How to Protect Your Arizona Home From Deed Fraud

By Arizona Home Group

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Few Arizona homeowners ever stop to wonder whether someone could sell their property without them knowing. It sounds crazy, yet deed fraud happens more often than we’d like, and many owners have no idea it’s even possible. The Arizona Department of Real Estate has introduced a free tool designed to catch it early, and we believe every property owner in the state should know about it.

Deed fraud transfers property without the owner’s knowledge. It happens when someone tries to fraudulently sell or transfer ownership of a property they don’t own. By the time the real owner discovers what happened, sorting it out can become a major legal and financial mess.

Registered owners get an early warning. The Early Real Estate Sales Alert System, or ERAS, gives property owners an early heads-up. After you register your property, you can receive a text or email whenever the system reports a real estate transaction involving it. Think of it as a Google alert for your house. Registration is free and open to residential, commercial, vacant land, agricultural, and other types of real estate.

Escrow can feed the alert system. For anyone buying or selling, Arizona real estate agents can use a voluntary form during escrow to add the sale to the system. Once the buyer and seller sign the ERAS transaction form, the escrow officer can submit key sale details. Those details include the seller’s names, the property address, and the assessor parcel number (APN).

A match triggers an automatic notification. A reported transaction that matches a property registered with ERAS can automatically notify the registered owner. If something doesn’t look right, you can investigate and notify the Arizona Department of Real Estate of suspected fraud.

Alerts add to existing safeguards. ERAS doesn’t replace the normal safeguards already built into a real estate transaction. It adds one more layer of protection. When the asset in question is something as valuable as your home and property, we think it’s a really great idea.

If you own property here in Arizona, take a few minutes to look it over and consider registering. Learn more about the system and register your property at earlyalert.azre.gov.

Helping you buy or sell a home is only part of what we do. We also want to keep you informed about anything that can protect your property, even after the transaction has closed.

If you have questions about buying or selling or protecting your real estate investment, reach out to the Arizona Home Group. Call John at (602) 571-3730 or email john@arizonahomegroup.com, or reach MJ at (602) 671-2117 or Mamta@ArizonaHomeGroup.com. You can also visit ahgnationasks.com anytime. We’re here to help you keep your property protected.