Is The Ability to Validate Homeownership Information Critical for Real Estate Sales Professionals?

When representing a buyer or seller in a real estate sales transaction, there are many things that should be considered. One of the most important is who the owner(s) of the property is. The question is, is the ability for a real estate sales professional to validate homeownership critical? We think so! 

 

Why? Independently verifying the homeownership information enables you to ensure that you are dealing with the homeowner at the time the identification is reviewed because you can match the identification to your own information.  

It is very common for a client to omit information knowingly or unknowingly under a range of common circumstances:

 

·        Marital separation

·        The property being in a parent’s name

·        Other people being on title

If the client’s identification doesn’t match the homeownership information or there are other people on title you cannot sell the property. If other people are on title, they will also have to agree to list and sell the property.  

FINTRAC forms are required on any real estate transaction. At the time that FINTRAC forms are generated, the real estate sales professional has to verify the client’s identity. Accessing real estate technology that enables you to match your client’s identification against homeownership information enables you to thoroughly validate your client’s identity. 

Verifying homeownership information allows for:

·        Smoother closings - Once the lawyer has been instructed, issues with the name of the homeowner shouldn’t come up because you will have verified the homeowner’s identification against the homeownership information.

·        More closed deals because you will be able to focus on deals that don’t have issues.

·        Significant time savings - because you will identify problem deals early on.

When representing a client who is looking to buy a property, it is also very helpful be able to validate the homeownership information of the home they are interested in purchasing.   

Doing your due diligence offers so many benefits to both you and your clients.  

So, how can you validate homeownership information? Real estate technology such as GeoWarehouse offers the ability to validate homeownership information. If you want to go a step further you can even request a Parcel Register in the GeoWarehouse Store that will tell you the most up-to-date information: the homeowner’s names, type of ownership, percentage of ownership, any mortgages registered against the home, registration dates and amounts, liens on the property and more… 

For more information about verifying homeownership information please visit www.geowarehouse.ca or call 1-866-237-5937.