Did you watch the webinar today, August 25? Was it too deep? Was it helpful? Do you have differing views?
I appreciate hearing from you below. This is about reasonable discussion. Disagreement can sharpen minds.
Wed. 8/25: Part 2 Webinar on Short Sale Fraud
Completing the Look at “The Law” Affecting Short Sales
It may be the “dog days” of summer, but it’s no time to be lazy about how you operate your short sale business. Investigations into short sale transactions are at an all-time high and you need to know the details that will keep your business operating legally.
You asked for it. You get it: Part 2 of “Demystifying Fraud in the Short Sale Fog.”
Chris McLaughlin, Florida attorney and short sale expert, and yours truly, The California Short Sale Lawyer, return to continue clearing the fog surrounding issues of legality and fraud in short sales this coming Wednesday at 2 PM ET, 11 AM PT Read the rest of this entry »
July Webinar Comments?
Did you watch the webinar today, July 28? Was it too deep? Was it helpful? Do you want to see more like that? I appreciate hearing from you below.
Wed. 7/28 Webinar: Understanding Fraud in Short Sales
This topic might not sound sexy, but if an orange jump suit doesn’t flatter your figure, then you will want to be sure to make this webinar.
Wells Fargo Claims Agents Owe It Fiduciary Duty
Obviously, I receive bank documents for review from clients involved in short sales. Wells Fargo Bank Home Mortgage (WFB) has revised important documents.
Since at least the fourth quarter of 2009 WFB has provided a “Short Sale Listing Addendum” and a “Purchase Contract Addendum” to be executed in the traditional short sale process. (I don’t know if this applies to HAFA short sales as the one my client just forwarded is not a HAFA short sale.)
Today I received a new version – at least to my eyes.
What really shocked me is the second line of the Listing Addendum which states: “It is the listing agent’s fiduciary responsibility to present the highest and Read the rest of this entry »
Stand With Freddie Mac Against “Strategic Defaults”
Freddie Mac has received a lot of attention lately from short sale investors. Today I write to endorse their position on “strategic defaults” dated May 3, 2010. Freddie’s Executive Vice President Don Bisenius offered “A Perspective on Strategic Defaults” that I commend to every serious investor’s reading at http://bit.ly/9bxSf7
Bisenius cogently discusses this disturbing trend – which reported has even been encouraged by some “financial advisors” (not to be confused with legitimate real estate investors). He identifies “strategic default” when, “borrowers who have the financial means to make monthly mortgage payments, but choose not to do so and, instead, purposely default on their loan.”
Readers who viewed one or more of the webinars about Freddie Read the rest of this entry »
Legitimate Investor Flips Reduce Loan Losses
As the saying goes, “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” The gist is that one’s view of solutions is biased toward one’s window on the world.
A fraud investigator may think of business in terms of losses, often neglecting to check off each element for a claim of fraud before allowing an article about it. A loss analyst thinks in terms of the difference between principal amount and payoff.
Few people involved in short sales see all sides of the deal AND what it takes to make deals work versus deals that fail. Short sales negotiators, especially those who negotiate investor deals and “retail” end-buyer deals, see how deals actually get made and how they fail.
The loss Read the rest of this entry »
TARP Inspector “Flopping” Fraud Warning
The latest “emergency news” flashing across the Internet is about the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) SIG (Special Inspector General) Report to Congress warning about Property “Flopping” Fraud.
“Flopping” is not a misspelling, so add it to your spell checker.
Before more people start blogging (and offering new training programs designed to “solve” the new “problem”), I suggest reading the actual TARP Inspector General Report to Congress April 2010, which is why I have it linked for intelligent review and discussion. The relevant portions are on pages 138-140 of the report (pages 140-142 of the PDF file).
Warning: This is a long post because it involves thinking and analysis, not hype and sales of Read the rest of this entry »
Short Payoff Fraud Webinar Replay Links
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 has probably set a record for webinar content on a single topic on a single day: the Freddie Mac news article discussing a concept of “Short Payoff Fraud.”
Anyone who considers him/herself a serious real estate professional (real estate agents, brokers, investors, title, escrow, etc.) should conduct serious study about this issue. I have searched the Internet since the release of the news article and these are the only thorough treatments on this topic.
I network and collaborate with several well-known attorneys in the short sale field. Since my primary focus is on legal compliance in California, I’m comfortable acting as an “equal opportunity informer” sharing the insights from my colleagues and Read the rest of this entry »
Thinking About “Disclosure Chaos”
I’ve been thinking about the chaos that could be created if the disclosure of all pending offers a short sale investor receives were to become the law of the land. Keep in mind, I don’t believe it is the current state of the law and I don’t believe it would be good policy for it to become the state of the law.
Naturally, I’m writing with respect to the recent Freddie Mac online news article which has received considerable attention among the real estate investing community and which is the topic of several blog posts below. The article suggests that it is an act of “short payoff fraud” for an investor who has a property Read the rest of this entry »
