I AM BEING CYBER-STALKED!

For several months now, I have been a victim of cyberstalking/cyber-bullying. At first, I was enraged and fear crept in. Who on earth could have posted such libelous and rude advertisement against me trying to tarnish my reputation as a real estate broker? The post was first made at sulit.com notifying the public that I am no longer connected with Elohim Realty Services
(which I am the owner) and that any transaction with me will not be honored by said office. It says in the ad that I am fraud. How I was able to know? The cyberstalker himself e-mailed me the link and named a certain person as one responsible in posting such ad. I reported it to the police. Out of ignorance, too, I responded to the post made and e-mailed back the stalker. Result? He posted similar ads in other sites and wrote blogs against me (well, according to his e-mail). I never dared to check it out so as not to satisfy his obsession of catching my attention and bully me further. To avoid any further communication with the cyberstalker, I ceased from opening my spam folder and I also blocked him from my facebook account and warned my friends not to include him as friend.

I consulted a lawyer-friend of mine to ask legal counsel. She advised me to just IGNORE it and instead put in my websites that I am the owner of Elohim Realty Services and write blogs to counter the libelous postings in several commercial websites. She suspected that he/she could be a competitor in the business. Well, only God knows. I also consulted our pastor and he advised me to just DO NOTHING about it but to PRAY and BLESS the cyberstalker. I followed both counsel and truly indeed, it gave me inner peace and was never bothered by it anymore. I continued to perform my business in the most professional way I can and to sincerely help my clients in their real estate needs. I am thankful that referrals continue to come from satisfied clients.

Just lately, a foreigner-buyer came to my home-office to inquire some properties and he mentioned that he saw a video ad about me in the You Tube. He was kind enough to give me the link and advised me to report it to the site administration, which I did. Well, I was no longer surprised, though. The cyberstalker has continued his evil deeds. He posted that I am a fraud and dangerous agent. This led me to research about cyberstalking and cyber-bullying and if there is any specific legal provisions in our Philippine law to prosecute the offenders. Sad to note, there is still none, unlike in the US and Canada.

What is Cyberstalking vs. Cyber-bullying?

According to my research, Cyberbullying "involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others. -Bill Belsey"

StopCyberbullying.org, an expert organization dedicated to internet safety, security and privacy, defines cyberbullying as: "a situation when a child, tween or teen is repeatedly 'tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted' by another child or teenager using text messaging, email, instant messaging or any other type of digital technology."

Further, the practice of cyberbullying is not limited to children and, while the behavior is identified by the same definition in adults, the distinction in age groups is referred to as cyberstalking or cyberharassment when perpetrated by adults toward adults. Common tactics used by cyberstalkers are to vandalize a search engine or encyclopedia, to threaten a victim's earnings, employment, reputation, or safety. A repeated pattern of such actions against a target by an adult constitutes cyberstalking.

Harmful effects

Research had demonstrated a number of serious consequences of cyber-bullying victimization. For example, victims have lower self-esteem, increased suicidal ideation, and a variety of emotional responses, cyberbullying back, being scared, frustrated, angry, and depressed.

One of the most damaging effects is that a victim begins to avoid friends and activities, often the very intention of the cyber-bully.

Cyber-bullying campaigns are sometimes so damaging that victims have committed suicide. There are at least four examples in the United States where cyber-bullying has been linked to the suicide of a teenager. The suicide of Megan Meier is a recent example that led to the conviction of the adult perpetrator of the attacks.

Intimidation, emotional damage, suicide

The reluctance youth have in telling an authority figure about instances of cyber-bullying has led to fatal outcomes. At least three children between the ages of 12 and 13 have committed suicide due depression brought on by cyber-bullying, according to reports by USA Today and the Baltimore Examiner. These would include the suicide of Ryan Halligan and the suicide of Megan Meier, the latter of which resulted in United States v. Lori Drew.

Lost revenue, threatened earnings, defamation

Studies are being conducted by large companies to gauge loss of revenue through malicious false postings. Cyberstalkers seek to damage their victim's earnings, employment, reputation, or safety. A 2008 High Court ruling determined that, generally speaking, slander is when a defamatory statement has been made orally without justification. Libelous statements are those that are recorded with some degree of permanence. This would include statements made by email or on online bulletin boards.

Recognition of adult and workplace cyber-bullying tactics

Common tactics used by cyberstalkers is to vandalize a search engine or encyclopedia, to threaten a victim's earnings, employment, reputation, or safety. Various companies provide cases of cyber-stalking (involving adults) follow the pattern of repeated actions against a target. While motives vary, whether romantic, a business conflict of interest, or personal dislike, the target is commonly someone whose life the stalker sees or senses elements lacking in his or her own life. Web-based products or services leveraged against cyberstalkers in the harassment or defamation of their victims.

The source of the defamation seems to come from four types of online information purveyors: Weblogs, industry forums or boards, and commercial Web sites. Studies reveal that while some motives are personal dislike, there is often direct economic motivation by the cyberstalker, including conflict of interest, and investigations reveal the responsible party is an an affiliate or supplier of a competitor, or the competitor itself.

To my cyberstalker, this is all I can say, in due time, "what you sow you shall reap."

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Reference:
The wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber-bully…

How Do You Verify A Broker's and Salesman's License and Performance Status?

Is there a way to check if a broker, salesman or developer has pending litigations, violations, disciplinary actions, etc?

How about license status (expired, active, revoked, etc.)?

The above is just one of the discussions posted at Balikbayan.Homes where I am a member and I decided to post it here as I consider it very relevant and helpful not only for us brokers but most importantly, to the buyers.

Below are the replies from fellow brokers, their names I will no longer reveal here:

1) "...for background verification call up the office where he is representing, ask for the agent's complete address such as telephone numbers and other details, ask for personal reference ask for his national bureau of investigation clearance, barangay clearance, police clearance and the most important if he can provide a court clearance. if you don't trust or you have doubt with the agent don't transact with him/her.."

2) In checking the performance and licensed status of a certain legitimate real estate licensed broker and licensed salesman go directly to Department of Trade and Industry because they will provide all the information of a certain licensed brokers and salesman regarding pending litigations, violations, disciplinary actions, and including the status of licensed if it is expired, active, revoke. However since we have a new law the REP. ACT 9646-R E S A, which was singed last July 2009 by our Pres. Gloria Arroyo, all duties of the DTI was already transfered to P R C - Professional Regulation Commission and we are only waiting for the (IRR) implementing guidelines which will be ready may be early March 2010. Then the P R C will provide a ROSTER LIST of all certified real estate licensed broker. For more info pls. read the REP. ACT. 9646-RESA. (2009) All complains regarding real estate licensed broker and salesman unethical irregularities will be handle by the Professional Regulation Commission LAWYER for proper investigation and penalties/its either monetary and imprisonment penalties .

Secondly, DTI/PRC dont have any direct control and no LIST of unlicensed or colorum agents/brokers in the real estate market today but the penalty is double compared to licensed brokers/salesman.

“”SEC. 29 of REP. ACT 9646 - Prohibition Against the Unauthorized Practice of Real Estate Service””. - No person shall practice or offer to practice real estate service in the Philippines or offer himself/herself as real estate service practitioner, or use the title, word, letter, figure or any sign tending to convey the impression that one is a real estate service practitioner, or advertise or indicate in any manner whatsoever that one is qualified to practice the profession, or be appointed as real property appraiser or assessor in any national government entity or local government unit, unless he/she has satisfactorily passed the licensure examination given by the Board, except as otherwise provided in this Act, a holder of a valid certificate of registration, and professional identification card or a valid special/temporary permit duly issued to him/her by the Board and the Commission, and in the case of real estate brokers and private appraisers, they have paid the required bond as hereto provided.
NOTE: Pls. see RESA- REP. ACT 9646 for the penalty

THE RISKS OF POSTING BUSINESS IN THE INTERNET

We are now in the age of advanced information technology. Communication became faster and faster. Perhaps, one of the more, if not the most important discovery in this field is the worldwide web or the internet. Many businesses flourished because of the internet. If you have a business and you do not have presence in the internet, you are way, way behind. Everybody now is using the internet to market their products.

There are many advantages of having an internet presence BUT there are also many RISKS that you face. Just like in the real world, in the world wide web, are also many scammers, hackers, spammers, identity thieves, "vultures, crododiles.." etc. They would try every means to deceive, trap, fool, steal ... people.

I was one of those victims. I got the shock of my life when I found my picture posted in one of the sites with bold letters announcing that I am no longer connected with Elohim Realty Services and any transaction with me in behalf of the office will no longer be honored. Oh my GOSH, how could that happened that I am no longer connected with the office wherein I am the owner and Sole Proprietor??? I received an email pretending to be coming from the management of Elohim Realty Services telling who the culprit is, responsible in posting such ad. This person or group of people are misrepresenting my office. Upon the advise of my lawyer, we issued an announcement to the public in the same site to counter the malicious and misleading advertisement.

When you are doing business in the internet, you have to be very careful indeed and at the same time, show toughness - "a fist for a fist and a tooth for a tooth fight" against unscrupulous people. REPORT and ACT AT ONCE.

To all my clients, my valid email addresses are: maribethollet@yahoo.com; maribethro@gmail.com. Do not entertain other email addresses when dealing with Elohim Realty Services. Also, verify first through this mobile # 09205351059 if the person you are dealing with is really connected with my office. Deal with me directly. (maribethollet)

Real Estate Development Project in Baguio City!

A few days ago I had the chance to attend an orientation seminar of one of the best real estate developers in Baguio City. I had been introduced to their projects many months ago and one or two of their agents already came to see me in my home-office to introduce their project. I don't know but somehow, it did not catch my attention maybe because I was then busy selling individual properties. I was not into project selling, really. I am also choosy when it comes to developers since there are many out there who are just into money making business without considering the quality of their products and the satisfaction of their clients.

This time however, after listening to their very alive and knowledgeable trainer, I was impressed not only with the outstanding track record of the developer but with the whole project, as well.

I am referring to Goshen Land Capital Incorporated. Goshen Land offers affordable but quality real estate products. The HLURB granted Goshen Land HLURB Certificate of Registration 11684 and HLURB Licenses to Sell 12378 so that people and families could be empowered to enjoy Baguio with the assurance of a clean title and a secure and beautiful environment and the gains of a sure Goshen Land development investment.

To date, Goshen Land has two masterplanned projects, The Courtyards and The Summerfields.

I will feature the two projects in my next blog.

Some Reminders for Real Estate Brokers/Agents

"Be sincere in helping your clients."

I am always reminded of the Golden Rule - "Do unto others what you would like others to do unto you." In practicing my profession as real estate broker, I always put myself in the shoes of my clients. I always ask myself these questions - "If I am the one buying/selling a property, what would I like my broker/agent to do for me?", "What are the important information that I need to know?"

Be honest and tell your clients all the information that they need to know about the property that they are buying/selling. If you conceal an important information, sooner or later they would find out and and the result - you have everything to lose especially future referrals.

Give out important information that they need to know to guide them make a wise decision whether to buy the property or not. Do not think of the commission that you would make out of the sale. Think FIRST of their satisfaction. If they are satisfied with the first sale, they will keep coming back and bring more referrals.

Equally important, conduct thorough investigation and verification of the properties that you are selling and the background of the sellers as well.

Be honest and be transparent. Be committed and see to it that all documents are processed on time. Professionalism matters a lot.

God bless and be passionate to be of help to others.

Steps and Tips in Buying Real Estate in the Philippines

1. Set the criteria for your desired property.

• Determine your purpose of buying.
  Is it for your family? or your business? Is it for your retirement? Or are you into buy and sell investments?
  
  
• Determine the property category.
  Is it house and lot? a residential lot only? or a condominium unit?
  
  
• Determine your desired location.
  Is it in Manila? or in Davao? Should it be near your office? Or somewhere far from the city?
  
  
• Determine your budget.
  Set the price minimum and price maximum that you can afford. Say Php 2 million to 6 million.
  
  
• Determine other specifications.
  Do you need at least 3 bedrooms? do you want a 3-car garage? Is it two-storey?
  

2. Search properties based on your criteria.

Our website can greatly help you in this stage. By searching your desired property in our website, you save a lot of time and effort. You don't need to go to Laguna just to find all the properties in Laguna. You just type in your search criterias, and then you select among the results.

The website was built for easy comparison of properties. You need to do a lot of comparing so that you get the best out of the available properties. Besides, you also have to know what preferences you can tradeoff to get what you want.

Consider also between buying individual property listings vs. development projects. Most of the time, units in development projects are cheaper especially in its pre-selling stage as compared to resale properties who are more expensive because the community where it belongs is already "developed".

3. Contact the broker on the property.

Usually the owner has already appointed someone to sell the property on his behalf and that person is called the broker. Though some think that buying directly to the owner or developer will save them time and money, a broker will still be advantageous to the buyer for the following reasons:

• Broker facilitates the whole transaction process
  From setting appointments/meeting, negotiations to furnishing of legal documents and other requirements from the pre-sale to post-sale stage, the buyer and seller is relieved from the hassle and stress of the menial work. Sometimes the seller/owner may not have enough technical knowledge on the legal requirements for the sale of his property, so it is safe and practical to involve a broker in a transaction to have someone in charge of the documents and the processing work.
  
• Broker trips the buyer to the property sites.
  The buyer has the privilege of being tripped by the broker to the sites of the properties for free. The buyer no longer has to worry searching a local city map where the property might be located. It is the responsibility of the broker to lead the buyer and set appointments for the site visit.
  
• Broker acts as negotiator
  During negotiations, the broker is an indispensable party as witness and negotiator for both seller and buyer. A third party may be necessary to ensure that all agreements is recorded and is put on paper. If the buyer may find it hard to ask for a lower price to the owner, the broker may negotiate in behalf of the buyer.
  
• Broker can give recommendations of other alternative properties
  An owner may try to convince the buyer that his/her property is a good choice, but the broker is a good source of recommendations of other alternative properties to the buyer. Usually a broker keeps an "inventory" of properties that he/she is allowed to sell. Through this, the broker gives the buyer a wider range of choices and saves his time and effort. Instead of looking for 20 owners of properties, the buyer has to find only one broker that has a listing of 20 properties.
  
• Broker can search for more properties in behalf of the buyer
  If still the buyer can't find the property that fits his specification, and it isn't found on the broker's inventory, the broker will exert further effort to search other properties. The broker may use his network of friends in real estate to quickly get more property listings that might fit the buyer's specification.

The same is true with development projects (e.g. subdivisions, villages, condominium units, etc) A developer will appoint brokers as marketing arms to sell the units in the project. But take note that whether you go direct to the developer or course the transaction through a broker, most of the time you still get the same contract price. So why not go with the benefits of dealing with a broker.

4. Check the sample computation and requirements, and pay the Reservation Fee on your chosen property

You should consult the other decision makers in your family or organization when finally choosing the property that you want to buy. Check the property against your set criteria. Decide on the specific lot and block number. Then get a sample computation and the qualification requirements from your broker. Check if you can afford to pay the downpayment and the monthly amortization. Check also if you can qualify as buyer according to the developer's standards.

If everyone involved in the decision-making agrees and has peace of mind with your choice and you know you qualify and can well afford to pay the total price of the property including the tax and other processing fees, immediately pay the reservation fee. This is for buyers on development projects. Why the reservation fee? So that you don't lose the property while you are still deciding on a preferred payment scheme or you are still preparing the amount needed to pay the property in cash.


5. Decide on a payment scheme, wire the money and sign the documents.

Decide on a payment scheme that you feel comfortable with in terms of your financial capacities. The usual payment schemes are spot cash, bank financing, or in-house financing. Then proceed with the payments. In case of development projects, most buyers are required to prepare postdated checks for all the monthly amortizations. The developer may also do credit investigations technically assess your capacity to pay. Be prepared to submit the necessary requirements and sign the documents.

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Reference: http://www.philrealty-showroom.com/reguides/steps.htm