Mortgage Fraud.  What is mortgage fraud?  There are so many different types of fraud it really doesn't do it justice to explain it here.  I've decided to write about one case where a friend was given a bridge loan to buy a house from the equity he had in his condo.  In order to get the loan, the mortage broker with SunTrust Bank suggested he go out and get a lease for his condo for $3000.00.  This was fine until he suggested that they go get another friend to sign a lease for this amount.  Condos his size rent for about $1,600. Here we have a bank officer telling a client to get a lease signed by a friend (not actually planning on living in the condo) to justify the larger mortgage.  This is where I came in.  I recommended that my friend not do that.  He listened.  However, he did continue to get a mortgage with the bridge loan and then got stuck owning two properties.  Ultimately to make a long story short, he had to pay $40000 when he sold his condo.  This is just one story in real life, however, many people are finding themselves in this same or a similar predicament.  Some can afford to pay the difference and some cannot.  Some must go to the bank and ask for a short sale.  Some must go straight to forclosure.  The down cycle is not done and there are many of these situations that still have to be washed out of the system.  Then we will start all over again.  This is why we call it a business cycle.