Check out this BS
16475 Lake Knoll Pkwy lists as a short sale, it says poor condition but in the pic it looks ok. It lists cheap and goes pending pretty much immediately. It sells pretty cheap and the listing agent and buyers agent and the same guy (who'da thunk it). Now this is where it gets shady. 30 days later, it lists again for $160k more than it sold for, and the agent........ You guessed it, the same guy. But it gets better, the listing states the owner/seller is a realtard! Anyone wanna bet the owner is the listing agent? This looks like a perfect example of short sale fraud. He lists the property indicating it's a dog, gets it cheap and then turns if for a quick profit. And of course the lender takes a bigger loss than they otherwise would have. His asking price is pretty darn high and I doubt that it will sell for anything near that but even if it sells for $350k that's still a very healthy profit assuming he didn't actually need to do a major rehab.
Showing posts with label fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fraud. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Monday, September 29, 2008
Some of them deserved what they got
8895 Gentile Wind is one of the KB homes in The Retreat in South Corona. This home is a recent REO (like every other house in The Retreat). It sold new from the builder in 2005 for $743k. The buyers put in a little landscaping (and I do mean "a little", a 6' patio slab and a brick planter looks to be about it). The they manage to off load this thing in Nov 07 for 1.3 million??? WTF, that is months after the market imploded. In Late 07 there were already enough foreclosures in this tract to fill a cruise ship. In late 07 there were already homes on this same street listed under $700k yet this home sells for $1.3M. That sale is obviously fraudulent. It has a big red rotating sign on it that says "I screwed the lender". Gawd I wish they would hunt these people down and make them listed to Hanna Montana records nonstop for a few years. Oh wait, that might be cruel and unusual punishment. Eh, who cares.
Obviously the bank got screwed and this house is now listed for $430k. That makes this the cheapest house in The Retreat currently. Not my much mind you, there are several in the mid $400s. This house has fallen 43% from what it sold for new in 2005. Or if you want to go for the shocking (but obviously fraudulent) number, it has fallen 67% from the previous sale for a loss of $870K.
At the current price this house seems like a good deal. But once you factor in the HOA and the taxes this place becomes quite a bit more expensive. Still at this price, I think this will go pretty quick. Assuming there are any buyers left after this week.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Fraud all the way to the top!
A few weeks back I wrote a piece about fraud and the effects it had on the current market. Now, today the state of New York has filed suit agains Washinton Mutual and First American for conspiring to inflate real estate appraisals.
Here's the article,
Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that he is suing one of the nation’s largest real estate appraisal management companies and its parent corporation for colluding with the largest savings and loan in the country to inflate the appraisal values of homes.
In a scheme detailed in numerous e-mails, eAppraiseIT (“EA”), a subsidiary of First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF), caved to pressure from Washington Mutual (“WaMu”) (NYSE: WM) to use a list of preferred “Proven Appraisers” who provided inflated appraisals on homes. The e-mails also show that executives at EA knew their behavior was illegal, but intentionally broke the law to secure future business with WaMu.
“The independence of the appraiser is essential to maintaining the integrity of the mortgage industry. First American and eAppraiseIT violated that independence when Washington Mutual strong-armed them into a system designed to rip off homeowners and investors alike,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “The blatant actions of First American and eAppraiseIT have contributed to the growing foreclosure crisis and turmoil in the housing market. By allowing Washington Mutual to hand-pick appraisers who inflated values, First American helped set the current mortgage crisis in motion.”
As First American acknowledged in its 2006 annual report, appraisal fraud can damage the entire housing market, including consumers and investors alike. Consumers are harmed because they are misled as to the value of their homes, increasing the risk of foreclosure and hindering their ability to make sound economic decisions. Investors are hurt by such fraud because it skews the value and risk of loans that are sold in financial markets.
In April 2006, EA began providing appraisal services for WaMu, which became EA’s biggest client. Within weeks, WaMu began complaining to EA that its appraisals were not high enough. WaMu pressured EA to employ exclusively a new panel of appraisers that WaMu hand-selected as “Proven Appraisers.” This set of appraisers was chosen by WaMu specifically because they inflated property appraisals. WaMu profited from these higher appraisals because they could close more home loans, at greater values. Over the course of their relationship, between April 2006 and October 2007, EA provided approximately 262,000 appraisals for WaMu.
Attorney General Cuomo’s investigation uncovered a series of e-mails between executives at EA, First American, and WaMu that show EA officials were willingly violating state and federal appraisal independence regulations to comply with WaMu’s demands:
On February 22, 2007, in response to a description of the WaMu “Proven Appraiser” program as one in which “we will now assign all Wamu’s work to Wamu’s ‘Proven Appraisers’… [and] Performance ratings to retain position as a Wamu Proven Appraiser will be based on how many come in on value,” eAppraiseIT’s president told senior executives at First American: “we have agreed to roll over and just do it...”
On April 4, 2007, eAppraiseIT’s executive vice president stated in an e-mail to First American: “we as an AMC [Appraisal Management Company] need to retain our independence from the lender or it will look like collusion… eAppraiseIT is clearly being directed who to select. The reasoning… is bogus for many reasons including the most obvious – the proven appraisers bring in the values.”
On April 17, 2007, eAppraiseIT’s president wrote an e-mail to First American explaining why its conduct was illegal: “We view this as a violation of the OCC, OTS, FDIC and USPAP influencing regulation.”
E-mail evidence also shows that WaMu pressured EA to inflate appraisals as a condition for doing future business together:
On September 27, 2006, First American’s vice chairman reported that a WaMu executive told him: “if the appraisal issues are resolved and things are working well he would welcome conversations about expanding our relationship…”
Here's the article,
Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that he is suing one of the nation’s largest real estate appraisal management companies and its parent corporation for colluding with the largest savings and loan in the country to inflate the appraisal values of homes.
In a scheme detailed in numerous e-mails, eAppraiseIT (“EA”), a subsidiary of First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF), caved to pressure from Washington Mutual (“WaMu”) (NYSE: WM) to use a list of preferred “Proven Appraisers” who provided inflated appraisals on homes. The e-mails also show that executives at EA knew their behavior was illegal, but intentionally broke the law to secure future business with WaMu.
“The independence of the appraiser is essential to maintaining the integrity of the mortgage industry. First American and eAppraiseIT violated that independence when Washington Mutual strong-armed them into a system designed to rip off homeowners and investors alike,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “The blatant actions of First American and eAppraiseIT have contributed to the growing foreclosure crisis and turmoil in the housing market. By allowing Washington Mutual to hand-pick appraisers who inflated values, First American helped set the current mortgage crisis in motion.”
As First American acknowledged in its 2006 annual report, appraisal fraud can damage the entire housing market, including consumers and investors alike. Consumers are harmed because they are misled as to the value of their homes, increasing the risk of foreclosure and hindering their ability to make sound economic decisions. Investors are hurt by such fraud because it skews the value and risk of loans that are sold in financial markets.
In April 2006, EA began providing appraisal services for WaMu, which became EA’s biggest client. Within weeks, WaMu began complaining to EA that its appraisals were not high enough. WaMu pressured EA to employ exclusively a new panel of appraisers that WaMu hand-selected as “Proven Appraisers.” This set of appraisers was chosen by WaMu specifically because they inflated property appraisals. WaMu profited from these higher appraisals because they could close more home loans, at greater values. Over the course of their relationship, between April 2006 and October 2007, EA provided approximately 262,000 appraisals for WaMu.
Attorney General Cuomo’s investigation uncovered a series of e-mails between executives at EA, First American, and WaMu that show EA officials were willingly violating state and federal appraisal independence regulations to comply with WaMu’s demands:
On February 22, 2007, in response to a description of the WaMu “Proven Appraiser” program as one in which “we will now assign all Wamu’s work to Wamu’s ‘Proven Appraisers’… [and] Performance ratings to retain position as a Wamu Proven Appraiser will be based on how many come in on value,” eAppraiseIT’s president told senior executives at First American: “we have agreed to roll over and just do it...”
On April 4, 2007, eAppraiseIT’s executive vice president stated in an e-mail to First American: “we as an AMC [Appraisal Management Company] need to retain our independence from the lender or it will look like collusion… eAppraiseIT is clearly being directed who to select. The reasoning… is bogus for many reasons including the most obvious – the proven appraisers bring in the values.”
On April 17, 2007, eAppraiseIT’s president wrote an e-mail to First American explaining why its conduct was illegal: “We view this as a violation of the OCC, OTS, FDIC and USPAP influencing regulation.”
E-mail evidence also shows that WaMu pressured EA to inflate appraisals as a condition for doing future business together:
On September 27, 2006, First American’s vice chairman reported that a WaMu executive told him: “if the appraisal issues are resolved and things are working well he would welcome conversations about expanding our relationship…”
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