Blatant Mortgage Fraud that we will not be a part of

You hear a lot of talk about Mortgage Fraud, how it is rampant, how banks are cracking down on easy loans, how the number of foreclosures is increasing……but the call we received today  still has me in SHOCK!

We have a couple of listings of miami homes that need a lot of work, are not only advertised as such, but the pricing also reflects that.

A gentleman who identified himself as a “real estate investor” called us today about one of these listings and this is what he had in mind.  He said that he had an appraiser run a pencil search on the property and the house was valued at more than $150K over listing price.  We explained that we were aware of that and so was the seller, but it was priced accordingly considering the amount of work it needed.  He proceeded to ask if we could increase the list price by $150,000, he would pay full price and would request the difference at closing.

We told him that not only would we not increase the price, we would not partake in anything remotely similar to what he was suggesting because it would be considered  mortgage fraud.  We also told him that the owner would consider seller contributions, as long as these followed all Fannie Mae guidelines.

I know there are a lot of agents in our market that are participating in deals of this nature.  I even know a lot of sellers that think nothing is wrong and they could play the “dumb card” just to make the deal happen.  The only thing I have to say to these people is that Mortgage Fraud is a Felony.  You can go to jail, plain and simple.