What do you reveal to your broker

Don't give out your birthdate, social security number, accounts #s. Can't steal your identity with just a statement of assets.

Also ask the co-op what the policy is w.r.t. shredding personal info once it's done reviewing your board package. Ditto a condo.

But they can kidnap you if you are rich and hold you for ransom:)

mhillqt, in the initial stages you just give, or at least this was true nine years ago, general info. i never told my broker my financial status until i made the first offer, and got the general go ahead to review building finances.

10023 is right. your broker and their broker has no need for such identifying information. it might not be a bad idea to have a "cheat sheet" with your correct financials but without any real identifying details. sellers really can't in this environment expect perfection in their selling process, although it is understandable that they would LIKE to fully vet potential buyers.

Only work with long standing brokers who you have references for. If that is the case, you should be comfortable with him or her as this person needs information to help you find your home. If the broker was unscrupulous then people would not trust him or her with their home. So you should feel safe.

Why give anything to your broker? Can't you send the info directly to the seller's broker or even better, the co-op board directly.

We didn't give any of that information to our buyer's broker- only job titles and where we work and where we currently live so the broker has an idea of our finances, but no real specifics. Unless you own your own business, I would think that your broker could guess within a certain range what your salary is based upon your job and where you live. We didn't see any reason for us to share that level of information with our broker.

We did a sheet with assets and lial's - no statements, no bank names, no details - with our offer just clearly detailing how/why we would be accepted by the board. However, when you do the eventual package, a number of people will see your financial info ... that is just part of the game. I never sent it to through a broker - I always insisted on sending the package directly to the board myself. But, to your paranoia, a board member could be a id thief as easily as a broker could be!

There's no way you can force the co-op/condo board to verify that they've shredded your board package. However, you can at least send them (and their lawyers) a letter telling them (once you've been approved, of course) that you fully expect your info to be treated with great care and that they are on notice. You should also ask for their policy (in writing) as to board packages.

A general statement of assets and income should be more than sufficient. I don't see how they could steal your identity with that info (okay, maybe they can gossip about you on SE, but that's it).

1. Income (maybe do 2 or 3 years), just give the number, position at employer.
2. Assets (no need to specify other than cash, cash equivalents, stock, real estate). Be general, don't have to
say what stocks you own or what real estate
3. Liability - see above. Just add up your total liabilities.

That's all you should need at this point.

I don't understand why you would work with a broker you don't trust with financial details -- what's the point?

I do some work with fancy clients, and I've only ever had one withhold her SSN, and she was enough of a public figure that I believe her identity theft concerns were valid. Your average banker/actor/tech millionaire -- much more likely to get their credit card swiped in a restaurant (a la Ben Bernanke's wife) than to have problems via buying real estate.

HOWEVER, if you are truly worried about identity theft:

1) never put all nine digits of your SSN in one place. Send over your paperwork with five digits, then give the other four over the phone.

2) work with a mortgage banker or broker, and ask whichever broker you're dealing with to accept that banker's clearance of your financials. Otherwise, it's perfectly acceptable standard practice for the listing broker to ask for a REBNY financial statement with account numbers. You're concerned that brokers steal, but brokers are concerned that clients lie.

The second customers I ever had "said" they had five million dollars, and wasted a LOT of my and other agents' time. Did I mention I trusted them because they were referred to me by somebody in the mayor's office?

3) ask what happens to the ELECTRONIC copies of your records. The paper copies are easy enough to shred -- but y'all know we scan everything and email it around as pdfs, right? What you want to worry about where the pdfs go.

4) While we're at it, how many of you have STRONG passwords on your gmail accounts that you change EVERY 30 days? I thought so.

ali r.
{downtown broker}