The mortgage industry should be required by the government to disclose ALL fees as we Realtors do.

I had a situation where an agent went into one of my listings without an appointment.  Just walked right in on my clients while they were in their pajamas one Saturday morning!  I advised my clients to call the police.  Its illegal and its called breaking and entering.

But my clients didn't want to go that route.  So I contacted my local association and they asked for a letter from the client stating exactly what happened - that was the only way they could take punitive action.  But my client didn't want to do that either.

So in the end, the agent did not get punished for walking in without an appointment.  And because my client didn't want to loose a potential offer on their home, I couldn't get them to take the necessary steps.

With the data collected by the electronic lock boxes, maybe we need to get our associations to change their policy regarding walk-ins so that the client doesn't have to initiate the action.  The association can verify if an appointment was made or not, then check the data to see if the agent entered or not.  The client shouldn't have to be involved.  And a nice fat fine would prevent the agent from making that mistake again.

As far as inspectors go - in my state they are not required to be licensed.  Maybe it would help if they were licensed by the state.

I don't think passwords will help.  Can you imagine having a different password for each of your listings and having to change it after each visit from an inspector or appraiser?  Unless they can be randomly generated single use passwords... Maybe it can be computerized somehow within the Supra system. 

Maybe taking the keys out of the hands of inspectors and appraisers althogether would help.  Of course then the agents would have to meet them at the property to let them in.  More work for us, but less people with keys should also mean less problems.  I think they will be less like to get into mischief if there is another person there with them.

How does a sex offender even get an appraiser's license?

I have first hand knowledge and experience with many of these issues. Having been a Real Estate Broker for nearly 30 years in Miami, Florida ~ (South Florida is notorious for fraud and schemers), I have seen mortgage fraud from the perspective of a wholesale mortgage account manager, broker and loan officer.

There are many government agencies and task forces, set-up for the very purpose of catching the criminals. The state attorney's office is one place to start and the local MLS board is yet another. There are so many crimes, both economic and otherwise to keep law enforcement very busy. It seems that there is not enough man-power to stop crime entirely. IF, just if, we as professionals can stop just one incident of real estate/mortgage fraud, we can collectively put a big dent in the situation. Can we stop it completely? Absolutely NOT! There is so much greed among mortgage and real estate "professionals" that a "new" scam develops just about everyday. Don't forget these "criminals" are NOT stupid!

They are usually of very high intellect! ~ Developing these "con-games, schemes and tricks" requires many attributes and skills;

• Convincing
• Compelling
• Salesmanship
• Knowledge
• Network
• Greed
• Ingenuity

These are just a few!

Mott Marvin Kornicki, Broker

Waterway Realty, Ltd. Co.

Sunny Isles Beach, Florida

In Business Since 1978

YES~ WE CAN MAKE A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER!

You know, maybe we are lucky on the Gulf Coast but it does not seem to be such a large problem. Granted, there will always be the odd agent that goes in without an appointment.

I have had clients get upset with me when they decide they want to see homes on the spot and I explain that I have to have permission to go into the house. When I go to call the listing agent I hear things like 'why  do you have to do that? you have a Supra key to get in, don't you?'

Ethics.....perhaps some agents give in to the pressure of the client. I don't! I would want others to call me prior to walking in on my listings too!

Well I for another example; I have a listing that will be closing this Tuesday- but when it was first on the market I had an agent call me to set an appointment for Sunday afternoon. I gave her the showing instructions after I confirmed the appointment.

I get a call from the agent at 9am Sunday morning stating that they had to change their schedule around because of the buyer had gotten called into work. They went to the home at 8:30am! The sellers were still in bed sleeping and when the agent realized that she had woken the sellers, she still had the nerve to ask if it was OK to come in and took the buyers into the home!

The wife was running for the bathroom ( pregnant no less) and the agent took them threw the home even when she realized they are still sleeping! She had the nerve to tell me this when she called me at 9am and I was furious!!