WP,pg1: Hot Housing Market Opens Doors for Fraud: Dream Preyed Upon

[DeepModem Mom]

Hot Housing Market Opens Doors for Fraud
Dream of Homeownership Is Preyed Upon

By Michael Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 29, 2005; A01


NEW YORK -- For mortgage scammers, deed thieves and property flippers, this is the Golden Age.

The chatter in New York, as it is in Washington, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Miami, is of housing riches quickly realized. Prices have tripled in those cities, and 70 percent of Americans now own a home. But for thousands of working-class and poor Americans, the venture into homeownership has brought misery at the hands of the unscrupulous.

"We've never seen so many schemes and such complexity to the fraud," said Sarah Ludwig of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, which has helped lead investigations into predatory lending in New York. "Everyone works to defraud: the broker, the appraiser, the attorney and the inspector. Before a homeowner knows it, they are in way over their heads."...

***

....Fueled by loose credit and lending standards, a growing number of "subprime" mortgage companies and rogue bands of scam artists are using false appraisals to inflate prices, stripping equity from elderly homeowners and even persuading untutored homeowners to surrender their home deeds.

The FBI's Financial Crimes Report in May noted that mortgage fraud is "pervasive and growing," thriving on "collusion by industry insiders." Suspected major mortgage finance violations reported by financial institutions increased from 4,225 in 2001 to 17,127 last year, and the money lost in such fraud has doubled in the past year....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/28/AR2005072801729_pf.html

[converted_democrat]

1. Cripes.......n/t

[getmeouttahere]

2. Sounds like a barrel of fun....

like I needed a reason NOT to enter the housing market

[mikeytherat]

3. Don't just get a home inspection, get a FULL ENGINEERING REPORT

Once you have identified the home you wish to buy and are going to make an offer, make sure a full engineering report (positive, of course!) is part of the deal to close. Don't just get an off the shelf home inspection -- a full engineering report will include all structural elements, especially their architecture, engineering, and construction. It costs more than a standard home inspection, but is well worth it.

mikey_the_rat

[shanti]

4. 70%????!!!!

i don't believe that for an instant! i know TOO TOO many people who AREN'T homeowners for that figure!

[getmeouttahere]

5. I wondered about that figure myself...

at first I thought maybe areas where homes are more affordable would elevate it to 70%, but that can't be, there are just too many people in the urban areas that rent, right?

[AValdoux]

6. Ameriquest CEO...

... appointed ambassador to the Netherlands.

When you see all the commercials on tv for mortgage loans, what did everybody expect? Mortgage loans, Weight Loss supplements, Ronco's latest kitchen gagdet, WTF?


AValdoux

[DinahMoeHum]

7. This is why smart investors stay away from the housing market right now.

As Warren Buffett likes to say: "You have to be greedy when everybody else is fearful; and fearful when everybody else is greedy"

Well, this is a time of greed. And there may well be bargains to choose when the shit comes down.


:shrug:

[Megahurtz]

8. Bush & Corp. have set the stage

for corporate fraud to run rampant in this country with their stupid favors
and the passing of laws that protect the corporate criminals!
Thanks a lot you fucking ASSHOLES!!!:argh: