Short Sale Market Latest ‘Boom’ For Corporate Fraud and Racketeering

To the nearly 250,000 people this month who will have to look hard at their financial solvency options like a short sale or a reverse mortgage because of impending foreclosure, beware of the crooks. The foreclosure real estate “economy” is rife with new forms of sophisticated white-collar crime.

Reverse Mortgage Scams

The majority of Americans are, at least, dimly aware that financial managers, corporate accounts and other bean-counting professionals are steeped and practiced in mathematical alchemy-that medieval science that once claimed, with the right stuff, a cheap, worthless metal could be turned into gold. If you recall, it was this one-plus-one-must-equal-three mentality held by businessmen and economists that lead to the financial crises. However, most of us assume that kind of wizardry and mass deceit is well behind us, or the exclusive territory of Wall Street. Gone? No. Dispersed and diluted? Yes–and still very potent.

With a reverse mortgage agreement, the bank agrees to buy the equity of a borrower’s home and then makes payments to the borrower. Confused? Just wait.

In one recent RMA scam in Southern Florida, mortgage professionals linked up senior citizens with third party, reverse mortgage lenders only to sell them down the river.

During the equity evaluation, those mortgage ‘professionals’ would inflate the equity of their clients’ homes-sometimes as much as 500%. Once the third-party lender approved the fraudulent loan application, the mortgage professionals would divert the proceeds into their accounts and arrange for a short sale auction with the seniors citizens’ original lenders. Finally, with the capital from the third-party, reverse mortgage agreement, the mortgage professionals would pay off the balance and pocket the difference of the two sums.

Another fraudulent practice to look out for is “flopping.” This is where a house is sold in a short sale and quickly resold for a profit. It is considerably more insidious than the previously mentioned RMA scam because brokers are less accountable to lenders and the Federal Government.

Short-Sale Tips

• Firstly, a short sale is when the proceeds from a real estate sale are short of the balance due to the bank. Presumably, this sale is necessary because of imminent delinquency on behalf of the borrower. In such cases, the bank agrees to take less than the amount originally borrowed and the borrowers’ house is put up for auction to cover this new amount.

• The bank agrees to this new, lesser, or ’short,’ amount due to borrower hardship.

• There are serious penalties for going into foreclosure. With a short sale, the borrower is able to maintain good standing with creditors.

• Short sales are cheaper and faster than foreclosure (think, less pain).

• Many lenders already have departments set up to deal with short sales. The majority of those departments are equipped to deal with short sale transactions and have predetermined criteria for such transactions.

• Importantly, neither you nor the bank is required to agree to a short sale.

Short selling is a last, best option for many people facing foreclosure. Don’t be scammed though. If you don’t think you can do alone, if you are being harassed, hassled or just generally feel uneasy about the brokers of a short sale or the attitude of your bank, seek out legal advice.

The Lee Law Firm aims to provide local residents with high quality legal representation at affordable rates. Their attorneys specialize in all aspects of mortgage loan modification. As Dallas foreclosure lawyers, the Lee Law Firm attorneys understand the pressures their clients face as the battle a financial hardship.

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