I think I was I who said, "we'll have less sales and refinances and more fraud" in reference to changes in the lending environment. Trust me - I'm not making excuses for these scumballs and thugs - it's just common sense. Make the dream harder to acheive and people are going to take more risks and break more rules (and laws) to acheive it.
According to a report in National Mortgage News "Florida led the states in mortgage fraud, accounting for 24% of all properties with material misrepresentation for loans originated in the first quarter, according to the MARI Quarterly Fraud Report." Well, housing values are still fluttering, lenders do not want to lend there and people need a place to live. So guess what? Right! Lie, cheat and steal!
MARK THESE WORDS: Just wait until there is no more seller funded down payment assistance and see what happens to fraud numbers. We're talking about eliminating over 1/3 of all FHA loans from people who actually can afford the payments but simply have not, for any number of reasons, saved enough to pay the newly required 3.5% from their own funds. I'm telling you all right now we will have to even more closely check employers (Loan officers/Processors: do you investigate employer licensing/addresses and phone numbers already? You should!) to make sure they aren't shell companies or websites who offer VOE services AND W2's. They disappeared for a while but you can bet your brown eye they are coming back. And THIS time they will be funding the DPA because employer's can still do so. Again, ending seller funded DPA is the most boneheaded, asinign legislation I have seen in this whole debacle. Well, next to the crap that keeps coming out of North Carolina. (North Carolina is the first state to ban YSPs - and don't comment some BS you don't understand about how that's a good thing. Politicians who take illegal kickbacks, job opportunities, speaking engagements that pay thousands of dollars, telling honest workers they don't deserve their pay. Marxism.)
If you want to be a mortgage fraud fighter you can. There are many types of fraud perpetrated by many individuals. Almost all fraud you hear about is insider fraud but there is a lot of ousider fraud as well. If you know of an appraiser, a banker, a real estate agent, or a buyer (or anyone) who is making a false statement or creating documents in order to get a loan closed you can try the FBI but they will tell you (A) we're too busy to handle just one case but we'll keep their names in case we see them again or (B) do you have any evidence a real crime has been committed? Or, you can contact Rachael Dollar who, among other things, operates the Mortgage Fraud Blog.
See you at the polls in November. I dare you to vote for inexperience in a time like this.
THE OPINIONS IN THIS COMMENTARY ARE STRICTLY KEN COOK's PERSONAL OPINION AND NOT REFLECTIVE ON ACTIVE RAIN, NOVATION MORTGAGE, or ANY SPONSOR OF THIS WEBSITE.
EDUCATION BEATS LEGISLATION EVERY TIME. Get your clients, friends and family members to a LENDER RUN home mortgage seminar as soon as possible.
Scott - which idiots, the crooks or the politicians? Oh, wait. The street crooks or the elected ones? (Just kidding, I don't think all crooks and idiots are politicians.) Thanks for your comment.
Renee - OMG - I am so laughing at with you right now! Figures you would catch that! When we finally meet I'm going to just bust up laughing at all the things you've pulled out of my blogs over the years. Thanks for commenting sweety.
Kacem - of course there are better times ahead and we're all hoping for them. Thank you so much for stopping in. You're up there in the 'hood of one of my favorite people, Len Harely.
Ken, It sure doesn't surprise me that Floriad has the most mortgage fraud. My area is rampant with it. I agree that getting rid of Seller funded DPAs was a boneheaded move. So I guess you are not an Obama fan supporter:)
You said it...BONEHEAD thing to do eliminating Downpayment Assistance Programs. I was also reading on http://www.dpagroundswell.org/threat/index.cfm that it's a misguided solution to rescue the housing industry. This website an a few others offers excellent information about the what negative effects that will occur nationwide as you expressed in your blog.
Sylvia - thank you for your support. I'm not very silent about my feelings and sometimes I have to deal with the grief! Oh, well - if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything, right? And how about the SARAH PALIN?
Ken - if you get a chance please post this over to the mortgage fraud group. We need to keep reminding people this is still very much alive and well - just morphing in different directions and bound to get worse as lenders continue to overreact. In a market custom made for first time buyers (at least in SoCal) it is darn near impossible for them to get any kind of loan. My stepdaughter, who just bought a house 2 months ago using a DPA, would still be a renter if she were to try to purchase today. We just got an offer accepted on a place for my daughter and she is using one of the last stated income loans available today. Next month that window will probably be gone. If we want to turn this market around, we need prudent yet flexible policies that allow QUALIFIED buyers to own homes.
By the way - love your post on #1. I just did a newspaper article on that last month. Maybe I'll go ahead and post it. Good for a chuckle. 5,000 agents in our area and 4,000 #1's. And they can't figure out why people don't take us seriously and laugh about our credibility. Go figure.
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Ah Ken, always good to meet the brother from another mother. If only these idiots could use their powers for good instead of evil.