As real estate becomes more digital, establishing trust is becoming both more complex and more important. The signals professionals have traditionally relied on to confirm identity are evolving, while new technology is creating opportunities to approach identity and risk in more intelligent ways.
Ryan Lambert, Vice President of Data and Analytics, Enterprise Product, and Strategy at FCT, works at the intersection of data, technology, product, and strategy. His focus is on turning emerging ideas into practical capabilities that can make real estate transactions safer, more secure, simpler, and more efficient.
For Cybersecurity Month, we spoke with Ryan about how identity-related risk is changing, what meaningful verification looks like, and how technology, data, and professional judgement can work together to strengthen trust throughout a real estate transaction.
The biggest change is that the signals we historically relied on to establish trust are becoming less reliable on their own. A professional-looking document, a convincing email, or even meeting someone face-to-face doesn’t necessarily carry the same weight it once did. The quality and accessibility of synthetic content and fraudulent identity artifacts continue to improve.
At the same time, real estate is becoming more digital and more connected. That creates new points of exposure, but it also gives us an opportunity to establish trust differently. Instead of relying on one interaction or one piece of identification, we can increasingly look at multiple independent signals throughout the transaction. The risk is evolving, but so is our ability to identify it.
I think one misconception is that identity risk is primarily a remote or digital problem. There can be a sense that if you meet someone in person and inspect their identification, you’ve removed much of the risk. That assumption is becoming harder to make as fraudulent identity artifacts become more sophisticated.
The other thing we may underestimate is how dynamic identity risk is. Someone can legitimately verify their identity at the beginning of a transaction, but that doesn’t mean every subsequent request should automatically be trusted. If banking information, contact details, or other important information suddenly changes, that new context matters. Identity is increasingly a transaction-long risk signal, not a one-time checkbox.
A completed check is really just the starting point. I’d be asking what was actually verified, what evidence supported that verification, and whether the level of scrutiny made sense for the risk of the action being taken.
I’d also look at how the process handles information. Identity data is some of the most sensitive information an individual has, so how it is collected, protected, and potentially reused matters.
Ultimately, the question shouldn’t just be, “Did we verify this person?” It should be, “Do we have enough trusted evidence to confidently take this particular action?”
Identity verification should be treated as a layer of risk management that extends across the transaction.
Real estate is inherently multi-party. You have buyers, sellers, real estate professionals, lenders, lawyers or notaries, and ultimately the property itself. Each interaction can create another signal that either strengthens or challenges what we believe about the transaction.
The opportunity is to establish identity early and then carry that trust forward, while recognizing moments where the risk changes and additional scrutiny makes sense. That is much more powerful than repeatedly treating identity as a disconnected administrative step.
Technology should augment professional judgement, not replace it.
The value of technology is its ability to consistently evaluate information, surface signals, and redirect professional attention toward the places where judgement is most valuable. That becomes increasingly important as transactions become more digital and the volume of information professionals need to assess grows.
But technology won’t eliminate the need for someone to recognize when something simply doesn’t make sense. Suspicion of fraud is a good example. Technology can provide better evidence and stronger signals, but professional judgement remains a critical part of deciding what to do with them.
This is where it gets particularly interesting from a data perspective. A stand-alone identity check gives you a point-in-time answer. A transaction gives you context.
When you start connecting signals across different stages of a transaction, you can build a much richer picture of confidence and risk. Does the identity information remain consistent? Have important details changed? Do the people, property, and transaction information continue to make sense together?
I think the industry has an opportunity to move beyond a binary “verified” or “not verified” model. The more useful question is how much trusted evidence we have across the transaction and whether that evidence supports the action being taken at that moment.
Client ID Verification Solutions are designed around a fairly simple idea: establish trust earlier in the transaction and make identity verification work in an increasingly digital environment.
Real estate professionals need to confirm identity while also managing fraud risk, sensitive customer information, and compliance requirements. At the same time, adding security shouldn’t automatically mean adding unnecessary friction for the customer.
The opportunity is to make identity verification more secure and easier to incorporate into existing workflows, including remote interactions. Establishing that verified identity earlier can also create a stronger foundation for the interactions that follow.
For me, the opportunity is context.
Identity tells you something about the people involved. Title tells you something about ownership and interests in the property. Valuation and property intelligence add another set of signals about the asset itself. Individually, each is useful. Together, they can provide a much richer understanding of the transaction.
Real estate still has a lot of seams between participants, systems, and processes where information can be lost or viewed in isolation. Connecting those pieces creates an opportunity to identify inconsistencies earlier, focus attention where it matters, and ultimately build greater confidence before a transaction reaches its highest-risk moments.
Reusable identity credentials are one of the areas I’m watching most closely. We’re moving toward a model where people won’t necessarily need to prove who they are from scratch to every participant in a transaction. Instead, there is an opportunity to securely prove trusted attributes that have already been verified.
I’m also interested in what happens as identity becomes more contextual and predictive. The future probably isn’t one perfect identity signal. It’s an intelligent combination of trusted signals applied at the right moment, with the level of friction matching the level of risk.
And longer term, identity won’t apply only to people. As AI agents increasingly perform tasks on our behalf, questions around authorization, permissions, and “knowing your agent” will become increasingly important.
I’d focus on three things: establish trust early, treat identity as an ongoing signal, and pay attention when the context changes.
The goal shouldn’t be to add the maximum amount of verification to every interaction. More friction doesn’t automatically mean more security. The goal is to apply the right level of scrutiny at the right moment, based on the risk of what is happening.
Most importantly, stay adaptable. The tools available to bad actors are changing quickly, but so are the tools available to professionals. The organizations that build identity, data, technology, and professional judgement into a connected approach to risk will be better positioned to navigate that change.
The way we establish trust in real estate is changing. Strong identity practices will increasingly depend on more than a single document, interaction, or technology. They will depend on bringing together trusted signals, professional judgement, and the right level of scrutiny throughout the transaction.
For real estate professionals, the opportunity is to evolve alongside the risk—using technology to strengthen judgement, reduce unnecessary friction, and build greater confidence in an increasingly digital transaction.
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