June 29th, 2007 categories: Real Estate News, Mortgage/Finance
I heard about this in the morning and the Dispatch article bared it out. The version I heard consisted of police rounding up something like 70 people all around Central Ohio and I thought there could even be some Realtors caught up in this round.
Mortgage Fraud has been prevalent all over Columbus for the last few years with suspicious dealings going down quite often. Most of those go relatively unnoticed but I recall a week last December when an associate of mine discovered that the Dispatch’s top five real estate transactions were ALL sold for amounts well over the list price which was raised only days before closing. We’re not just talking about mortgage fraud in the inner city where dilapidated 4,000 square foot houses selling for $500,000 look fine on paper to California banks, we’re talking about the suburbs too.
It’s bad for area comps, Realtors, home owners and home buyers. I would look for more arrests as time goes on. Here is a blurb from today’s article . . .
. . . . a dozen central Ohioans, including two licensed loan officers, are charged with 38 crimes including mortgage fraud.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien announced the grand jury indictments yesterday. It was the third wave of charges dealing with mortgage fraud. As in the other cases, the defendants are accused of falsely inflating the mortgage amounts, creating false bank accounts, and arranging “straw purchases” in which someone else poses for a buyer who cannot qualify for the loan. more
Possibly related must reads:
Is the 2007 Columbus Real Estate Market Doomed?
The Avg American Mtg last 4.2 years
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