I just started two months ago as a bookkeeper at a local realty company. I have noticed several things that seem to be out of sorts with the books.

I have noticed that my boss receives a bill once a month from a company and on it states people names, address, phone numbers. It says that the bill is for copies of birth records.

I have checked these 10 - 15 names (a month) and they do not seem to be employees or people who are connected with the agency.

Would there be a reason for a real estate agent or broker to need to obtain this information regularly? It seems like there may be more to it but I am not sure and am not familiar with the real estate workings.

Please let me know if I am mistaken or who I should contact or what I should do if this may be a problem.

Thank you for your time.

I once sold a co-op I owned to a nice couple who were not American citizens yet and the realtor did need to get copies of what I believe to be birth records...

Are they potential buyers maybe and the realtor is confirming thier information?

All of these people seem to live locally (within a few cities) and have current addresses.
I have looked in the books of properties sold and these names do not match any of them. There has been about 30-40 in the short time that I have been there.

We are just a small agency that does a small amount of business in Southern Ohio and part of West Virginia. We only have about 20 agents and almost all are part-time.

I do appreciate your prompt answer and perhaps I am overthinking this. I was just thinking about the identity theft part but maybe this is not an issue.

Thanks again for your time.

Ethical? Since when is government ethical? Government is too greedy to be ethical.

These are probably for government requirements.

I needed them to get a mortgage, and to get a job. Government is too greedy for info.