Follow Me on Twitter

FBI Report Shows Mortgage Fraud Continues at Elevated Levels

The FBI released it’s Mortgage Fraud Report for 2010 showing that mortgage fraud continued at elevated levels in 2010 and was consistent with levels seen in 2009. The top states for mortgage fraud activity in 2010 were Florida, California, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Georgia, New Jersey, and Maryland.

[...]

Real Estate Investor Pleads Guilty to Bid Rigging At Foreclosure Auctions

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A real estate investor pleaded guilty last Friday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento to conspiring to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in San Joaquin County, Sharis A. Pozen, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, and Benjamin B. Wagner, [...]

Justice Department Sues City of Joliet, Illinois, to Preserve Affordable Housing for City Residents

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today filed a lawsuit against the city of Joliet, Ill., alleging that the city violated the Fair Housing Act and the Housing and Community Development Act by taking a series of actions, culminating in the taking through eminent domain a federally-subsidized affordable housing development, that would displace more [...]

Two Loan Officers and One Title Agent Charged in $2.5 Million Reverse Mortgage and Loan Modification Scheme Plead Guilty in Miami

MIAMI – Louis Gendason of Delray Beach, Fla.; Kimberly Mackey of Pittsburgh; and John Incandela, of Palm Beach, Fla., pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their participation in a $2.5 million Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, or reverse mortgage, fraud scheme . [...]

Mortgage Broker Charged in $20 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme

MINNEAPOLIS—This past Friday in federal court, an Edina mortgage broker was charged for his role in a $20 million mortgage fraud scheme that involved 57 properties. Derrick Ivan Lance, age 40, of Edina, was charged via an information with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

[...]

Real Estate Agent Sentenced to Federal Prison for Defrauding Bank in Short Sale Mortgage Fraud Scheme

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ANNA McELANEY, 40, of Norwalk, was sentenced earlier this week by United States District Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport to eight months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, the first six months of which McELANEY must spend [...]

Virginia Real Estate Businessman Pleads Guilty to Mortgage and Investment Fraud Schemes

WASHINGTON – Alexander Otis Matthews, a Virginia real estate businessman pleaded guilty today to fraud charges in connection with mortgage and investment schemes to obtain more than $12 million in fraudulent loans.

The guilty plea was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of [...]

Ten Tips to Avoid Identity Theft When You Move

Typically from early spring until late summer is a busy season for the real estate market with increased home sales as people try to make their move without fighting winter and in time to have their kids in place before the new school year.  Now, thanks to a report by Intersections, Inc., a company that [...]

Three Loan Officers and a Title Agent Charged in $2.5 Million Reverse Mortgage and Loan Modification Scheme

The Justice Department announced the unsealing of a criminal information last week, charging four defendants – Louis Gendason, 42, of Delray Beach, Fla.; Kimberly Mackey, 46, of Pittsburgh; John Incandela, 24, and Marcos Echevarria, 29, both of Palm Beach, Fla. – with conspiracy to commit wire fraud involving a nation-wide reverse mortgage scam that [...]

Mother, Daughter, Father Plead Guilty to Mortgage Fraud Scam

U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Texas

HOUSTON—Claymon “Butch” Trammell, along with his wife, Jeannettea Williams, and daughter, Michelle Trammell, have all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their roles in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. The three residents of Houston entered their pleas [...]

Owning a home still the ‘American Dream’

A recent survey conducted on behalf of Money Management International (MMI), the largest nonprofit credit counseling agency in the U.S., showed that the majority of Americans still view home ownership as the “American Dream“. The survey found that 81 percent of people still put a lot of value in owning a home however the [...]

Report says recent good news on housing market is misleading; recovery is a long way off

Following last week’s somewhat encouraging Pending Home Sales report from the National Association of REALTORS which showed increased home sales activity, Radar Logic issued a much less encouraging report. Their report, titled “Don’t be Misled by Gains in Home Price Indices and Pending Homes Sales; Housing Recovery is Still a Long Way Off” pretty [...]

Happy Independence Day!

As we celebrate the 235th birthday of our nation I would hope that we would all take a moment and remember all the men and women that have served, and thank those that are serving, in our armed forces to protect and preserve our freedom! Below are photos I shot of a couple of them [...]

CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE INVESTORS AGREE TO PLEAD GUILTY TO BID RIGGING AT PUBLIC FORECLOSURE AUCTIONS

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON — Eight California real estate investors have agreed to plead guilty for their roles in two separate conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, the Department of Justice announced.

[...]

Groping Toward a Housing Recovery

Last week I got to hear a presentation by Brendan Lowney of Economic Advisors, aptly titled “Groping Toward a Housing Recovery“, which I think is a perfect way of describing our current housing market, so perfect, I borrowed it for the title of this article. Mr. Lowney began his presentation with a very sobering statement, [...]

Consumer organization blasts House Appropriations Committee on recent vote; fear return to policies that allowed predatory lending

This week, in response to the House Appropriations committee voting to slash funding for the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and to subject the new agency to a “politically-charged” funding process, Mike Calhoun, President of the Center for Responsible Lending, made the following comment: “the House Appropriations Committee yesterday voted for a [...]

Phoenix Real Estate Investor Pleads Guilty to $50 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme

PHOENIX—Brett Matheson, 46, pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a $50 million mortgage fraud scheme based in Phoenix. Two others have also entered guilty pleas and are awaiting sentencing.

[...]

Justice Department Files Lawsuit Against City of New Berlin, Wisconsin, for Blocking Affordable Housing

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced late this week that it has filed a lawsuit against the city of New Berlin, Wis., alleging that the city violated the Fair Housing Act by repeatedly taking action to prevent the construction of an affordable housing development by a private developer, MSP Real Estate Inc.

The complaint, [...]

Former TBW CEO Sentenced to 40 Months in Prison for Fraud Scheme

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, June 21, 2011

WASHINGTON – The former chief executive officer (CEO) of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW) was sentenced today to 40 months in prison for his role in a more than $2.9 billion fraud scheme that contributed to the failure of TBW. [...]

Former Colonial Bank Senior Vice President Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison for Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON – A former senior vice president and head of Colonial Bank’s Mortgage Warehouse Lending Division was sentenced today to eight years in prison for her role in a more than $2.9 billion fraud scheme that contributed to the failures of Colonial Bank and Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW). Colonial Bank was one of the [...]

Industry expert says it will take five years to absorb existing home inventory

Simple economics tells us that when supply exceeds demand prices suffer, just as we have seen in the housing market over the past three-plus years.  A report by Brendan Lowney, a macroeconomist with Forest Economic Advisors (FEA) estimates that an excess home inventory of 2.5 million homes exist at this time.  He says that this [...]

Current Housing Market Bust Worse Than Depression? I Don’t Think So..

The headline today on a CNBC article was “US Housing Crisis is Now Worse than Great Depression” and there are many similar articles in other publications as well…in fact, if you Google “Housing Crisis Worse Than Great Depression” there are over 100 exact matches just in the past month.  The writer’s all seem to be [...]

International survey shows 62 percent of Americans think now is a good time to buy a home; highest in survey

The results of a survey conducted in eight countries for Genworth Financial was released today and contains some interesting findings.  The survey was conducted on existing home-owners as well as people that said they were potential first-time home-buyers in eight countries; U.S., U.K., Ireland, Italy, Australia, Mexico, Canada and India.

[...]

Robert Shiller on the Housing Boom and Bust and where home prices are headed

 

Robert Shiller

I’m doing this article as I attend a presentation by Robert Shiller, Yale Economics Professor and Co-Founder of the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Indices at the S&P Housing Summit 2011, as he discussed “Unusual Factors Influencing the Outlook for the U.S. Housing Market. So it may be a little choppy, but [...]

Harvard University Report Paints Bleak Picture of Housing Market; Present and Future

The “State of the Nation’s Housing“ Report for 2011 by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University does not paint a very pretty picture of the housing market, nor does it give us a whole lot to look forward to with regard to the near-term future of the U.S. housing market.

[...]

The 10 Most Expensive U.S. Homes For Sale

Here you go, something to cheer you up amongst all the bad news about the housing market, declining home prices and the like; the list of the 10 most expensive homes for sale in the U.S. Just like Robin Leach used to tease us with a peak into the lifestyles of the rich and [...]

Will jobs fix the housing market or will housing fix the job market?

There is a lot of talk in the media today about the poor housing market and how an increase in employment would help bring the housing market back.  However, the question is, will a recovery in the job market bring the housing market back, or will a recovery in the housing market bring the job [...]

Final Defendant Sentenced to 70 Months for Involvement in Large-Scale Mortgage Fraud Ring

Last week, a loan originator, the 12th and final defendant in a large-scale mortgage fraud ring, was sentenced in federal court for his role in fraudulent property transactions that were part of a larger mortgage fraud conspiracy involving 21 property deals and more than $10.6 million in loan proceeds. In February, Appolon was convicted of [...]

Federal Jury Convicts Burnsville Man of Bilking Mortgage Lenders Out of More Than $43 Million

This week, in federal court in St. Paul, a jury convicted a 44-year-old Burnsville man of conspiring with others to bilk mortgage lenders out of more than $43 million. Following a six-day trial, the jury found Troy David Chaika guilty on seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, and one count of [...]

What to do when moisture gets inside your home

Where do you begin?

Moisture can come from several sources. However, the most frequent sources of moisture inside the home are the plumbing, roofing, basement seepage and condensation. No matter where the source is it must be found and eliminated.

Moisture damage in some cases may take some time to become obvious. It is easy [...]