All posts by admin

Buying a Home, Resources, Selling a Home

Good News Updates with ALANNA

We all could use a little good news now and then, and for everyone closing with a Florida Agency Network we have some… good news!

Using Alanna AI, our state-of-the-art virtual closing assistant, realtors and their customers are automatically signed up for a series of “good news updates” during the process of their closing. Below are some of the notifications you can expect, as we do our part to give you good news!

  1. Upon receiving your contract, you will receive a welcome text message with a link to the welcome package where we collect your contact data and any additional information for }the lifetime of your transaction. It can all be signed and submitted right from your phone.
  2. Once the necessary title work has been completed – from lien searches to surveys – you will be updated to let you know that your title processor is reviewing all documents. Once all of the requirements have been cleared you will be update again.
  3. At this point your tile work has been cleared and your title professionals are now working up closing figures and any remaining details you will need on closing day. You will receive more information very soon regarding your final figures and a closing date and time.
  4. Your closing figures are out for your review! You will receive your preliminary figure breakdown, details on what to expect at closing, and if any remaining information needed to finalize your transaction. The link to your documents is included in this text message for your convenience.
  5. You’ve reached closing day! With this update, you know your transaction has been closed and documents are being filed. You will receive a brief survey link to share your experience with us so we can continue to improve our processes. We aim to keep your experience personal, professional, and streamlined for all of our customers.
  6. Your official documents have been filed in the appropriate county clerk’s office and we have received confirmation of recording! You will now receive a copy of your title policy.

Our goal is to keep you informed automatically about the process of your closing. This way you are ready to take the steps for you and your customer while preparing and finalizing their transaction.

Of course, this also means we get to be the bearer of GOOD NEWS!

Be sure to download the PDF chart of automated good news updates and start chatting with Alanna AI today via text at 813-710-4126, by using the chat feature on our website, or by scanning the QR code below!

Buying a Home, Resources, Selling a Home

Top 4 Real Estate Deal Killers

It’s October, season of carving pumpkins and munching on candy corn. However, there’s something lurking just around the corner or hiding in the front yard creeping up on your customer, and if your customers are not careful – these monsters can jump out and KILL YOUR NEXT DEAL!

To help ensure your customers don’t unwittingly cast themselves as the victims in their own horror movie this season, check out the tips below on some of the biggest KILLERS of a real estate transaction!

Don’t Spend Like a PSYCHO!

After signing the contract for their new home, but before closing, some customers just get into a spending mood! It may be tempting to use a new line of credit to fill the new house with furniture or purchase a shiny new SUV for the driveway, but these transactions can QUICKLY change your lender’s opinion about your credit-worthiness and cause your deal to go down the drain!

Avoid the Home of FRANKENSTEIN.

Some homes look great on the outside and even through the buying process, only for the future homeowners to find out the home has not been properly upgraded throughout the years and is, instead, a mishmash of a lot of parts like Frankenstein’s monster. That home may not pass inspection, and when that happens, the sale is gone. Don’t let your buyers be sad. It’s a good thing to keep their family safe from plumbing, foundation, or electrical issues… as Frankie says – FIRE BAD.

Steer Clear of the INVISIBLE ZOMBIE.

A surprisingly common issue when someone is selling their home is that their legal spouse has gone as invisible as Claude Raine. When people move away from each other without filing the correct legal documents, they may forget that technically BOTH parties still own the home, and there’s been instances where the former spouse cannot be found in time – bringing the closing to a screeching halt.

Don’t Let Liens Drain You Like DRACULA.

Imagine getting excited about your new home, only to find the solar panels that you thought were a nice addition come with a $20,000 lien on the property. Just like Dracula – that sucks! Make sure you ask your title company for a comprehensive title search so that these kinds of liens don’t suck the life out of your customers’ bank accounts!

As you can see, it may seem like there’s danger lurking around every corner, but with a little bit of preparation – and choosing a title company backed with the power of Florida Agency Network – you can help your customers avoid turning their experience into a horror film!

To share this information with others, we have a downloadable PDF.

Happy Halloween!

 

 

Compliance, Resources

Don’t Get Bit – Prevent Online Vampires from Sucking the Life from Your Meetings

cartoon comic vampire

One side effect of the COVID crisis has been an increase in the use of online based video chat services like Zoom. Unfortunately, this also has created a new type of online cyber-criminal… the ZOOMPIRE!

This “vampire” isn’t after your blood but, instead, specializes in sending fake zoom meetings to users to steal their personal data with specialized links used to fool the person into believing they’ve been invited to an online meeting.

Researchers at INKY say that these new attacks are even fooling some Secure Email Gateways (SEGs), making them harder to catch.

In addition, they can send a direct link, preventing your browser’s fraud prevention, as well. “If the hacker includes a fake attachment, it leads to a fake login page that’s locally hosted on the recipient’s computer, not the internet,” the researchers write.

The solution here may be a low tech one. By texting or calling to confirm any meetings you didn’t set up yourself, you can be sure you’re only joining meetings you’re supposed to join – and prevent the ZOOMPIRE!

 

Resources

FAN introduces Alanna.ai, Virtual Closing Assistant

alanna graphicFlorida Agency Network (FAN) launches “Alanna.ai”, a new virtual closing assistant to further bolster FAN’s customer closing experience. This free service provides immediate answers to closing transaction questions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Alanna.ai is composed of world class artificial intelligence that integrates seamlessly with FAN’s title production software, , capable of providing dedicated and private responses to common questions related to closing transactions.

FAN’s Chief Operating Officer, Mike LaRosa explains further: “In today’s environment where the demand to provide multiple options for client communication continues to grow, we are excited to offer such a robust and intuitive solution. Alanna.ai offers the ability for text updates, both outbound from our live staff if they need to interject, and also triggered responses from Alanna.ai directly based on the particular query. Too often we found our staff either utilizing personal devices, or text features generated by our VOIP phone systems, and none of those correspondences would tie back into the closing software database, allowing us to properly capture and record all communication on a file. Alanna.ai was able to solve that problem for us through a cool, mobile solution that is simple to use.”

FAN’s commitment to constantly improving upon the customer experience drove the company to this partnership with Alanna.ai, the software company that is leading the industry in artificial intelligence- based communication for title companies by providing smart and “trainable” software that integrates with title insurance closing software platforms.

“Adopting a solution such as Alanna.ai was the next logical step in the progression. Automated workflows, portal solutions, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and now an A.I. based solution to improve the consumer experience and operational efficiencies,” stated Aaron M. Davis, CEO for FAN.

Alanna.ai’s CEO, Randall Nelson stated, “We are thrilled that FAN launched Alanna.ai in Florida. We feel with FAN’s industry experience and footprint, it will take Alanna to the next level, and we are already seeing benefits for Alanna.ai.”

Resources

Have You Met Alanna?

Have you heard about Alanna, Florida Agency Network’s new virtual assistant?

She helps answer all your closing questions day or night, right from your text messages. The service is free to all our clients when they close with any of the offices in The Network.

Visit the homepage and talk with Alanna in the chat box at the bottom right-hand corner, or contact her via text at 813-710-4126.

 

Buying a Home, Resources

Why You Need a Comprehensive Lien Search

You’ve just bought a house. You and your spouse are enjoying your new home, your new neighborhood, and your new back yard. In fact, you’re out back sipping coffee one morning when you open a letter from your city and find that you now owe $34,000 in code violations. The previous owner let the lawn grow too tall and didn’t fix it for months.

This sounds like a horror story, and it is! But, it’s also a true story! This is one of the many dangers in not getting a municipal lien search – an additional search that must be requested.

That’s why Florida Agency Network offers a wide variety of additional comprehensive searches that go above and beyond the typical lien and title searches required by law.

Here are some of our additional searches and the value they hold:

MUNICIPAL SEARCHES

This search allows us to find liens from the local city or town that may be placed for various reasons, such as unpaid taxes, water, or sewer charges. These can come back to the new owners, as the lien is on the property not the person who owned the property.

MERS

This is a national database that tracks mortgage servicers to ensure interests in loans for residential real estate. This ensures that the mortgages have been moved properly and your current servicer is the correct one.

PERMIT SEARCHES

When an owner has open or expired permits left on the home, they can cause trouble for the new owners – especially if they want to do some work that requires a permit. It’s important to get these items resolved before closing.

CODE & CODE ENFORCEMENT SEARCHES

Code violations are the responsibility of the homeowner, regardless of when the violation happened. This means tall grass, pest extermination, or other code violations can come back to cost the new owner.

These are just some of the ways that not doing a comprehensive search for your customers can come back and cost them. Your Florida Agency Network agency is ready to help! To share this information with others, we have a downloadable PDF.

 

Buying a Home, Resources

Why Do You Need a Survey When Purchasing a Home?

Surveys, also called boundary or land surveys, map out your real estate property, show its boundary lines, improvements made to the property, and all access to the property.

FIVE GREAT REASONS TO PURCHASE A SURVEY

1.  UNDISCLOSED RIGHTS AND EASEMENTS
You may own your new home and its surrounding land, but someone else might have a right to use a portion of your property. A survey will show physical evidence of the rights of others to use your property for access, parking, utilities, and other situations.

2.  UNDISCOVERED ENCROACHMENTS
A survey may be the only way to tell if a third party holds a claim to part of your property because their improvements, such as a garage, fence, or swimming pool, are on your land.

3.  IS THE PROPERTY BUILT ON THE CORRECT LOT
It may seem impossible, but sometimes a house is built on the wrong lot. A survey provides peace of mind by showing the exact location of the house you are buying.

4.  KNOWING THE SIZE OF YOUR PROPERTY
A survey shows the exact dimensions of the property’s boundary lines and how much land is included within those lines.

5.  FUTURE ADDITIONS
Many residential plotted lots can have building restrictions, which could prohibit you from building close to the boundary lines. If you are thinking of building future additions on your property, a survey can help determine if the lot is right for both your current and future plans.

These are a few reasons why you should purchase a survey when making one of the largest investments in your life. We’ve created a downloadable PDF of this information for you to keep or share.

At Florida Agency Network, we are always available to answer questions about your survey or your closing. Feel free to contact any one of our offices with any further questions you may have.

 

 

Resources

Must-Know List Before a Hurricane Strikes


Each year, the country is hit with hurricanes, tornadoes, hailstorms, super storms, flooding, and more. With hurricane season running from June 1st to November 30th, coastal and inland region homeowners must prepare for potential storms annually.  Of course, you have insurance to help you recover. But knowing and doing a few things now—while the weather’s fair—can help you and your family stay safe and help you protect your property if the unexpected happens.

Here are 10 Ways to Prepare You and Your Clients for Hurricane Season:

10. Know Your Closing Options

Know your closing options in case of an evacuation. Our options include, but are not limited to, Remote Online Notarization (RON), Mobile Notary to come to your location, or a Traditional Closing (in-person at the office).

9. Trim Your Landscape

Trim trees and shrubbery to help protect your house in case of a storm. Keep in mind this is a tip if you are about to list your home or have purchased a new home.

8. Stock Up

Stock up on important items such as canned goods, water, pet food, paper goods, flashlights, batteries, and most importantly – adult beverages.

7. Think About Your Outdoor Items

Consider where to store outside items if a storm comes, such as a boat, a trailer, pool chairs/equipment, etc.

6. Take Photos

Take photos of the property, inside and out, prior to the storm.

5. Secure Important Documents

Be sure all important documents are stored in a waterproof safe, in the cloud, or in a secure portal online. These documents should include your Homeowners Insurance policy, survey, marriage license, wills, social security card, title policy, etc.

4. Consider Flood Insurance

Consider Flood Insurance, even if you are not in a flood zone. Be sure to purchase early – it can take 30+ days for the insurance company to finalize your policy.

3. Bind Your Homeowners Insurance Early

Homeowners Insurance – obtain quotes prior to signing your contract and consider binding the policy early, even before your closing day.

2. Don’t Host the Hurricane Party

Find out who’s hosting the local Hurricane Party… because you don’t want to be volunteered to host it at your new house!

1. STOCK UP ON TOILET PAPER!!!

In addition to these tips, be sure to stay up to date on local news and have a battery-operated radio on hand to stay informed during power outages.

We’ve created a downloadable PDF of our tips for you and your clients. For resources by county on flood and evacuation zones, visit www.floridadisaster.org/knowyourzone.

Stay safe this hurricane season!

 

 

Resources

Marketing in Our New (Temporary) Normal

marketing graphic

Covid-19 has been a challenge for every American, and while we are dealing with an ever-evolving landscape of quarantine and modified stay-at-home orders still, the real estate industry continues to chug along. That means your potential customers are still thinking about buying their first home, upgrading to a bigger home, or selling their starter home, and they’re going to be looking for real estate agent to help them.

The good news? We know where your customers are probably spending most of their day – at home. And, if they’re anything like us (don’t worry, they are), they’re also spending a lot of that time on their phones and computers. 32% of Americans have admitted to spending longer online since the beginning of this crisis, and that number is only climbing.

That means it’s time for some online marketing! Getting in front of your customers may be easier than ever, so here are 5 tools to help you beef up your marketing game:

  1. Create Cute Content on Canva. If you haven’t heard of Canva before, your competitors have! Canva.com is a platform that allows you to design pictures to post on social media. Pictures produce 650% more engagement when compared to text posts. It only makes sense to turn those words into pictures!
  2. Seamlessly & Safely Stage to Sell. Open houses and walk-throughs may have trickled to all time lows, but buyers still aren’t too keen on buying a house they haven’t seen from the inside. The solution is virtual staging! Check out these virtual staging solutions and post the pictures to your social media platform of choice!
  3. Perfectly Plan Your Posts. Homeschooling, trips to the grocery stores, binging TV shows – life can still be busy when stuck inside. That means you might not be able to post at the best times, and planning ahead could really come in handy. Check out Hootsuite or Post Planner to manage your social media, but remember to put the popcorn down when the customers start calling!
  4. Elevate Your Emails. Email marketing is still one of the most profitable forms of advertising, with an average ROI of $38 to every $1 spent. (3) Mailchimp is the tried-and-true favorite, but there are alternatives that can be better for some people here. No matter what software you decide to use, check out BombBomb to add a personal touch. This software can add a small video to your email for added engagement.
  5. Tech Up Your Toolkit. If you’ve talked to one of our account representatives, they have probably mentioned FanAgent One as a great tool for fast net sheet quotes, but did you know it’s also a great tool for marketing? Check out the filters for social media and the info sheets that allow you to add your picture and info to send to your customers.

We all hope that we get back to normal in no time, but in the meantime, the above tools can help keep you top of mind for your customers.

Resources

5 Ways to Stay Safe Financially During the COVID-19 Pandemic

woman animation planning her financesWe’re all experiencing an unprecedented time in our history; most of the country and large parts of the world are under some type of stay-at-home orders. While our team members at FAN are working hard to make sure your transaction closes on time, unfortunately, there is an army of unscrupulous people that are using this time to attack you financially.

As the world has turned to online services for financial transactions, 22% of Americans have been the target of fraud attempts in the past few weeks. They hope that you’re too preoccupied with the immediate need of social distancing to notice that the threats of fraud are still quite high.

With that in mind, here are 5 ways to stay safe financially during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic:

  1. DOUBLE CHECK YOUR CLICK – At least half of all COVID-19 related websites that have registered during this time are suspected of malicious activity. Be wary of ANY coronavirus specific website and pay attention to your clicks on social media or the internet. Before your click, check that the link is going to the expected website – preferably one you know already and trust.
  2. BE AWARE OF FAKE NEWS – Scammers are creating fake news stories on contaminated websites in hopes that you’ll not only read them, but share them online – all to get you and your friends to visit their malicious websites. While some of these websites may look legitimate, they can hide spyware or be phishing for your data. Check all news stories to ensure they are from mainstream media sources.
  3. VERIFY THE SENDER – The FBI warns of a significant threat of phishing emails relating to economic stimulus payments, charitable and relief contributions, fake cures, vaccines, and testing kits. If you’re not sure, click on the sender’s EMAIL ADDRESS (but not any links in the email) to see if the email matches the sender. If you’re not 100% sure who the sender is and that you were the intended recipient, do not open or forward the email.
  4. CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS – While you should always be cautious about your passwords, it’s good practice to change them during times of accelerated fraud activity. Some experts recommend using pass phrases instead of complicated passwords, which may be easier to remember. Also, it’s not OK to share passwords among websites and other places to prevent your passwords being stolen from one website and used on another.
  5. DON’T TEXT BACK – Have you heard of SMISHING? It’s a new form of information phishing that hackers are using to send you text messages that include links or will appear to be from legitimate sources. Remember the same tips from your emails and don’t trust anything unless you’re SURE who the sender is. Delete anything you’re not sure about. Also, no one will ask for your password via text messages, so if you get a text asking for ANY passwords, it’s delete-worthy!

Those are just a few ways to help you stay safe while we all are trying to keep our distance from one another. Remember, while you should always use caution when banking, communicating or shopping online, now is the time to be EXTRA vigilant.