homesmillbrae.com » Fraud

Mortgage alert: Borrowers change how they cheat

Thu, 26 Sep 2013 08:05:55 +0000

The good news: Fewer borrowers are lying on their mortgage applications. The bad news: The remaining cheaters may be pulling a more dangerous scam. Instead of inflating their home prices, they are now inflating their incomes and assets, according to researchers at CoreLogic.

“There’s no need to inflate the value of the home because home prices are rising,” said CoreLogic’s chief economist Mark Fleming.

But new federal regulations forcing lenders to prove that borrowers can repay their loans has some borrowers shifting the focus of their fraud to their personal balance sheets. Lenders are now scouring financial records, unlike during the recent housing boom, in order to make sure they are complying with new rules, so fraudsters are following suit, jacking up the numbers.

(Read more: Forget easing prices, new homes are up, up, up)

That could be more dangerous to the banks, because jacking up a home price only hurts if the home price falls, but inflating income means the borrowers may not be able to pay the loan no matter what.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101062232

Housing Foreclosures Start to ‘Flare-Up’ Again

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 04:03:58 +0000

In California, foreclosures slowed dramatically last year due to a new law designed to protect homeowners, the California Homeowner Bill of Rights, and due to the $25 billion National Mortgage Settlement with mortgage servicers over so-called “robo-signing” foreclosure paperwork fraud. In February, new foreclosure starts jumped 41 percent, the first gain since July of 2012.

While the percentage jump is large, in a twist, some argue the foreclosure delays still persist and are hurting the recovery.

(Read More: No Money? No Worries. Home Lenders Ease Rules)

“While policy makers state that the purpose of government intervention is to help homeowners by delaying foreclosures, instead they have created an artificial shortage in bank-owned inventory (REO). The combination of the decline in REO inventory and lack of motivated sellers has left the California real estate market with an acute lack of inventory, which is putting upward pressure on prices,” say analysts at ForeclosureRadar.

(Read More: REO: CNBC Explains)

While price gains help recovery, if they happen too fast, they price would-be buyers and investors out of the market, which slows sales again. Price recovery has many believing that housing is suddenly not just back on its feet again, but surging ahead—much of the price recovery is based on lack of inventory of homes for sale, which in turn is due to foreclosure delays, which as we now see, can turn very quickly.

—By CNBC’s Diana Olick; Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick or on Facebook at facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC

Questions? Comments? RealtyCheck@cnbc.com

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100553116

Bay Area man sent to prison for $2.9 million fraud

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 01:51:19 +0000

By The Associated Press

Monday, June 18, 2012

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/06/18/state/n184348D61.DTL