the last three digits on the other side beside the magnetic strip?
You:123
Caller: Thank you sir. Your credentials have been verified and we will proceed with our investigation. You will soon hear from us. Good bye.

And that's when you see something purchased on your card for $900. As far as I know, no investigation is launched if the theft is less than $1,000 (sick)!


Hope this helps you understand how your innocence or ignorance could be taken advantage of. Therefore the keyword is: BEWARE! BEWARE! & BEWARE!

Important links:

1. Tougher Law targetting Identity Thefts
2. RCMP- Identity theft
3. Safely buy and sell homes
4. Statistics of Mass Marketing Frauds and Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre

For more information or discussion you can always call me or email me.

Thanks for your time.

Housing affordability dips slightly in the first quarter of 2012

It became a little tougher, budget-wise, for many Canadians to carry the costs of owning a home in the first quarter of 2012, according to the Housing Trends and Affordability Report from RBC Economics. This dip in affordability was an effect of vigorous housing demand in the early stages of 2012, rather than the cause of any kind of slowdown in the market and was largely taken in stride by homebuyers.

Mild winter weather in most of Canada and time-limited mortgage rate ‘sales’ by financial institutions likely motivated homebuyers. Because the mortgage sales took place during only a few weeks, however, average mortgage rates during the entire first quarter fell just slightly, thereby providing only a small direct benefit to affordability for the second straight quarter.

All housing types saw a small erosion in affordability
At the national level, housing affordability eroded modestly for all three categories that we track. The RBC® Housing Affordability Measures rose by 0.8 percentage points to 43.1% for detached bungalows, by 0.5 percentage points to 48.7% for two-storey homes, and by 0.3 percentage points to 28.8% for condominium apartments (an increase represents a deterioration in affordability). The measures stand slightly above historical averages in all cases, indicating that there is only modest affordability stress being exerted on Canadian homebuyers at the moment.

Rising interest rates will pose further affordability challenges
Looking ahead, further challenges on the housing affordability front in Canada are expected once the Bank of Canada begins returning interest rates to more “normal” levels in the fourth quarter of this year, assuming that the European situation does not become more problematic.
RBC mortgage specialists understand the challenge of balancing lifestyle needs and housing affordability. Whatever your client’s specific circumstances or concerns, I provide tailored advice on all aspects of financing a home purchase and will give your clients the confidence to take the next step in their goal of home ownership.

Bank of Canada - Overnight rate remains unchanged

Today was a scheduled BoC "Rate Review Day." The news is, BoC left the Key Lending Rate flat. This is in stark contrast to 6 weeks ago - where the rhetoric was "rates are going up, and soon."
But since then, the ongoing economic turmoil in Europe and weaker than expected U.S. employment numbers, have added up to renewed Global uncertainty. So what began as a quiet whisper, just days ago, is now a growing opinion that the BoC may even trim the Key Rate - down.
The other side of the coin - low mortgage rates continue to be a plus for homeowners, homebuyers, and sellers too. And according to reports from the Big Five and BoC - Consumer debt is beginning to correct too.
On another note, OSFI is about to announce a major set of guidelines for Federally Regulated Lenders that will affect mortgage lending and reach renewals too. Some of the ideas they have floated in public have raised eyebrows - more to come as the facts become known.
The next scheduled date for announcing the overnight rate target is 17 July 2012. A full update of the Bank’s outlook for the economy and inflation, including risks to the projection, will be published in the MPR on 18 July 2012.

Webinar for First Time Home Buyers

Join this Webinar, Enrich your knowledge and make the right decision

Paul Cheema* would love to share his professional knowledge with the first time  home buyers and discuss the Canadian Federal and Provincial rebates and programs with them in this Webinar. The participation is purely FREE and you can register online.The event details are as follows:

Event date: June 16, 2012 from 4 -6 PM

Professional presenters:

1. Paul Cheema - Dos and Donts while buying your first new home
2. Ajay Duggal, Barristor and Solicitors, Duggal and Dhaliwal LLP, Brampton - to answer your legal questions on closing and how it works
3. Sunny Dhingra, Mortgage Manager with Royal Bank of Canada to answer your mortgage related questions
4. Sanjeev Saupaya, Certified Home Inspector, Smartchoice(R) Home Inspections

The agenda of the webinar will  be as follows;

• Why buy a home?
• Should you rent or buy?
• Common mistakes and cautions
• Should you buy from seller directly? What's at risk?
• Can you afford to omit home inspection?
• What legalities are involved in a home purchase?
• How does mortgage works for first time buyers?
• Options for Newcomers to Canada.
• Q/A session

This is going to be one of the kind webinar that was never heard before.  We would like to involve our audience in an highly interactive session and share pure  knowledge. No purchase is necessary. Please REGISTER now! You will be happy that you did join this webinar.
You can also join by scanning the QR code below:

Scan this Code with your smartphone to Automatically directed to webinar registration page .

What does Walk Score mean for a First Time Home Buyer

Walking is good for  health and savings

While I was showing homes  to my young couple clients, they asked me to get them a home with the lowest walk score. Heard this first time?! What is this walk score anyways? Most of us don’t know about it but believe me it is becoming a new concept in home buying or renting. Walk score is emerging as a new trend in the minds of people when they plan to buy/rent their first home. As you would have guessed, a walk score is a measure of closeness of many facilities close to your place of residence.  The walk score is measured over a scale of 0-100 with 100 being the best. A walkshed is defined as a distance from your place of living to the amenities like school, hospital, shopping centre/mall, arena, library, restaurants and eateries etc. A walkshed is believed to be less than 1 mile from your place of residence.

Walking is just a personal option. But, if Americans, as an example,  trade their cars for walking for at least 30 minutes each day, they might be able to reduce the carbon foot print by more than 58 million metric tonnes and 24 billion litres of gas. Isn’t that amazing? The world would be a better place to live in and enjoy.

All those amenities that lie within 1 mile (1.6 Kilometers) of distance are given the higher score while those beyond this are given zero scores. The culminating total of all such amenities together makes the walk score. A score of 90-100 could be termed as walker’s paradise where a resident doesn’t need a car to commute and meet daily needs.

Walk score is measured using  Google™ API and it has some limitations as well. The walk score doesn’t know about the topography of an area, might miss on a few amenities or places of interest like a newly opened Starbucks® or Tim Hortons® or a supermarket. You can always add these to the API to improve the score.  Walk score is only tells you how easy it is to live without a car.

Most of the newcomers to Canada  have difficulty getting a driver’s license which may take at least 8 months or more. Many newcomers can’t  buy a car for some time and want to save on commute expenses.

If you are a newcomer to Brampton, Mississauga or Greater Toronto Area, let me find you either a rental or a resale home with the highest walk score. You can save a lot of money and keep fit at the same time.

Sources
•Carter, Matt. "Gas prices pique interest in Walk Score." Inman News. 2008. http://www.inman.com/news/2008/06/25/gas-prices-pique-interest-in-walk-score
•Complete the Streets. http://www.completestreets.org/
•Forrest, Brady. "Neighborhood Leader Boards on Walkscore." O'Reilly Radar. 2008. http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/06/neighborhood-leader-boards-on.html
•"Frequently Asked Questions." The Walking Site. http://www.thewalkingsite.com/faq.html
•"Frequently Asked Questions." Walkable Communities, Inc. http://www.walkable.org/faqs.html
•­Slater, Dashka. "Walk the Walk." The Green Issue. The New York Times. 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20Act-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2&oref=slogin
•Smart Growth. http://www.smartgrowth.org/
•Steffen, Alex. "WalkScore and the Great Neighborhood Book." WorldChanging. 2007. http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007055.html
•Walk Score. http://www.walkscore.com
•"Walking for fitness: How to trim your waistline, improve your health." Mayo Clinic. 2006. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/walking/HQ01612
•"Walkscore.com." Environmental Building News. BuildingGreen.com. 2008. http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm?fileName=170319a.xml
•Weil, Richard. "Walking." MedicineNet. http://www.medicinenet.com/walking/article.htm

How to make sure you Really are in multiple offer situation? This could be a trap! Home Buyers, Beware!

Bidding war at Multiple offers

 I am in real estate for about 5 years now and have seen a lot of very interesting situations. The most significant of all is the multiple offer situation. The buyer likes a home and so does many others. The result; more than one offer on a property and all buyers and their agents pitting against each other, bidding war on and guess who's smiling? Definitely the seller and his listing agent. :-) This makes sense if you as a buyer are at the site and you see lots of car parked, whispers of other buyers with their agents or most secretive talks inside the cars. Even the most talkative and loudest person is speaking that is barely audible. Lol! In nutshell, no body wants the other buyer or his agent to get a wind of what he/she is offering and this makes perfect sane sense. My advise to all my buyer clients is to walk away from such situation. Why?  Well the only winner in this case is one and one only and that is the SELLER. All others lose! The one who gets the so called 'winning bid' and the others who can't make it. The winning bid buyer paid more than he should have from his hard earned money and in my personal opinion he did lose his many hard working hours, sacrifices of his family in making letting him spare time, away from his family and children and here in one go, he goes $5-20,000 over asking price. Not only this he is refrained from doing the most important diligence measure; the home inspection let alone putting him to risk of mortgage refusal and ultimately landing him trouble far serious than just getting the house.

The above scenario definitely tells you that there were more than one offer as you were witnessing all this activity. But now let me take you to a far more serious problem in buying a home.  Consider the following scene.

The home is listed for a while, say 60-90 days and suddenly you discover it, like it and ask your agent to put an offer. Then suddenly you hear from the listing agent that he has another offer on the property and the seller wants all the offers by fax/e-mail/any other means except physical presentation. Now what will you do? I advise a word of caution here.  Even if your agent suggests you to remove those important interest securing clauses like home inspection, mortgage, & re-visits to the property before closing, apart from offering a higher price, simply say NO or if you have a real interest in the house and it serves your long-term purpose, ask to be protected against the so called 'multiple offer' situation. Ask your agent to write a clause in the offer, if you agree on removing above conditions and pay more price than you were initially ready to pay, that would make sure that there indeed was another offer. The clause should give you a right to re-negotiate the offer is the listing agent couldn't prove existence of another offer/offers and keep your interest not just safe but I would say the safest.  I use this clause in such situation for all my  buyers that I heard from one of the training session at a convention and eventually fine tuned it for specific use. 

Many times such multiple offer scenes have been found to have been crafted and staged cleverly and it is not uncommon to fall for them. In summing up I would advise you:

1. Don't get attached emotionally to any property 
2. Walk away from multiple offer situation and look for another home. Maybe you find another great deal without making a big hole in your pocket
3. Ask your agent to take steps in the offer that leave no doubt about existence of another offer
4. Don't ever remove home inspection. Well if you are offer the highest price, what issue does the seller would have in allowing you to do the home inspection?! If not for 5 days, write the condition for 1 day. Most of the agents can provide a home inspector in as less as 2 hours and maximum of 24 hours and you will have the home inspection report at the site itself and finally
5. BEWARE! BEWARE!! & BEWARE!!!

Hope you buy a home and stay happy thereafter! For great resources don't forget to visit my website at www.quicksellnbuy.com.   Should you have any comments or questions, please feel free to post them.

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