When it comes to real estate scams, most people think about the buyers who have been taken advantage of my unscrupulous fraudsters. Or, they think about homeowners who are in financial trouble and get taken advantage of by someone who claims to be able to help them with their financial problem. In reality, it is not just the buyers and sellers who are hurt by real estate scams. In fact, lenders are regularly taken advantage of my scammers as well. Here is a look at some of the most common scams that real estate lenders face.
Property Flipping
At its core, property flipping isn’t illegal. This is because the term “property flipping” refers to the practice of purchasing a home at a lower price and then reselling it a higher price. While this is a perfectly legal practice that is commonly performed by real estate investors, scammers provide false information to lenders in an effort to increase their profits.
Having Two Sets of Settlement Statements
With the two sets of settlement statements scam, two different settlements are prepared for the seller and for the lender. The settlement that is prepared for the seller is accurate, but the one that is provided to the lender shows a much higher price. In this way, the scammer obtains a loan for more than the actual value of the property and then divides the excess funds with everyone who was involved in the scam.
Fictitious Qualifications
In an effort to help a buyer qualify for a home mortgage loan, a real estate agent may assist a buyer with providing fictitious information on the mortgage loan application. This may include making up information to fill gaps in employment history or even making up information on a credit record.
In addition to taking advantage of lenders with these types of scams, these con artists regularly con the government as well. This is because the money that is stolen through these scams is typically laundered in order to keep it hidden from the government. Through the laundering process, the money is processed in such a way that it makes sit appear as if it was earned through a legal means. For this reason, the IRS regularly audits thousands of tax returns that are related to the real estate business each year. If enough evidence is collected, the IRS may pass the information on to the Department of Justice so the department may pursue a criminal prosecution. Every year, dozens of people are successfully prosecuted because of their real estate schemes. A few examples include:
* Kamau Herndon of Portland Oregon was sentenced to 24 months in prison and one year of supervised release on March 29, 2010 after submitting three false loan applications totaling $1.5 million in loan requests.
* Matthew Yurchison of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was sentenced to twelve months and one day in prison on March 10, 2010 after taking out two loans for the same property when there was only supposed to be one. As a result, one of the lenders lost $670,000. He and his co-conspirator also forged signatures and provided false information when obtaining other loans.
How much extra cost is added for everyone else when a few scam artists cause these problems? Real estate and mortgage fraud is a real problem with real consequences affecting all of us.
Ryan Lynch is part of the marketing team for Cantera Real Estate located at 6836 Austin Center Blvd., Suite 120, Austin, TX 78731 http://www.jimolenbush.com
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