This blog post details a very sophisticated phishing scam I got in my email. Below is the email chain I received from the scammer asking about New Homes. I responded to their cryptic 1st email and this email message is their response.

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When I click on one of the secure web https links in the email, I got the web page shown below.

When I click on one of the email login buttons shown on the website, I got the web page shown below.

The image looks exactly what a Google login page would look like, however, if I continued and enter my email address and password, I could be giving the scammer full access to my email account.

One way to prevent this from happening is to make sure you add the 2-Step Verification for your email login access.

Here are the links to get 2-Step Verification for several popular email services.

Office 365 2-Step Verification

Outlook 2-Step Verification

Google 2-Step Verification

Yahoo 2-Step Verification

AOL 2-Step Verification

Facebook 2-Step Verification

I hope the above information can help you avoid having your email address stolen from you!

I wanted to share a helpful tip for locating the properties you have assigned as “Favorites” in the MLS Portal searches.
 
When you access the MLS Portal, there is a row of menu options, to see the Favorite you have previous picked the menu item shown in the image above.
 
Other Link: Assigning Categories in the MLS Portal

I wanted to share a helpful tip when reviewing properties sent to you from the MLS Portal searches. When you get a listing to see via email, click on the property link. After evaluating the listing, you can select the “Heart Icon” located in the upper right of the window, once selected a menu will pop-down and shows you three options. The three options are shown in the image above.
 
You can use the “Save as Favorite” selection to add a red heart icon that signifies that you like the property.
 
You can use the “Save as Possibility” selection to add a yellow heart to signify to sort of like the property and need to research it further.
 
You can also use the “Discard Listing” selection to add a “Trash Can” icon to signify that you do not like the property.
 
The search results in the Portal can be searched by theses categories. You can change a listing’s status by selecting the “Heart Icon and again and making a different selection. When you discard a listing, you will no longer get status updates for it in emails.
 
Other Link: Finding your Favorites in the MLS Portal

It is important that you get the correct carpet measurements for your project before going to the flooring store. Most flooring retailers will have overstock that they call “remnants”, these left over pieces can be purchased at greatly discounted prices and work great if you have individual room that need carpeting.

One option is to have a local flooring retailer professional come to your home and evaluate the amount of carpet you will need. This is the least desirable option as the retailer may not give you the measurements they used to arrive at the carpet square yards needed and may have financial incentives to over sell you.

A better option is to contact a local carpet installer to come to your house for the carpet measurements. This assures you that the carpet installer that performs the measuring will know how to optimize for installation.

You can do the carpet measuring yourself. You may need to draw a detailed diagram or use a floor plan for your home. This will help the flooring wholesaler to determine the square yards of carpet required for your installation. Do not be intimidated by measuring yourself. You will need a tape measure or electronic measuring device, notebook, calculator, and a pen/pencil. See the links below if you need to purchase these items.

You will need to draw a diagram of the area(s) to be carpeted in order to determine the amount of carpet needed. This diagram is used for estimation purposes plus carpet layout, to account for doorways, carpet seam placement, traffic patterns, hallways and closets. If you feel unsure about your diagram and layouts, ask the flooring retailer or installer to come to your home for a site inspection, and to confirm your calculations.

Keep in mind, carpet is manufactured in variety of widths, the most common is 12 foot wide rolls. This is important to note because just measuring the dimensions of a room may not provide an accurate representation for the amount of carpet needed. For example, an 11 foot by 10 foot room provides an area of 110 square feet, extra length should be added if you will be carpeting the door threshold and/or closet spaces. For carpet manufactured in 12 foot widths, 110 square feet equals 12 foot width by 10 foot length of carpet (add more as required for door openings). Purchasing only 110 square feet of carpet may result in having a piece that will not fit your room or a good deal of seaming. In this case, 120 square feet of carpet would be required to properly install an 110 square foot room. Keep in mind that the direction of the carpet pile or pattern must remain the same throughout the installation.

These rules should be considered in your calculations:
Seams should not fall in a doorway.
Measurements for rooms should start in the center of the door threshold, not the base of the wall.
Patterned carpet, such as Berber will require an additional 10% of carpet for pattern matching.

In closing, you can measure yourself or call in a professional. New carpet will make your home look and smell new again.