How Mortgage Fraud is Infiltrating MLS Data
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Mortgage fraud is a problem that is increasingly coming to light in the marketplace. The fraudulent data is also in the MLS data that real estate agents need to properly do their job and these distortions can hurt buyers and sellers as much as the mortgage companies. The article this morning in the Miami Herald explains why.
But real estate agents say they are sometimes asked to raise the list price of a home. In mortgage fraud cases, that allows a broker to pay the seller at the original list price and keep the rest of the money as cash back at closing.
The false sales information means other sellers can end up overpricing houses that then get stuck on the market, and other buyers can end up paying more than they should.
”The average person in a neighborhood full of fraud is paying higher taxes because of an artificial base — they’re paying more because somebody cheated,” says Nancy Hogan, a member of the Florida Real Estate Commission, a state licensing board that has no authority over the MLS. “On the other hand, when those houses go into foreclosure, they are also bringing down the neighborhood.” via the MiamiHerald.com.
It probably is a really good time to buy real estate - monthly payments are about equal to market rents ...
The part about the inventory is right on but in my area they are mostly low end and beat up ...
I worked for this man, he is a great con man and has done this in more than States then ...
You're right. If you come from Central Jersey (as the Boss and I do), you go to Florida at some ...
Maybe it was kryptonite...
ECONOMIC REPORT
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By Mike ...
I couldn't agree more.
The newspaper has always "stuck" it to the real estate agent with rates that were much higher ...
By the way, homeowners trying to get short sale approval should be aware that lenders are comparing the initial loan ...
Ouch! Thankfully I haven't come across anything like that yet. We normally don't have situations like that in ...
well, the guy was here illegally.
serves him right. 
BY USING FIRST CLAIM INSURANCE ADJUSTERS YOU WILL HAVE THE ABILITY TO LOOK AT YOUR INSURANCE SETTLEMENT AND REALIZE FIRST ...
Pingback by Is your Comparative Market Analysis accurate? Don’t get fooled by fraud. « Great Real Estate on 7 September 2007:
[...] than just affecting the lenders, these illegal deals will fool sellers into listing too high, and potentially cost them thousands of dollars as real prices decline even further. Would you [...]