Some of you who are mortgage professionals may know what I'm going to write about next.  There has been a recent slow down in the Utah market.  This market has like previous market's in Las Vegas and Phoenix has posted some impressive increases in values in the past two years.  But now like most market's, what goes up will go down.  Unfortunately we've had an increase in the number of investor loans from those within the state and buyers from other locations.  This has caused there to be an inordinate number of homes to be listed with the MLS and privately.  The buyer's are just not there, and those that are buying are not at this time willing to fund the retirement of some greedy investor that thinks they're going to cash in on Utah's HOT real estate market.

Okay, I don't think every real estate investor is greedy, but there has been allot of "get rich" quick personalities in this business over the past several years, and these investors are now finding themselves in a quandary.  No one is going to buy their speculative home, so how do they get rid of it?  How do they refinance it out of the construction loan before the wolves start barking at the door?  Many times I field calls from these desperate investors, and often they've received advice that is ...cough...ILLEGAL!!!

Yes, how many times a day do I hear this statement.  "Well, I live in San Diego, my job is in San Diego, I'm work as a legal secretary, and I make 20,000 a month!!!!  Say what???  Talk about an over estimation of their "stated" income!!  Then I hear this allot as well.   We'll I'm an investor and I have 4 or 5 properties.  I need a HELOC on my primary property.  Doesn't sound bad yet, but then they tell me they have lived in the primary property for a week, and the previous property they moved from was a 4-plex and the property they are living in now is a 3-plex!!....are you kidding me!!!

What's even scarier is that mortgage loan officers are continuing to do these fraudulent loans!!  STOP, and STOP now.  The FBI, your state regulatory agencies are REALLY looking into these violations of the law.  You not only risking your license, but jail time as well!  Real Estate agents, your not immune from these issues.  Just found out from a family source that another member of the family is selling their home.  The home cost this individual about 500k to build with the lot.  They want 750k for the property, but no one was making any offers.  Then magically someone comes in with an offer of 950k!!!  Oh my, I wonder what they offer entails.  Yes, you guessed it, the buyer wants 200k cash-back at closing.  Interesting, because the real estate agent, appraiser, and mortgage officer in this case are all working together on this one.  And no, there isn't a BANK out there folks that will allow a 200k cash-back clause to be funded in a contract like that one.  I told this family member to get an attorney and find a way to get out of this contract, and frankly after hearing the appraisal came in at 950k I want to turn in the real estate agent, the appraiser and mortgage officer my self to the state!

The pressure to exit the market right now is immense for some investors who became investors for the wrong reason.  I just hope most of us avoid the temptation to help those people out in the wrong manner.  I know some of these people maybe good clients or family and friends, but you can make a bad situation allot worse if you cave into their demands that you sacrifice your integrity for 30 pieces of silver!