There was a time in real estate when things felt… looser.
One seller once told me how he bought his home years ago. Negotiations had stalled. The seller wanted more money. So he arrived with grocery bags filled with cash.
Around $200,000 in paper bills.
Transaction complete.
Another time, I watched a buyer count out $50,000 in hundred-dollar bills on a kitchen table as a deposit. He thought the size of the pile would demonstrate how serious he was.
It demonstrated something else. My heart rate increased.
Those moments feel almost surreal now. Not because they didn’t happen — they did — but because today they simply wouldn’t.
And honestly, that’s a good thing.
When Trust Became Verification
Remember when checking into a hotel required nothing more than a credit card and a smile? Or when you could travel to the United States with just your driver’s licence?
Life felt simpler. Less procedural.
But simple isn’t always secure.
In 2000, Canada introduced the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Act and created an agency with an impressive name: the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada. We call it FINTRAC.
Its purpose is straightforward. Track suspicious financial patterns. Disrupt money laundering. Protect the integrity of the system.
Real estate, because of its size and stability, sits right in the middle of that system.
That’s why when you buy or sell a home today, you’re asked for identification. Your occupation. Your date of birth. Your current address. Proof of where your deposit funds were held.
It can feel like a lot.
But Realtors are not alone in this. Lawyers, banks, mortgage professionals, accountants, casinos, title insurers — all operate under similar obligations. It’s not personal. It’s structural.
The Numbers Behind the Questions
It’s easy to assume these rules exist for dramatic, rare cases. But the scale is larger than most people realize.
FINTRAC imposed over $200 million in fines in 2025. In 2024, TD Bank paid a $3 billion penalty in the United States for anti-money laundering failures.
These are not abstract concerns. They are modern financial realities.
And real estate has historically been attractive to anyone looking to convert questionable funds into legitimate assets. Large transactions. Stable value. Social respectability.
The mechanics are rarely cinematic. They’re procedural. Overpayments at closing followed by refunds. Property transferred between shell companies. Fraudulent mortgage applications. Vacant homes recorded as rented with fictional income.
Nothing flashy. Just paperwork.
A Little Friction Is Not a Bad Thing
In twenty-five years of collecting identification and verifying funds, I have never once been asked by authorities to produce a client file.
That tells me something reassuring. The overwhelming majority of buyers and sellers are entirely legitimate.
The safeguards exist not because everyone is suspicious, but because a small minority is not.
When you are dealing with the largest asset most people will ever own, a little friction is preferable to blind trust.
So when you’re asked for ID or proof of where your deposit originated, it isn’t an accusation. It’s part of ensuring that the transaction unfolding in front of you is exactly what it appears to be.
The grocery bags are gone.
The questions remain.
And that’s progress.
If you’re considering a move and want guidance that balances the human side of real estate with the regulatory realities working quietly in the background, I’m always happy to connect.
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