The main point of the article published in Realtor magazine was to spotlight how shady, fraudulent dealings by realtors are bad for the market. Specifically, I'm talking about when listing agents sell a new listing to their own buyer before inputting it onto the MLS....
From the UT: A politician who went to prison 20 years ago in one of Arizona’s most notorious public-corruption cases has apparently been practicing real estate in San Diego County for almost 14 years, using his son’s clean record to get a license. Donald James Kenney,...
Congratulations to Kelly and Will for great reporting that led to this conviction: http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/sommerset/ It's been three years since a Voice of San Diego investigation exposed a $13 million mortgage swindle involving more than 80 condos in North...
From the latimes.com: An Orange County man who swindled elderly people out of their homes after promising to help them avoid foreclosure was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison under California's tough three-strikes law. Defense lawyers and prosecutors across the...
The Mortgage Bankers Association has been holding their fraud conference over the last four days, with 660 industry professionals in attendance. I was on the speaker panel today for the "Stories from the Street" portion of the event, along with the Chief Compliance...
Makarov asked what I thought about the latest fraud bust in Carlsbad detailed below. 1. I'm glad to see realtors and mortgage brokers going to jail - they deserve it. Hopefully it will also prevent others from committing crimes in the future. 2. These people were...
From MND: The current vice president of the Hells Angels' Sonoma (CA) Chapter has to serve a year in jail and pay $130,000 in restitution to SunTrust Mortgage for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme. Josh Johnson pleaded guilty in December 2011 to wire fraud....
Hat tip to Tom Stone for sending this in from the Tampa Bay Times: Ralph and Michael Chancey have gotten some great deals on real estate. A $1.15 million bayfront Apollo Beach home for $10,010. A 3,700-square-foot house in North Tampa for $8,090. Dozens of homes in...
The lead attorney for CAR makes an annual visit to discuss the latest issues and changes. The first minute is muffled, but what was said is that the California Department of Real Estate is investigating complaints about short-sale fraud being committed by realtors....
Back in 2006-2007 when you could borrow 100% of the purchase price up to $1.5 million with only a 700+ FICO score, there was a team of scammers working the Carlsbad area. They hosted seminars where they offered to help unsuspecting marks get a piece of the...
