Watch out for tax season scams

SUBMITTED BY PATRICK ZAMKIN

It’s that time of year when we do our taxes — but it’s also the same time that tax scammers go to work. What scams should you watch for — and how can you avoid being victimized?

Sadly, the list of scams is pretty long, including demands for payment or requests for “additional information” pertaining to your tax refund, in which the sender asks for your Social Security number and other personal information. These scam emails can look quite official, often incorporating the IRS logo. You might also receive scam text messages containing bogus links claiming to be the IRS website or an online “tool” that can help process your refund faster.

But keep these points in mind:

• The IRS generally won’t contact you by phone and won’t contact you by email, text messages or social media channels to ask for personal or financial information. The IRS begins most correspondence to taxpayers through regular mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.

• The IRS won’t call to demand you make an immediate payment through a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. If you owe taxes, the IRS generally will mail you a bill. And the IRS won’t threaten to bring in the police or another law enforcement group to arrest you for not paying your taxes.

In general, be extremely skeptical about any type of communication purporting to be from the IRS that sounds bullying or over-inquisitive — and certainly don’t give out any personal or financial information. But these fake messages aren’t the only taxseason scams out there. You might even receive a direct deposit from what appears to be the U.S. Treasury Department — but if you weren’t expecting it, something’s likely not right. This payment could be a sign that a

Attracting Buyer’s Agents

MIKE BUDER

When your home is for sale, it becomes more than your home. It’s a commodity that has to compete with other homes in the complex real estate marketplace. How can you make your home it’s most competitive?

Well, you do the obvious to make buyers want it… Have it looking great, no bad kitty litter boxes, and a reasonable price tag. But you also have to make it competitive from the vantage point of the buyers’ agents, or the buyers who would love the place may never see it. You want to make your home the one every agent with a buyer in your price range wants to show. You want agents, not only to show it, but to want your house to be the one their clients choose. How do you do this?

1. Make your home easy to show. If you only let people in on Wednesday at noon when the moon is full, that doesn’t work for agents, even if they have buyers for your home. 2. Take Fang the leg humping Great Dane away from the property during showings. 3. Don’t stick around during showings to make sure the buyer’s agent doesn’t miss something. 4. Have your agent show you the marketing photos that will go into the MLS. The buyer agents will often select the homes they show based on these, so make sure the photos look great and that the description is a combination of enticing and accurate. 5. List with an agent that plays well with others-avoid agents who have nothing nice to say about their colleagues. Chances are the feelings are mutual. You don’t want other agents avoiding your house because your agent is a pill. 6. The commission rate or brokerage fee is very important in today’s market. If your agent is charging you a greatly reduced fee, this will most likely affect the coop fee, which is the portion of the commission offered to buyer agents in the MLS. The coop fee should be fair enough to motivate agents to want to sell your home. If you want to sell you home for top dollar in a reasonable amount of time, it’s important to maximize its exposure to the marketplace. This means appealing to buyers and the agents who are advising them on which homes to look at.

If you are looking to buy or sell real estate call Mike Buder at RE/MAX 10 (708) 418-4444, E-mail: mikebuder@remax.net, Website: www.BuderHomes.com. Facebook Friend request Mike Buder: your comments are always welcome.

Mike Buder

A local Christian Businessman