Category Archives: Real Estate Fraud

Insurance And Arson – Avoiding Foreclosure Without Damaging Your Credit

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Image created by Think4PhotoP, provided courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Why risk losing your home to foreclosure if you can’t make the payments?  Why should you ruin your credit because you can no longer afford the house you live in?  An Arkansas attorney and real estate developer, Aaron Jones may have come up with a unique approach to get out of debt while keeping his FICO score intact.  Burn the heavily insured house down and collect the insurance money.  Somehow, he thought that would be a good idea.  The State of Arkansas and the insurance company disagree.  Continue reading →

The New Foreclosure Victims – Innocent Homeowners Like You

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Banks are foreclosing on homeowners who are in default. While they’re at it, they’re even foreclosing on homeowners who are either current with their payments or don’t even have a loan with that bank.  The confusion created by the robo-mortgage fiasco has resulted in lots of mistakes involving who owes what, and where those mortgaged houses are.  However, that confusion hasn’t stopped banks from plowing ahead and throwing out the innocent with the homeowners in default. Continue reading →

Selling Property in Perth Is Easier Than You’d Think

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Owner’s property sold without his knowledge by scammers.  At least they used a real estate agent.

Apparently it’s pretty easy to sell houses in Perth, Australia, as one property owner found out when he discovered his $485,000 investment property had been sold by scammers posing as the property’s owners.  The sale occurred in June 2010 and was conducted by a series of emails and phone calls claiming the owner needed to sell his duplex due to financial hardship.  Continue reading →

1,295 Prisoners Bought Homes Using Homebuyer Tax Credit

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Once again, your tax dollars at work.  According to CNN Money, 1,295 prisoners, including 241 serving life sentences, bought homes and defrauded the government of $9.1 million in tax credits reserved for first-time homebuyers, according to a Treasury Department report released in June of 2010.  The CNN Money article also goes on to say that “Treasury’s inspector general also found that thousands of people filed multiple claims or made claims outside the allotted time period. In all, more than $28 million was improperly doled out. Continue reading →

Eliminate Your Mortgage Payment While Living In Your Dream House

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How can you live in the house of your dreams without paying for it? Steal it! Eliminate your mortgage payment by becoming a squatter. Better yet, upgrade while sticking it to the Banker Man! Why live in your $150,000 house when you can break into and squat in a $1.9 Million house? What’s the worse that can happen, jail? In jail they give you free food and a free room. No matter what happens, you get a free place to live. Continue reading →

Walk Away From Suze Orman’s Advice Not Your Mortgage

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In Suze Orman’s book The Money Class, she advises her readers to, “Do the calculations everybody. How much is it costing you to actually stay in that house? How many years will it take for you to pay more for that house than it is worth? If it’s 3 years, 4 years, 5 years, are you kidding me? That’s a house you really need to say bye bye to. It’s not worth the money.” Suze Orman advises homeowners who are upside down in their mortgages to get the bank to modify the loan. If that doesn’t work, she suggests that homeowners seek out a short sale or a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Continue reading →

Man Arrested For Apartment Rental Scams In Harlem

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Image created by Simon Howden, provided by FreeDigitialPhotos.net

Rental scam:  A man posing as a real estate agent showed a would-be Manhattan renter an apartment and takes your $2900 deposit.  On move-in day, when the man discovered he’d been tricked, the agent, and his deposit was nowhere to be found.  This happened to one man in the East Harlem area, but this time, they caught the guy posing as a real estate agent.

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Virtual Staging: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Lies

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Imagine looking at a picture of a beautiful house with an updated kitchen, new carpet, paint, floors, and best of all, at a very low price.  You jump into the car with your real estate agent by your side and you check it out.  When you arrive, the beautiful house in pristine condition you saw pictured on the MLS listing has been replaced by something quite different.  What you see is an ugly house with dingy walls, stained carpets, vandalized kitchen and not a shred of copper to be found in the place.  Believe it or not, it’s the same house pictured in the MLS, except that the house in the MLS has been “virtually staged.” Continue reading →

Practice Real Estate While In Jail – Only In California

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Did you commit a real estate fraud related crime and are afraid you’ll lose your real estate license when you go to jail?  If it’s a California real estate license, then don’t worry.  Apparently lots of agents convicted of crimes still have their license and are legally permitted to still practice real estate.  That’s right, the California agent you hire may be convicted of stealing from his previous client.  Furthermore, he may currently be on probation.  Technically, he could also be in jail and legally practice real estate in California.  So, what does the State of California say?  Basically they say “Who cares?”  When you hear the Real Estate Department spokesman, Tom Pool, say things like, “If the person is headed to jail, it doesn’t necessarily make sense to use the department’s limited resources to revoke a license,” and refer to the problem as “a resource issue.”  He added, “We’re very busy and very involved.” Continue reading →

OneWest Bank Discovered How To Profit From A Short Sale – Sell It Twice

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Apparently OneWest Bank found a way to profit from short sales.  OneWest Bank sold a home to two separate parties a few days apart.  Then they cashed both of their checks.  Amazingly enough, the total of both sales comes really close to what was owed on the home mortgage.  Coincidence?  Now both “owners” are fighting it out to see who really owns it. Continue reading →