Is your personal info safe during a real estate transaction? Probably not.

As we all know, data collection and privacy issues are a real problem these days.  Data sales are a big, big business, and several national real estate brokerages now admit to being in the business of selling data.  The good news is there are lots of state and federal laws to protect your privacy.  See California's https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/privacy-laws. 

But some of your info can still be sold.  How can your real estate company, escrow company, bank or title company protect you from having your data sold? First, review the company's privacy policy and ask questions.  The company may be able to furnish you with an opt-out form.  Second, ask if data and files are stored in an online platform.  Some online platforms are theoretically safe (such as your lender's), but some are furnished to third party companies.  If the company does store the info, again ask for an opt-out form or ask if it can be stored in another manner.  Finally, make sure that you are on the do-not-call registry, although this is no guarantee that you won't get annoying calls soliciting your business.  A client of mine recently got about six calls from every five minutes from Realtors who wanted her business.  And her phone number was unpublished.  Her mother got calls too, even though her number is also unpublished and she doesn't even live with her daughter!  (By the way, the info was furnished to Realtors by a company called REXD.com -- steer clear!)