Many people rely on online reviews to decide what to buy. Indeed, research from Nielsen Global Media shows that opinions posted online are second only to personal recommendations in influencing purchase decisions.

But how do you know those reviews aren’t bought and paid for by the outfit in question? You don’t, of course.

This fall, the Federal Trade Commission came down hard on two companies for posting false reviews. One was a skin-care company posting tributes written by its own employees, and the other was a (now-defunct) company that sold fake social media followers and subscribers to various entities.

Unscrupulous tactics like these show why homebuyers and sellers should be particularly careful when selecting homebuilders, real estate agents, mortgage brokers and remodelers. For one thing, don’t rely on evaluations posted on the companies’ own websites; you’re certainly not going to find anything negative. But on gripe sites like pissedconsumer.com or ripoffreport.com, you’re not going to find anything positive, either. Frankly, it’s hard to get anything resembling a balanced characterization of any company.

Fortunately, a quick Google search failed to turn up any cases in which builders resorted to the sorts of underhanded tactics flagged by the FTC. But the story’s not the same when it comes to agents.

One agent reported that she was contacted by a colleague, offering to write a glowing review if she would do the same for her. In another case, a Kansas City agent who was given a poor grade on a website (that has since been taken down) was told she could pay $5,000 to have it removed. She said it was nothing more than a “shakedown.”

Some agents have been called to task for penning their own positive testimonials, and in a few cases, poor reviews were posted by competitors just trying to make another agent look bad.

For the most part, though, fake reviews are put up by disgruntled consumers who, rightly or wrongly, feel they’ve been abused in the process of building, buying or selling a house.

Still, good or bad, “it’s hard to know where (reviews) are coming from,” said Adah Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Southern Colorado Better Business Bureau, in an interview with local news channel KOAA this fall. “It’s pretty safe to say, through any platform, probably at least 50% of reviews are fake.”

In the housing sector, the major real estate listing sites such as Zillow, Facebook, Yelp and Google all have rules against posting false testimonials, and those who violate them can be banned.

Recently, guaranteed honest reviews by real buyers of new construction have been added to the NewHomeSource website, a top site where builders post their communities and listings. (Full disclosure: I occasionally provide content for the site.)

To date, roughly 27% of the 14,000 communities listed at NewHomeSource have signed on to take part in the review program, called TrustBuilder. The list includes several national builders, including KB Homes, Beazer, Centex, Dell Webb, Lennar and Pulte, according to Jay McKenzie of Builders Digital Experience, the Texas company that operates the site.

In the TrustBuilder program, every person who purchases a house from a participating builder is asked to provide a review -- good, bad or otherwise. Of course, not all buyers will do so. Typically, companies only hear from people who are very happy or very unhappy; the rest don’t bother. But no reviews will be posted until there are at least 10, so future buyers can get “a more complete and balanced picture,” McKenzie says. “A true representation.”

No reviews will be changed. “This is all independent of the builders,” says McKenzie. “Reviews will not be censored. We don’t hide, edit or delete them. They are independent, transparent and credible.”

At the same time, though, builders will be given an opportunity to try to fix any issues raised in negative posts, and aggrieved customers will have the option to alter their opinions later if they so desire. “Problems will occur, so this is a good outcome for everyone,” McKenzie explains.

Tyson Kirksey of Highland Homes in Texas says the value of honest customer reviews cannot be overestimated. “We’ve seen many sites struggle with the problem of fake reviews. A program like TrustBuilder is long overdue,” he says. “We’re excited to participate.”

So is Allan Merrill of Beazer Homes. “By providing access to ratings and reviews from known new homeowners,” he says, “TrustBuilder should become an integral part of the new-home shopping process.”

Meanwhile, whether you are shopping for a house, builder, realty agent or lender, it’s always wise to be somewhat skeptical when it comes to online reviews. The FTC suggests also checking other sources -- the Better Business Bureau, for example, or another impartial expert organization.

Don’t consider just one or two reviews, either. Look at as many as you can to see if you can discern a pattern. And while you’re at it, search the name of the builder or agent followed by the word “complaint” to see what kind of negative experiences people have had.

Homeowners who lose their homes to wildfire, flood, tornado or another national disaster often lose the records needed to prove their losses -- for tax purposes, obtaining federal assistance or reimbursement from their insurance companies.

Fortunately, you can reconstruct your destroyed records or obtain copies of key documents.

For starters, ask the Internal Revenue Service for copies of previous tax returns. They’re free at IRS.gov by clicking on “Get Your Tax Record.” Or order them by calling 800-908-9946.

Your credit card companies and banks can provide copies of past statements, either hard copies or digital. This should help put a value on items that were lost.

To reconstruct property records, contact the title company or attorney who handled the closing on your house. If you’ve made improvements to the place, call the contractor who did the work to request a statement verifying the job and its cost. Otherwise, written statements from anyone who saw the house before and after the project may suffice, at least according to the IRS.

When no records of any kind are available, owners should check with their county assessor’s office for any old records that may address value or cost.

Homeowners aren’t moving on, at least not nearly as fast as they did just nine years ago.

According to a recent Redfin report, typical American homeowners had spent eight years in their homes in 2010. This year, they’ve spent 13 years and counting.

The reason isn’t hard to decipher: There aren’t enough affordable houses on the market. Plus moving is stressful, to put it mildly.

That people are staying put longer actually exacerbates the housing shortage. Take seniors age 67 to 85: Because they’re not moving on like they used to, there are 1.6 million fewer houses on the market, according to a report from Freddie Mac. If elders need cash, they can always tap into their equity by any number of means.

Even as they bemoan the lack of affordable housing, some state and local jurisdictions are aiding and abetting the inventory problem by putting policies in place to help reduce seniors’ property taxes, making it less burdensome for them to remain in their homes. In Texas, for example -- where Redfin found owners tend to stay the longest -- those over 65 can defer their taxes until they sell.

Speaking of moving, there are some things your moving company won’t or can’t take. Leftover fireworks, for example, are a definite no-no. So are outdoor plants, which are barred from being taken across state lines by Uncle Sam for pest control purposes, among other reasons.

OCD Moving Services in Northern California has a long list of hazardous materials it won’t carry, including acids, ammonia, car batteries, gasoline, pesticides, propane tanks, SCUBA tanks and cleaning solvents. Perishable foods are verboten, too, because they can spoil and attract rodents.

It’s always wise to keep personal valuables, sentimental items and sensitive electronics with you when you move. Ditto for animals.

OCD advises that every moving company will have a list of items it won’t transport. Ask for it so you won’t be surprised.

Here’s the latest version of a scam involving liens against our homes and other property: It arrives in the mail, in an envelope designed to look like it came from a legitimate government entity. But it didn’t. The nonexistent agency will boast a legitimate-sounding name like the “Bureau of Tax Enforcement.”

Inside is a letter threatening to seize your property or place a lien on it based on overdue taxes. This scam may reference the IRS to confuse potential victims.

If you receive such a letter, the IRS says you should contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to report it using the IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting webpage. When reporting the scheme, include the keywords “IRS Lien.”

To cover all the bases, also scan or copy the document and send it to phishing@irs.gov. Report it to the Federal Trade Commission using the FTC Complaint Assistant on FTC.gov, and also to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center -- also known as IC3 -- at ic3.gov.

If you plan to buy a newly constructed house next year, figure it will take the builder a little more time than they tell you. Such is the nature of the labor shortage hampering the business. Access to skilled workers remains the top business challenge for builders, and the predicted modest growth in new-home sales in 2020 is likely to worsen the problem.

The deficit affects a broad set of trades. Four out of five builders report shortages of framing crews and carpenters, but a majority of builders also are having a tough time finding qualified bricklayers, concrete workers, plumbers, electricians, roofers, painters and HVAC specialists.

Half of all building sites sold at a new record high of $49,500 or more in 2018, according to Census Bureau data. But when adjusted for inflation, lot values are still below the peak registered prior to the housing boom.

Given that lots are smaller these days and housing production is still below par, it might seem surprising that costs keep rising. But Natalia Siniavskaia, an economist at the National Association of Home Builders, says the trend is “consistent with persistent record lot shortages, (and) significant and rising regulatory costs that ultimately increase development costs.”

If you are an active buyer or seller planning to travel over the holidays -- or anytime, for that matter -- make sure your agent can still reach you. If you can’t be found, you could lose your deal.

Just ask Andrea Bedard, an agent in Silver Spring, Maryland. She couldn’t get in touch with a seller while he was traveling, and he failed to initial a key contract clause within the allotted time frame.

“Thankfully, the buyer wanted the house, and was understanding,” she says. But folks “can’t take this kind of a response for granted,” Bedard posted on ActiveRain recently.

Indeed, an offer can easily disappear if a seller isn’t around to accept or counter it. If you are totally out-of-pocket for days at a time, your wannabe buyer might just move on.

And if you’re a buyer who can’t be located, another buyer can swoop in and take the house right out from under you. “Time,” says agent Amanda Davidson in Alexandria, Virginia, “opens the opportunity for another buyer to tour the home and write an offer.”

Agent Dorie Dillard in Austin, Texas, agrees. “Time is of the essence,” she says. “Until all the initials and documents are obtained and the contract is dated, you don’t have a binding contract.”

So let your agent know how to get in touch -- and your lender, too. Gene Mundt, a loan broker in New Lenox, Illinois, says many applicants seem to go MIA these days during the approval process. Whether for business, pleasure or even illness, he says, taking yourself out of action “can definitely put a kink in the mortgage process.”

Beverly Goldberg, the domineering mother on the popular sitcom “The Goldbergs,” would be pleased with recent research from ApartmentList. It found that 26-year-olds are now more likely to be living with their parents than with spouses.

Fifty years ago, 3 out of every 4 26-year-olds resided with their spouses. Now, that share has plummeted to just 1 in 4. So rejoice, Beverly, and all mothers like her.

On the other hand: Moms may not like it, but ApartmentList also found that, compared with data from 2007, today’s young adults are 32% more likely to live with a partner before tying the knot.

The big keep getting bigger.

According to the trade journal BUILDER, the nation’s 20 largest builders constructed 29 percent of all new houses in 2018. That’s up significantly from 26.8 percent the year before.

Twenty years ago, these national and regional giants produced just 16.6% of all the new houses.

These behemoths, which are able to leverage their size to access credit directly from Wall Street and achieve economies of scale in purchasing building materials, have been growing by moving into smaller markets, often by buying their smaller-scale competitors and their land. Last month, for example, Taylor Morrison Home Corp. agreed to buy William Lyon Homes, making the resulting entity the fifth-largest homebuilder in the land.

There’s no question a foreclosure can be devastating. But it doesn’t stay on your credit record forever, and it doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to own a home again.

Credit scores can decline by 150 points or more when a lender forecloses, according to an analysis by LendingTree. But the event falls away after seven years, and many buyers maintain a relatively high score regardless of their housing woes.

More than 30% of those with a foreclosure in their files have a score of 640 or better within a year of foreclosure, LendingTree found. That’s more than enough to qualify for a mortgage. Moreover, credit scores tend to increase by about 10 points each year after foreclosure.

Time and again, this column has addressed the importance of down payment assistance (DPA), which is accepted in one form or another by most lenders. Now comes a survey that finds 9 out of 10 homebuyers who used the help would not have been able to purchase their homes without it.

The poll by the CBC Mortgage Agency in Cedar City, Utah, found that for many single-parent buyers, acquiring a home would have been impossible without assistance.

“The findings are compelling,” said CBC President Richard Ferguson. “Without DPA, millions of Americans would be shut out of the homebuying market.”

According to Down Payment Resource, an information clearinghouse, there are more than 2,500 active DPA programs nationally. They are offered through state and local housing finance agencies like CBC, nonprofits, city and county administrators and even some employers.

Most programs take one of several forms: grants that need not be paid back; low- or no-cost second mortgages; affordable first mortgages; and mortgage credit certificates, which provide tax benefits to help offset mortgage interest costs. Sometimes assistance programs can be combined or used in conjunction with low-down-payment, high-debt-to-income ratio loans.

Zumper, an apartment search engine, says its latest survey found that 1 in 3 apartment-dwellers do not believe the American Dream involves homeownership, and 1 in 5 say they never want to buy a house.

Furthermore, the percentage of respondents who plan to take the plunge within the next two years has declined from 44% last year to 30% this year.