Would-be homebuyers and sellers may want to think twice about working with a real estate office where papers are strewn about and computers are left on for anyone to use at will.

Those are pretty good signs that the brokerage firm isn't careful enough with clients' personal information and is just begging to be hacked.

There are only a few cases in which data thieves have hacked real estate firms, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). But with the giant targets getting better and better at blocking hackers, the cybercrime experts believe that smaller companies like realty offices are next in line.

"What makes headlines are the larger data breaches," says NAR senior policy representative Melanie Wyne, part of the government affairs staff for the 1.1 million-member group. "But the trend now is smaller businesses. That's where the hackers are headed now."

Wyne, and others who participated in a risk-management and license law forum at NAR's annual conference last month, are worried that real estate outfits are not taking the necessary precautions to protect not just the identity of their buyers and sellers, but also their clients' specific financial information.

If companies aren't as diligent as they should be, Wyne says, they could be "the low-hanging fruit" easily picked off by hackers.

"If you are on the Internet, you can never be fully secure," warns Darity Wesley of the Lotus Law Center in La Mesa, California. "Data theft can impact your entire life. A lot of damage can be done," says the self-proclaimed "privacy diva."

Wesley says hackers "have become like artists; they're that good. They're very professional people. And I'm comfortable enough to call what they do organized crime."

Hackers are not just interested in swiping your bank account numbers, your Social Security number, credit card numbers and even your email addresses. They're also sophisticated enough to watch your emails to learn when you are about to close on your home purchase, then swoop in to snatch your settlement money.

The scam works something like this, according to Jessica Edgerton, associate counsel for NAR: Hackers observe your email traffic to figure out when closing is approaching. Then, they write to you and tell you to wire the closing costs to them.

Posing as your agent, or perhaps someone from the title company, it all looks official -- but it's not. And you money winds up somewhere offshore, says Linda Page of Fraleigh and Rakow Realty in Rhinebeck, New York. Page is a former chair of NAR's professional standards committee.

Wyne knows of one case where an unsuspecting buyer lost $30,000 to such a scheme. And she recalls another where a buyer decided at the last minute to stop her $100,000 wire transfer. Had she not, the NAR attorney says, the money would have been "on its way to Russia."

Edgerton says in recent months, her members are reporting an increase in this wire scam, so much so that she now advises agents to warn their clients ahead of time that a bogus email or snail-mail letter may show up.

But even if your agent doesn't give you a heads-up, your antenna should wiggle if you're on the receiving end of an email or letter advising you to send your closing cash somewhere. If you are, call your lender or real estate agent to make sure it's legit. Chances are, it's not.

Otherwise, when dealing with lenders and agents, you want to make sure they have made data security a top priority, says Wesley. Toward that end, she advises that all email traffic, personal and financial information, and the company's data storage should all be fully encrypted. If it's not, perhaps you should consider taking your business elsewhere.

Also, look for the "https:" rather than just "http:" in URLs. It's a protocol widely used for connections over a computer network, with the "s" standing for security, or more technically, a connection encryption.

Millennials are graduating from college with the greatest amount of student debt of any generation. As a result, those who wish to buy a home now, rather than wait until they can truly afford it, are likely to turn to their parents for financial support.

That's not a terrible scenario. After all, mortgage rates, still relatively low, are destined to rise soon, and house prices aren't going to go any lower.

But one voice in the wilderness suggests that millennials -- those born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s -- might be better off waiting until they can afford to buy independently.

Is this real estate heresy? Not necessarily. Ray Brousseau, an executive vice president with Carrington Mortgage Services, says he'd just rather see buyers be prepared for ownership instead of getting in over their heads.

"My message is not necessarily to wait, it's to be informed -- to be educated about what they are doing," Brousseau says. "If they can (buy) quickly, fine ... But if you are not knowledgeable about the buying process and what ownership entails, you might be better off waiting until you are."

The 26-year industry veteran's advice doesn't only hold true for the country's 83 million millennials. It makes sense for first-time buyers of all ages, whether they need monetary help or not.

Here's how to become an educated first-time buyer:

-- Research. Brousseau suggests that, before shopping for a house, rookie buyers spend three to six months talking with a variety of real estate and lending professionals and becoming as informed as possible. Also, take advantage of the numerous tools available online.

-- Resources. Build a team of advisers. Certainly this group could include Mom and Dad, especially if they are homeowners -- and especially if they will be financially helping you join the ownership ranks sooner rather than later.

At the same time, realize that your folks are likely to advise you to be very cautious. After all, they don't want you to find yourself in a situation you can't handle. (Often, us old folks are too conservative.)

So, while your parents or grandparents should be on your advisory team, so should a real estate agent and a loan officer who are willing to take some time to talk with you even if you are not a prospect at the moment.

Not every professional will be willing to "waste time" with someone who doesn't plan to buy for a few more years -- or even months. But those who are, are keepers. Their experience and guidance will be invaluable.

"Most real estate professionals realize some people are not coming to the table with the property address already picked out," Brousseau says. "But any realty or loan agent worth his or her salt should be more than willing to take the time necessary to work with someone who is just beginning the process."

Your advisory team might also include friends or relatives who recently became first-time owners. Their advice about the trials and travails of becoming homeowners could prevent you from making the same mistakes they did.

"The best resources will be the people around you," says Brousseau. "Each person you speak to will have had a different experience."

-- Homework. There are plenty of tools online that can give you a feel for what homeownership is like. But stay away from those sites that purport to tell you what you can afford based on your income. They are notoriously inaccurate, and often fail to include such costs as property taxes, insurance, utilities, commuting expenses and condo or neighborhood dues.

Better to disclose your financial information to a licensed loan officer. This will not only give you an idea of a how a lender will view your situation, but it will allow you to become prequalified for a specific loan amount. Remember, though, to consider all the costs of homeownership, not just principal and interest.

-- Finances. Take the necessary steps to build a credit history, or to fix the one you already have. Your credit score will be the key to obtaining financing. So if you don't have any credit cards or accounts in your name, get them now and use them responsibly.

Obtain a Visa or MasterCard, a gas card and perhaps a department store card, but no more. Don't just stick them in your dresser drawer, but don't overuse them, either: Your balances shouldn't rise any higher than 30 percent of your available credit. Pay your credit card bills on time, and always pay more than the minimum amount due.

Similarly, if your cellphone and Internet accounts are not in your name, switch them over and pay for them with your own checking account -- yes, you need one -- so the credit-score algorithm can see that you are a good credit risk.

If you already have these sort of financial habits, obtain a copy of your credit report to make sure it contains no misinformation. And if it indicates you've missed a few payments here and there, never let that happen again. Late or missed payments can be real estate deal-killers.

San Francisco may be a nice place to visit, but who among us can live there?

While the City by the Bay has some wonderful attributes and attractions -- the Golden Gate Bridge, sourdough bread and Alcatraz, among many others -- it also has the largest concentration of million-dollar homes of anywhere in the country.

According to search engine Trulia, 58 percent of the houses in the San Francisco metro area are worth $1 million or more. In the city proper, 63 percent of the houses are valued at least a million bucks -- the highest percentage in the nation. That's more than 3 in every 5 houses.

Two other Bay Area spots, San Jose and Oakland, rank second and third on the list, respectively. In San Jose, 43 percent of the houses are worth at least $1 million; in Oakland, it's 18 percent.

The number of vacant foreclosures is down 43 percent from a year ago, according to housing data bank RealtyTrac. The group says the war on vacant, so-called "zombie" foreclosures is being won.

At the same time, though, of the 1.5 million vacant residential properties nationally, 98 percent are not in foreclosure or even underwater.

Of the 84.7 million U.S. residences, 1.5 million were empty as of the end of September. But at last count, Trulia says vacant homes in the foreclosure process account for 1.3 percent of all vacant residential properties, and bank-owned homes that have been taken back by lenders accounted for 1.9 percent.

According to RealtyTrac economist Daren Blomquist, the overall inventory of homes in the foreclosure process has dropped 36 percent over the past year, so it's "not too surprising" to see a similarly dramatic drop in "zombie" foreclosures.

But what is surprising is that there are so many vacant homes where the homeowners do not appear to be in financial distress. "More than 63 percent of these vacant homes are not even encumbered by a loan; (they're) owned free and clear by the owner," Blomquist says.

"The fact that the homeowners are not selling, given the recovering real estate market in most areas, indicates that many of these properties are in poor condition and in neighborhoods that have been left behind by the housing recovery."

The days when people wouldn't dream of buying a house without seeing it first may be dwindling.

"With all of the technology we now have access to, you can get a comprehensive feel for a home without ever stepping foot in it," say the folks at Homes.com, an online listing service. "And more and more people are doing just that."

According to the latest National Association of Realtors' profile of homebuyers, 92 percent used the Internet to search for homes; 43 percent actually found the house they bought online.

Research by realty brokerage Redfin found that 21 percent of people responding to a recent survey made an offer on a house without seeing it in person. But NAR's latest figures show that less than 0.5 percent of all buyers bought their home sight-unseen.

Either way, though, there's no question that technology is playing a larger role in the real estate purchase. And why not? Sites like Homes.com now offer an all-inclusive home search that some predict will make going to see a house in person the exception, rather than the rule.

First, you can check out a photo gallery of the house, including street, aerial and map views. You can take a virtual tour and read all the property details, including lot size, when the place was built, property taxes, school districts and a whole lot more. Some sites will allow you to compute your commute times, and a few will offer your probable monthly costs, including utilities, association fees and insurance.

The latest wrinkle comes from CubiCasa, which is offering agents and listing services 3-D floor plans of houses for sale. The Bay Area company says it can turn any type of source file, even a hand-drawn image, into a usable floor plan with a guaranteed 24-hour turnaround. That would make visualizing a home's interior spaces easier than ever.

A portent of things to come: Major production builder Lennar has started an "affordable" house community in Austin, Texas, in which all the homes will include solar power as a standard feature.

The 120 houses in the first phase of Colorado Crossing are priced at about $200,000, but the solar panels add nothing to the cost, according to Lennar. Rather, owners will pay a "low, flat" monthly fee to the SunStreet Energy Group, the Lennar subsidiary that works with installers and monitors the rooftop systems. The solar panels are expected to generate about half of the homes' electricity needs.

Lennar currently has about 100 communities under development. Stay tuned.