Has the Drone made it to your radar? If not, expect it to be flying by soon!

Has the Drone made it to your radar? 

If not, expect it to be flying by soon!

Drone Technology is all of the latest buzz lately. It will continue to be “refined and incorporated into events, especially to capture photos and videos.” Realtors (are) eager to embrace drone technology despite obstacles. Dave Radcliffe of the Radcliffe Group of Keller Williams Realty Southwest is using the technology to showcase his Las Vegas, Summerlin, Centennial Hills, North Las Vegas and Southwest Las Vegas Real Estate listings of homes for sale. 

Take a look at a recent video of a home for sale using the Drone technology:

So what is a Drone? Essentially, a drone is a flying robot. Check out the 2013 video that describes what a Drone is and the predictions of 2015!
 
“Why do individuals use “UAS- Unmanned Air Systems,” “UAV- Unmanned aerial vehicles,” or “RPA- Remotely piloted aircraft” instead of the term (Drone) that people “just click with”? Does it even matter? “Officials, industry heads or military/intelligence officers refuse to use “Drone” because they grasp the power of criticism directed at this new technology being used to revolutionize warfare and surveillance, in addition to helping first responders, rescue missions, agricultural production and scientific research.” Drones are slightly different, and not as complicated as a warfare tool. In this case, we are using Droves to take real estate photos. 

Dave was an integral part of the RPA, remotely piloted aircraft, operations through the US Air Force. An RPA is (similar, but) different than a drone, as a RPA is described as “There’s a pilot, sensor operator, tactical intelligence, ground commander – a team of humans trained to make decisions at all times. We are just remotely piloted.” Dave started working on a RPA project in 2010; it was to do “RPA testing and DMO. It became RPA Integration into the National Airspace and Nevada” and Nevada was selected as a test site in Dec 2013. As a volunteer, Dave has briefed the entire congressional delegation and met with numerous groups on the subject. He was also involved in writing responses to the FAA and has been a big contributor of numerous meetings.

Delays in the FAA’s approval process to go air bound has many industries frustrated with the approval process to fly in airspace. According to a recent article The FAA has sought to alleviate some of the frustrations by announcing a new "blanket" approval for some companies to fly limited operations, rather than requiring a new permit for each flight. According to FAA.gov, just this week the FAA stated it will grant broad airspace authorization to unmanned aircraft users flying at or below 200 feet.  

Look up, you may see a Drone flying by soon in your neighborhood.

 

Written by Nickel Lowman
With content as quoted from the linked sites
For Dave Radcliffe, The Radcliffe Group
Keller Williams Realty Southwest
702-379-3401
www.DaveRadcliffeVegas.com

Meet Jenifer Wolf, Escrow Officer with TicorTitle

702-379-3401 www.DaveRadcliffeVegas.com

Meet Jenifer Wolf, Escrow Officer with TicorTitle

The Radcliffe Group uses TicorTitle during your escrow process for title and escrow needs.

Jennifer runs her crew at TicorTitle and they each have specific jobs and roles within the team. The processing of a property file begins with processing, then on to figurers, to closing and recording. It has a smooth flow which allows us to be highly productive and very detail orientated. It’s important to reference the property address when you call, so we can direct you to the proper team member that is currently working on the file. 

TicorTitle Taking Care of Your Real Estate Transactions

702-379-3401

www.DaveRadcliffeVegas.com

Community Alert- Squatters and Illegal Occupancy

My new buyers closed escrow on a Las Vegas home, 

but someone had beaten them to the move in. 

 Squatters or victims of fraud? Or both?

It’s important to hear the latest community alert brought to you by David Radcliffe and Dianna, Realtors of the Radcliffe Group of Keller Williams Realty Southwest Las Vegas. Recently Dianna was meeting her new home buyers at the Summerlin Las Vegas home that they had just closed escrow on to bring them the keys, and upon arrival the new homeowners and Dianna had discovered someone had beaten them to the move in. Watch the short YouTubevideo from the Radcliffe Educational Series and when Law Meets Real Estate series to hear more about what happened.

We all know what fraud is, and that it’s illegal, but do you really understand the term squatter? What about the term inadvertent squatter. Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land and/or a building – usually residential – that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use this is a violation of civil law. An inadvertent squatter may have a rental contract, but if it’s not from or on behalf of the owner, it’s fraudulent. 

Squatters have rights. If police find squatters, there's not a whole lot they can do. Police uphold criminal law -- not civil law. Civil law is worked out in the courts. Once police determine that a squatter has established some sort of tenancy, the issue becomes a civil matter. By settling into a home in a generally respectable manner, a squatter can create the appearance of tenants' rights. Since tenants have rights, in order to get them out of a property, the eviction process must be followed. According to the Clark County of Nevada website “All evictions must begin with a NOTICE. There are several types of notices to choose from. You may not always be able to use the quickest notice available. You must choose one that applies to the situation. There are separate notices for manufactured homes and non-manufactured homes. A standard eviction can cost $100 - $120 from start to finish. Evictions take 10 to 180 days depending on the type of notice served.” 

So here’s what happened in Dianna’s situation…During the escrow period when the home was vacant, someone (we shall call them tenants) had moved into the property, illegally through dealings with a person fraudulently acting as the owner, landlord or leasing agent (we shall call him the scammer). Unfortunately, tough times, vacant homes and foreclosures in Las Vegas and around the country, has caused for a new type of fraud. The scammer advertises the vacant home, this time, a Summerlin property on craigslist, an online classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, items wanted, services, community, etc., with the home listed for rent. The prospective tenants are excited to find such a nice home, undervalued in today’s market available for rent. They completed the application and came up with the cash only payment that the scammer had requested, because they knew it was a good deal. He said he didn’t need to meet at an office (meeting at the property was fine, after-all he didn’t have an office) and the rental application and contract seemed a little weird, almost too good to be true, but the tenants figured what the heck, we need a place to live and it’s a great neighborhood. So the new tenants move in and call the residence home. 

What happens next is when the tenants become victims of the scammer’s crime. In addition to lost cash deposits and rent payments for a home they can no longer live in, they have also jeopardized their social security numbers, driver’s license number and date of birth information given on the rental application, as they may now be victims of identity theft by the scammer. And now, they are going to have to find a new place to live, come up with deposit fund for the new place and peacefully move out or go through the eviction process. It was important to remember, safety first. This case ended peacefully, with minimal hassles, they don’t all end this way. Be in the know and follow a few safety steps when renting property. 

Lesson to Renters: 

• Use a Realtor or qualified real estate agent to search the MLS for available properties, not use Craigslist. 
• Always meet at a real estate or leasing office. 
• Never give cash only payments for a rental agreement, or wire money, or send money overseas 
• Don’t give a security deposit, or first month’s rent without viewing the property first 
• If it seems under value, it may be to-good to be true 
• The plan to get you the keys seems illegitimate, it's probably fishy

If you find yourself the target of a rental scam, report it to your local law enforcement agency. Las Vegas Metro Police Department says to call your nearest area command center and ask for the community-oriented policing team and report it to the FTC. Also be sure to contact the website where the ad was posted, and report it there. 

Remember the Radcliffe group is a top producing team of qualified Realtors ready to help you with all of your real estate needs.

The Radcliffe Group is your Las Vegas, Summerlin, Centennial Hills, and North Las Vegas real estate connection. Ranking consistently as one of the top real estate teams at Keller Williams Realty Southwest Las Vegas, Dave also ranked number 1 in 2014 as the top producing individual out of 172 Realtor- Agents in his office. 

As a retired police officer, Dave is passionate about giving back to the service community and dedicates much of his time giving and supporting the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, Firefighters and Military at Nellis Air Force Base. The Radcliffe Group can assist you in your Las Vegas PCS or relocation, New Home Construction purchase, Condo and Luxury Home purchase. Specializing in helping Las Vegas and North Las Vegas homeowners sell their home for the highest market value, Dave and his team will help you yield your highest profit. Call 702-379-3401 when it is time to sell your Las Vegas, Summerlin, Centennial Hills or North Las Vegas Home. 

Thank you for tuning in, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and check out our Las Vegas Real Estate Blog at: www.DaveRadcliffeVegas.com

Written by Nickel Lowman 

with content from FTC.gov, ClarkCountyNV, ReviewJournal.com

For Dave Radcliffe, The Radcliffe Group

Keller Williams Realty Southwest

702-379-3401

www.DaveRadcliffeVegas.com 

 

Were you overcharged by Las Vegas Valley Water District?

Hey Las Vegas Residents & Homeowners, you need to see this...

Las Vegas Valley Water District may have over charged you in February! AND charged you a late fee, AND dinged your credit because of it!

I have had auto-pay set us for years on most all of my utility bills (All except sewer- for some reason Clark County Water Reclamation does not bill like the rest of the companies here in Vegas- but that's not what this is about.)  So, back to my point... I was surprised when my water bill from Las Vegas Valley Water District was double this month of what the normal charges usually are. For my household it's not a big deal (my bill runs about $25 per month) so when it doubled it was noticeable, not critical, but for larger households, homes with pools, and higher volume users, this could be hundreds of dollars! 

When I logged into my online account, I could see I was current on all previous payments (why wouldn't I be, after-all, like I said, I was on auto-pay.) Hoping, I did not have a water leak like the last 2 times my bill was abnormal/outrageous (by the way, previously it was a water-main leak on the water company's side of the valve, so they had to repair it at and credit my "so called wasted water usage" at their cost) and the time before that it was a underground sprinkler pipe that had frozen during an unusual cold front one January, that lasted longer than normal (which was quickly repaired by an AMAZING Company- ran my Tony Olteam- Future Yards of Las Vegas.) I decided I better call the water company and see what was up, I dislike wasting water especially knowing Vegas and California are in some of the worst drought years in history!

So, I called Las Vegas Valley Water District customer service to investigate, automatically getting a hold message that they were experiencing a high call volume (9 minutes), so I found other things to do while waiting on hold. (I find that is the best way to keep calm when having to deal with a company with long hold times.) Jann, a not so friendly customer service rep took my call and asked for my address, last 4 of my social security number, to confirm my phone number and give her my birthday before she would even allow me to ask my question- (account verification is one thing, it just seemed like an absorbent amount of information.) After sharing/confirming ALL my personal information, she proceeded to tell me I was late with my last payment, was charged a late fee, and my internal credit score had been docked! What! The online system said I was current with all past payments. I continued to ask questions; maybe I was misunderstanding the online system? (Naw- not me.) After a short hold, she came back on the line, and told me I was not late after-all! What? Now I'm confused and a bit frustrated, but happy.

Apparently, their auto-pay system had problems in February, where it charged account holders, but forgot to/ did not credit their accounts! It was a known issue, and up to me (the resident) to tell them there was a problem! Surprised, I asked her how to correct it, she said she would open a tech ticket and someone would credit my account for the over charged billing period in approximately 3-5 days, and I would need to follow up at that time. Surprised with her lack of apology on behalf of the company and concern, I asked for a confirmation number for my records, (I wanted to make sure it was actually taken care of if I needed to reference it in the future) she said that she could not provide one, she could only provide her name J-A-N-N. I said okay and thank you, and then decided to ask for a inconvenience credit. Surprisingly, she offered $5.00 off a future bill. (Better than nothing and a little compensation for my wasted time. Cool.) 

Curious, I inquired further about her statement about a credit score. Apparently, Las Vegas Valley Water District keeps a credit score on each of their account holders to determine if a deposit will be charged, or if future service can be turned on after a move. Your score starts at a 100 points and is docked for late or returned payments. So they had automatically docked my score because of their internal error! No way. So she corrected that for me too. (I'm happy now.)

A few lessons and tips:

• Stay patient while on hold, everyone has a job to do, some of us more than we can squeeze in all in a day's work
• Watch all billing statements, even if on auto-pay
• Keep an eye on recurring payments and call if something seems abnormal, you may be being over charged
• Inquire about the refund process time frame
• Always get a confirmation number or name of employee for future reference
• Ask how it may affect a future account or credit score with their company
• Ask for an inconvenience credit, sometimes they are there for the asking, but not given unless asked for

So, Las Vegas, I urge you to take a look at your past couple of months of water bills with Las Vegas Valley Water District and check to see if charges may have resulted in late fees and a reduced internal credit score because of an internal known technical error. It may be worth your time. The call saved me about $30.00.

Las Vegas Valley Water District Customer Service can be reached at (702) 870-2011, www.lvvwd.com

Las Vegas Area Utility information can be found below.

Written by Nickel Lowman

Independent Blog Writer

 Dave Radcliffe, The Radcliffe Group

Keller Williams Realty Southwest

702-379-3401

www.DaveRadcliffeVegas.com 

 

The Radcliffe Group is your Las Vegas, Summerlin, Centennial Hills, and North Las Vegas real estate connection. Ranking consistently as one of the top real estate teams at Keller Williams Realty Southwest Las Vegas, Dave also ranked number 1 in 2014 as the top producing individual out of 172 Realtor- Agents in his office.