More Taxpayer Blues ($7.8M)

Written by Jim the Realtor

March 5, 2010

A fraud follow-up by Kelly at the Voice of San Diego:

All of the 81 condos from the Sommerset Villas, Sommerset Woods and Westlake Ranch complexes involved in the scam have been repossessed. Twenty-four have yet to find new buyers. But the other 57 have resold for prices drastically lower than the mortgages were worth, let alone the initial purchase prices.

The U.S. taxpayer is paying for the mounting losses. Across the complexes, the cost to taxpayers is at least $7.8 million.

When the units were just in the beginning stages of foreclosure, it was too soon to tell whether the government-sponsored mortgage companies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, had definitely purchased the shaky loans. Now that the units have gone back to the bank and resold, public records clearly show the majority of these units had mortgages that were sold to Fannie and Freddie — now largely owned by taxpayers.

Take Sommerset Villas. The 26 units previously owned by McConville’s straw buyers that have resold as foreclosures have sold, on average, for 71 percent less than the purchase prices in 2008. And some have been worse: A 480-square-foot studio apartment that sold for $265,000 in 2008 sold in October for $47,000 — an 82 percent drop.

That’s added up to at least $3.8 million in losses for Fannie and Freddie so far in just that complex. Add to that estimate a $2.7 million loss in Sommerset Woods, and a $1.3 million loss in Westlake Ranch, according to an analysis of property records.

10 Comments

  1. Wassup

    Ah, I wish I lived in the Land-o-Milk & Honey, instead of boring olde pay your bills or go to jail Canada.

    You Americans are sooooo Lucky! You pay next to nothing in Taxes AND your government is always waiting to clean up your BooBoos, no questions asked.

    PS: Bank of Nova Scotia is paying a 4.80% Dividend this year and is likely to grow earning substantially in 2010, meaning an even bigger Dividend… Then Again, I suppose something like a little Dividend wouldn’t interest you High Roller/ RE Flipper So Cal BMW drivers…

  2. Wassup

    Shadash, just an FYI. The Canadian Government announced yesterday that it is freezing the salaries of all Federal Public Servants AND freezing the budgets of every government department in an effort to return the budget to a surplus by 2015 at the latest…

    Bet our Public Servants also wish they could enjoy American Government Pay Raises AND pay less taxes!

    America, there’s no country like it on Earth!

  3. Susie

    Off-topic, but do you think the First Time Home Buyer’s $8,000 credit will be extended past April 30th, Jim? I’m curious what you think…

  4. osidebuyer

    hey Wassup back off the bimmers, dude 🙂

  5. CB Mark

    Nothing like gross generalizations, are there Wassup? Yes, every American doesn’t pay his bills, and every American has his hand out for a freebie. Regarding taxes, some of us think we already pay too much when we see how it is spent.

    As for wasting time attempting to educate you (or anyone else prone to such sweeping statements), I’m afraid it would be a futile effort.

  6. Genius

    My BMW pays me dividends every time I get behind the wheel. Having to replace the rear tires every 13k miles is gonna get old though…

    Did condos in DM/SB/LJ suffer less in terms of depreciation than other areas? I’m curious if they behaved the same way SFRs did.

  7. W.C. Varones

    Wassup,

    Didja see that new fiscal austerity budget? Awesome. Canada has a deficit of 3.5% of GDP and they are going to fix it.

    You got any contacts in the Canadian immigration department?

  8. Wassup

    W.C.

    Americanos are always welcome in the Great White North. In fact with NAFTA if you have any sort of education or professional designation you probably qualify for “Trade NAFTA” work status.

    You just show up at the Vancouver Suburb called “Blaine, Washington”, or the Toronto suburb called “Buffalo, NY”, present your offer of employment from a Canadian company, and drive on in… It is actually that simple, as long as you have American citizenship.

    In fact you can even live in a little know corner of Washington state called “Point Roberts” which is literally a Vancouver suburb!

    Google map of “mini-Alaska”:
    http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=48.991482,-123.011169&spn=0.09732,0.224876&z=12

Klinge Realty Group - Compass

Jim Klinge
Klinge Realty Group

Are you looking for an experienced agent to help you buy or sell a home?

Contact Jim the Realtor!

CA DRE #01527365CA DRE #00873197

Pin It on Pinterest