Mortgage fraud units proposed
By admin | March 9, 2008
Mortgage fraud units proposed
Mortgage fraud units proposed
Officials in Cook, DuPage Counties press for task forces to probe suspected falsified transfers
By Susan Chandler
March 9, 2008
When Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore discovered his cousin had been bilked out of her house, he came up with an early warning system for mortgage fraud — the humble postcard.
Beginning in 2007, Moore’s office began mailing postcards to homeowners when quitclaim deeds were filed, transferring interest in their properties. Some criminals had been forging owners’ signatures on the deeds, transferring ownership to themselves, and then mortgaging the homes without the real owners being any wiser — until the foreclosure notices started arriving.
But mortgage scam artists have stayed a step ahead of the game. Sometimes they pull the postcards out of the homeowners’ mailboxes, Moore said. Occasionally they put the homeowners’ mail on a vacation hold at the post office so the alerts are delayed.
Now some criminals are switching to other types of documents to effect their fraudulent transfers, ones that don’t trigger postcard mailings.
Moore said he needs additional resources to keep up with the bad guys. So he is asking for $1 million in additional funding from the county to create a mortgage fraud task force inside his office. The squad would be made up of several sheriff’s police officers trained in financial crimes and at least one full-time prosecutor.
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No tax on reverse mortgage income -
By admin | March 9, 2008
No tax on reverse mortgage income
9 Mar, 2008, 0000 hrs IST,Ashish Gupta, TNN
In this budget, the tax aspects of reverse mortgage have been clarified. The reverse mortgage scheme was notified by the National Housing Bank in the last budget. In this budget, the Finance Minister has proposed to amend the Income Tax Act to provide that reverse mortgage would not amount to ‘transfer’, and the income received by senior citizens would not be taxed as ‘income’ in their hands.
This step has been welcomed by housing finance companies. The government has made it clear that a loan under a reverse mortgage scheme would not be considered as transfer of capital, thus putting it beyond the purview of income tax.
Topics: morgate news, Tax Info | No Comments »
Mortgage fraud units proposed
By admin | March 9, 2008
Mortgage fraud units proposed — chicagotribune.com
Mortgage fraud units proposed
Officials in Cook, DuPage Counties press for task forces to probe suspected falsified transfers
By Susan Chandler | TRIBUNE REPORTER
March 9, 2008
When Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore discovered his cousin had been bilked out of her house, he came up with an early warning system for mortgage fraud — the humble postcard.
Beginning in 2007, Moores office began mailing postcards to homeowners when quitclaim deeds were filed, transferring interest in their properties. Some criminals had been forging owners signatures on the deeds, transferring ownership to themselves, and then mortgaging the homes without the real owners being any wiser — until the foreclosure notices started arriving.
But mortgage scam artists have stayed a step ahead of the game. Sometimes they pull the postcards out of the homeowners mailboxes, Moore said. Occasionally they put the homeowners mail on a vacation hold at the post office so the alerts are delayed.
Related links
Mortgage fraud: The new street hustle
Now some criminals are switching to other types of documents to effect their fraudulent transfers, ones that dont trigger postcard mailings.
Moore said he needs additional resources to keep up with the bad guys. So he is asking for $1 million in additional funding from the county to create a mortgage fraud task force inside his office. The squad would be made up of several sheriffs police officers trained in financial crimes and at least one full-time prosecutor.
“Mostly everything regarding mortgage fraud can be traced back to the recorders office,” he said, adding his office doesnt have the capacity to investigate the 5,000 documents that are recorded daily.
He isnt the only one thinking that way. The DuPage County recorders office is looking at a mortgage fraud task force as well.
As for what could be accomplished, Moore points to Detroit, where the register of deeds office in Wayne County, Mich., has the kind of unit he wants.
Since September 2005, the Wayne County task force has opened 420 cases of suspected mortgage fraud and sent dozens of people to prison. There is a hot line for consumers and two intake workers to sort through the calls. Four sheriffs deputies investigate cases and two full-time prosecutors bring charges.
“We have a 100 percent conviction rate,” said Bernard Youngblood, the register of deeds in Wayne County. “We have convicted 40 individuals and returned about 100 properties to the rightful owners. This has been a tremendous assistance for the individual people involved. They had nowhere to go.”
Some task force members work undercover. Deputies have sat in on closings and made arrests. The squad works out of its own “war room,” complete with pin-studded maps that highlight fraud hot spots.
In September, the Wayne County Sheriffs Department collared three men accused of swindling senior citizens out of $600,000 through fake deeds. Deputies raided the house of Nelson Sumpter, 42, and then confiscated it, along with three luxury cars, because they allegedly had been purchased with stolen money.
Sumpter, who pleaded not guilty, faces 41 felony charges and the possibility of a long prison sentence because he is repeat offender.
Sumpter and the two other men claimed to be real estate professionals who would help the seniors sell their homes to investors After they got the homeowners signatures, they copied or scanned them on documents that gave them power of attorney, authorities said. Sumpter then allegedly sold the houses and kept the money. Sumpters attorney could not be reached for comment.
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FBI investigates Countrywide
By admin | March 9, 2008
Dominic Rushe, in New York for The Sunday Times
THE Federal Bureau of Investigations FBI has begun investigating Countrywide, America’s biggest sub-prime lender, it was reported today.
Citing unnamed law enforcement officials and finance industry executives, The Wall Street Journal stated that the inquiry’s focus is on whether Countrywide officials made misrepresentations about the companys financial position and the quality of its mortgage loans in securities filings.
Last week Countrywide boss Angelo Mozilo was among a number of finance executives grilled by Congress over the huge payouts they received during the boom in sub-prime lending.
Mozilo took home more than $410 million £204 million since becoming chief executive in 1999, including stock sales made under an automatic plan that paid out $141 million shortly before the company’s collapse.
“There seem to be two economic realities,” said Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Californian Democrat. “Most Americans live in a world where economic security is precarious and there are real economic consequences for failure. But our nations top executives seem to live by a different set of rules.”
At its peak Countrywide was the US’s biggest private home loan company. The firm issued more than $100 billion in mortgage-backed securities between 2004 and 2007, according to the newsletter Asset Backed Alert.
Countrywide is already under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the top US financial regulator, for possibly improper accounting. The FBI probe is likely to focus on whether there is any evidence of fraud in the origination of mortgages and to what extent Countrywide management was aware of the liabilities its sub-prime business was building up.
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The ‘Most Hated’ Man In New York Real Estate?
By admin | February 24, 2008
Developments : The ‘Most Hated’ Man In New York Real Estate?
he ‘Most Hated’ Man In New York Real Estate?
Around the office, most of us know that telling your coworkers how much you make is verboten. But in New York, revealing the size of your monthly rent check, or how much you paid for your home, is pretty standard stuff. But now one Manhattanite may be regretting his candor.
Mathew Thomas was jokingly dubbed Gotham’s “most hated” man by New York real-estate blog Curbed, after a story about him ran in the New York Times last week. According to the article, the aspiring novelist and private-school teacher just bought an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side for $14,000. Similar apartments in Mr. Thomas’s new neighborhood usually run for, oh, about 25 times that amount. (Curbed calls it “one of those stories that is sure to inspire much jealousy and anger.”)
It turns out that the 32-year-old entered his name in a government-subsidized lottery four years ago through the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program, which is only open to individuals with incomes less than $49,625. Thanks to the program, Mr. Thomas now owns a 350-square-foot studio with a full bath — but no stove — that’s located on 88th Street between Second and Third Avenues. His monthly maintenance for the apartment is $295.
Topics: Good Reads, Where do I Put THESE | No Comments »
Real Estate Investing
By admin | February 18, 2008
Real Estate Investing, with Tony John
Real Estate Course - Part 4
Filed under: Education — Tony John @ 12:56 am
In 2005 I wrote an introductory course on commercial real estate investment. This 5-part course was received via email in daily installments. Here is Part 3.
Commercial Property: How To Invest Like The Rich
Part 4: Cashflow or Capital Growth?
Some people think you have to invest either for capital growth, or cashflow. As though you can’t get both, so you have to choose.
With a lot of properties, particularly residential, this is largely true. If I look at my own residential properties, I have certainly got much larger capital growth on the low-yielding properties, than the high-yielding ones. Although I would point out that if you buy particularly well, you can get both.
One of the things I particularly like about commercial property is that it’s possible to get both.
4.1 Why Is Cashflow So Important?
Imagine you own a house, and it literally doubles in value overnight. Next morning, you walk into the kitchen for breakfast, a far wealthier person. But what actually has changed? Do you have nicer food in the fridge? Is there more money in your bank account? In your wallet?
Can you make your mortgage payment more easily?
While there’s no doubt that you are more wealthy, it’s purely on paper. You may well feel happier, but I’m asserting that it makes absolutely no tangible (ie real, physical, measurable) difference, until you ‘cash it out’, either by:
* selling the house, or
* refinancing the house
Until you get the cash in your account, your new wealth is purely on paper.
There are a lot of people out there (especially older, retired people who own their own home) who are sitting on enormous wealth but feel poor.
And no wonder - because unless you have the available cash to spend, you may as well be. If you can’t afford your groceries, you are living the life of a poor person - even if you own a nice house!
That belief drives my approach.
I use cashflow to experience wealth now, in the present. Not in 10 years, or 20 years, but this month. I have money pouring into my account every month, which is available for me to use as I see fit.
I don’t want to be sinking money into some big pit, hoping for a big payoff in the future. I’ve got my government-mandated retirement fund for that!
Topics: Commercial Real Estate | No Comments »
Clark County real estate roundup
By admin | February 18, 2008
Clark County real estate roundup
Clark County real estate roundup
Monday, February 18, 2008
Ciphaus has leased 400 square feet of retail space from Interstate Business Center in the Interstate Business Center, 9013 Highway 99, Suite 6, Vancouver. Trevor Sosky and Joe Sosky, Coldwell Banker Commercial Jenkins-Bernhardt Associates, represented the lessee and lessor.
Geotechnical Resources Inc. has leased 2,558 square feet of office space from Tim and Susan Brown and Larry and Pat Wilson in the Chamber Building, 1101 Broadway, Suite 130, Vancouver. Brian Sullivan, Coldwell Banker Commercial Jenkins-Bernhardt Associates, represented the lessor. Ryan Pennington, Integrated Property Services, represented the lessee.
Double Diamond LLC has leased 1,186 square feet of retail space from Tri-Mountain LLC in the Tri-Mountain Business Park, 109 S. 65th Ave., Suite 108, Vancouver. Trevor Sosky and Joe Sosky, Coldwell Banker Commercial Jenkins-Bernhardt Associates, represented the lessor.
Topics: Commercial Real Estate | No Comments »
Business
By admin | February 18, 2008
Democrat & Chronicle: Business
Pharmacy plans to vacate current location at Ridgemont Plaza in August.
Diana Louise Carter
Staff Writer
February 17, 2008 — Construction is scheduled to begin this week on the newest Rite Aid pharmacy in the area, according to William Paladino, a Buffalo developer.
The pharmacy, at 2960 W. Ridge Road in Greece, replaces the former Garibaldis Mexican restaurant, which was at Tully Lane and West Ridge Road and a vacant two-story office building. The store will be built directly across West Ridge from the current Rite Aid in Ridgemont Plaza.
Rite Aid will vacate the Ridgemont location when the new pharmacy opens, said Gary Tajkowski, director of development services for Greece.
Paladino is senior vice president of leasing and development for Ellicott Development Co. in Buffalo. The company is known there for developing and managing the landmark Ellicott Square building in downtown Buffalo. “Were one of the larger office building developers” in the area, Paladino said.
Ellicott is also developing a $30 million apartment complex on Buffalos Lake Erie waterfront, Paladino said. A subsidiary of Ellicott is renovating the United Office Building on First Street in Niagara Falls, the tallest building on the New York side of the falls until the recently built Seneca Niagara Casino hotel.
“We own a bunch of properties in Rochester,” Paladino said. Property transfer records showed the West Ridge Road property as costing $1 million.
Ellicott Development has been working in the Rochester area for more than a decade as the “preferred developer” for Rite Aid in the Northeast, Paladino said. Ellicott buys the land and builds the stores, leasing them to Rite Aid, as it did with the pharmacy on the corner of Monroe Avenue and South Goodman Street.
This site originally was approved by the Greece Planning Board for an Eckerd Pharmacy but was put on hold when Rite Aid bought the Eckerd chain.
Paladino declined to say how many pharmacies Ellicott has developed for Rite Aid, but 19 were listed in the yellow pages before the company bought the Eckerd chain. Ellicott has also developed “a number of Family Dollar” stores in the Rochester area, he said.
Paladino said the pharmacy should be finished in August.
Topics: Commercial Real Estate | No Comments »
FBI Comments on Mortgage Fraud and Other Real Estate Schemes
By admin | February 1, 2008
Mortgage Fraud Blog - FBI Comments on Mortgage Fraud and Other Real Estate Schemes
FBI Comments on Mortgage Fraud and Other Real Estate Schemes
Imagine landing your dream home.Your credit is a bit shaky, but you manage to get a subprime loan with an adjustable rate mortgage. A few years later the interest rates jump and you can no longer afford to pay. You see an ad for a business that’s willing to help—it’ll pay your mortgage for a modest monthly fee while you get back on your feet. But here’s the heartbreak: it’s a scam. The con artists just take your money and run…
It’s just one of the latest schemes and frauds we’re [teh FBI] seeing these days across the financial services industry, our senior criminal investigators said during a briefing Tuesday with the news media in Washington.
These scams—which include plenty of shenanigans with mortgages and subprime loans—are costing the nation tens of billions of dollars a year.
“Greed is definitely not good for our economy right now,” said FBI’s top criminal investigative exec Ken Kaiser following the briefing. “It’s hurting homeowners. It’s hurting honest businesses. And it’s hurting investors and markets around the world.”
All good reasons why we are squarely focused on cracking down on the largest of these financial crimes, launching proactive initiatives and shifting resources as trends emerge, all the while working hand-in-hand with a host of government and private sector partners.
Among the specifics discussed at the briefing:
Subprime mortgage loans:
We’re investigating 14 corporations involved in subprime lending as part of our Subprime Mortgage Industry Fraud Initiative launched last year.
The companies come from across the financial services industry, from mortgage lenders to investment banks that bundle loans into securities sold to investors. We’re also looking at insider trading by some executives.
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Couple Sentenced in Property Fraud Scheme
By admin | February 1, 2008
Couple Sentenced in Property Fraud Scheme | TheLedger.com
Couple Sentenced in Property Fraud Scheme
Thomas and Dawn Salvati took more than $1 million in fake housing deals.
By Shoshana Walter
THE LEDGER
Shoshana WalterShoshana Walter
Police Reporter
Dept.: Metro Desk
(863) 802-7590
shoshana.walter@theledger.com
A Lakeland man and his wife have been convicted of organized fraud and conspiracy to commit racketeering in a real estate scam that defrauded victims out of more than $1 million, the state Attorney General’s Office has announced.
Thomas Salvati, 49, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Dawn Salvati, 39, was sentenced to three years.
While in Florida prison serving a previous sentence for organized fraud, Thomas Salvati worked through his wife to form a corporation called Inves4us through which the couple offered pre-foreclosure properties they did not own. They created fake purchase contracts for their victims to sign and then collected deposits totaling more than $1 million from potential buyers, according to a news release from the Attorney General’s Office.
The Web site for the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations lists the couple’s home at 8155 Shadywood Court in North Lakeland as the company’s address, and Dawn Salvati as the primary agent. The company was registered with the department in 2005 and has been inactive since September 2006, according to Web site records.
The two were first arrested in the Inves4us scam in July 2006 after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was not Thomas Salvati’s first arrest for organized fraud. He served three years in prison for organized fraud in St. Lucie County in 1999.
Topics: Real Estate Fraud | No Comments »