the California Short Sale Lawyer™ blog

[The following is an article from John Grant. I don’t usually post articles or editorials by others, but this one, released today, is worth posting. The author, John Grant, represents residential real estate investors in Washington, D.C. Mr. Grant also works with hedge funds, investment banks and insurers. Mr. Grant is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. He is the government relations representative of www.distressedpropertycoalition.com (DPC). Ron Ballard is a member of DPC, providing legal and business analysis and advocacy.]

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that part of me was impressed upon hearing the latest debacle underway at Freddie Mac. Imagine if you had access to an investment vehicle allowing you to bet that Freddie Mac’s efforts to refinance its toxic portfolio would fail? The only investment opportunity that would equal this in the past 20 years would be those that allowed investors to bet against Freddie Mac before the housing crisis.

Well, such a product does exist. Shockingly, this genius product is the brainchild of Freddie Mac’s business unit, the authors of the 2008 housing crisis. Known as “inverse floaters”, the business unit has invested billions that its loan Read the rest of this entry »

California Senate Bill 458 (SB 458) was signed by the Governor on July 11, 2011 and immediately became law as an urgency measure. It was enrolled by the California Secretary of State on July 15, 2011.

Accordingly, it immediately applies to all new and PENDING short sale approvals. There’s a lot of articles discussing the new law. Registered readers of California Short Sale Lawyer blog can download an official copy of the new law which sets forth the entire text of California Code of Civil Procedure Section 580e which was amended by SB 458.

Registration is free. Simply register using the box on the right. We will not sell or redistribute your email and you Read the rest of this entry »

On June 28, 2011, I gave a more than 90 minute webinar on fraud issues in short sales. This was hosted by Nathan Jurewicz, who was kind enough to record it and post it for replay for a LIMITED time. It’s on his server, not mine, and I don’t know how long he’ll have it up, so if you want to listen to it, please do so today or tomorrow. If you try in July, I can’t promise that it will be there because I don’t have control over that. I also offered a PDF file of the slides for those who listened live.

The webinar digs into the indictment and the plea bargain agreement Read the rest of this entry »

I hate to give you too much too fast, but I just came across a lawsuit filed a couple weeks ago in Santa Ana, California in which the FDIC is suing CoreLogic for $129 million in connection with alleged appraisal fraud relating to the failure of Washington Mutual alone. Could there be more losses at other banks?

See http://bit.ly/FDICvCL

Be sure to read my two articles immediately below to understand how CoreLogic “cooks the books” to look good.

Could a highly publicized “study” warning of $375 million of “unnecessary” loan losses in “suspicious short sales” be manipulating figures just to sell more of its author’s services?

Prepare to read the following in depth analysis and I’m confident you’ll find that the answer is obvious.

Last week, articles began appearing in real estate oriented web sites and news services about CoreLogic’s “2011 Short Sale Research Study” and its alarming conclusion that lenders MAY incur up to $375 million in “unnecessary losses” due to “suspicious” short sales in 2011 alone.

It’s easy to parrot this fantastic conclusion. It’s another thing to analyze it. On Monday, June 6, I wrote my first article analyzing the study Read the rest of this entry »

It’s easy to make headlines when you control the data, the definitions and the conclusions.

That’s what CoreLogic did last week – as an unwitting disservice to the double dipping real estate market, ethical real estate professionals and the legitimate private investors who are providing necessary liquidity into distressed markets that banks refuse to touch.

Washington Post syndicated columnist Kenneth R. Harney appears to have been duped by a promotional brochure produced by CoreLogic in writing an article dated June 3 that has filled my email box with questions.

The article can be found at http://wapo.st/ssalarm .

It opens with the alarming question: “Are banks and distressed home sellers getting rooked on a massive scale Read the rest of this entry »

Several real estate blogs and news sites have been buzzing about the extension of the waiver of the 90 day flipping restriction for FHA insured loans. It’s important to keep the news in perspective.

I have searched the HUD and FHA web sites high and low for an official announcement and have not yet found one. At this point it is a news report which seems credible.

Kenneth Harney of the Los Angeles Times reports the expected extension of the waiver from an interview with Vicki Bott, deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing at the FHA.

Interestingly, Bott is reported as stating that the waiver is being extended partly as a result of the FHA Read the rest of this entry »