March Division Highlights

      News

Wire Fraud Conferences

Wire Fraud conferences began last week and will be held across the State this spring and summer.  Since 2015, wire fraud has become increasingly targeted towards real estate transactions resulting in the loss of BILLIONS of dollars.  With growing usage of electronic funds transfers, real estate is targeted because of the large amounts of money exchanged. From due diligence deposits, to earnest money, buyer funds to close, seller proceeds and mortgage payoff funds, there are several opportunities for a scammer to try to intercept money in a transaction. Come and learn about wire fraud schemes, how they are successful, and how to avoid them yourself and/or for your clients.  Read last month’s Bulletin article for more details about the conferences.  The next session is 3/13/23 in Raleigh, with several more to come.  Register now for the Raleigh or subsequent conferences!

Illegal Covenants Are Not Enforceable

NCREC recently received a call from a broker about a restrictive covenant in a neighborhood that stated ‘No race other than Caucasian.’  The seller and broker were concerned about how to address this covenant, as it was recorded to the property in 1955.  Since then, there have been many Federal and State Fair Housing laws and rules passed declaring housing discrimination against protected classes illegal.  Those protected classes are:  race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation or gender identity), national origin, familial status (including pregnancy) and disability.  If there are covenants that are recorded on a property that are now illegal, these cannot be enforced.  A broker should disclose the existence of the covenant if they are aware of it, and the fact that it is legally unenforceable.  While there is proposed federal legislation in the works, there has not yet been a law passed that removes such covenants.

You are invited!

The monthly Real Estate Commission meetings are always open to the public, and you are invited to attend in person or online via Zoom.  The meeting this month is March 15th here at the Commission building.  A Zoom link will be available at ncrec.gov on the day of the meeting.