One of the sleaziest things I have written about since I started The Real Estate Bloggers is how people in Baltimore were buying up ground rents and stealing family houses for non payment. These ground rents go back to British rule of the colonies and many of the homeowners that were losing their homes did not even know of their existence.

Well, it seems that some of the worst of these folks attracted the attention of the federal government and now at least one has plead guilty of bid rigging at tax auctions. Steven Berman plead guilty in exchange for his testimony in rigging bids at annual auctions in the region. His testimony is going to help prosecutors go after others in the probe.

The great thing is that some of the others were the worst offenders of the ground rents scams that were played upon Baltimore’s poorest.

Go Feds, Go!!!

According to an FBI affidavit, the other subjects of the investigation are Baltimore County attorney Harvey M. Nusbaum, 70, and his longtime business partner, Jack W. Stollof, 73, of Stevenson.

Berman, Nusbaum and Stollof, and some family members, also are major investors in Maryland ground rents and have been among the most aggressive at either seizing homes or demanding large fees from homeowners who missed as little as $24 in payments. Their tactics, highlighted in a 2006 investigative series in The Sun, helped move General Assembly lawmakers last year to overhaul the centuries-old system under which more than 100,000 homeowners pay rent to investors on the land under their homes. via the baltimoresun.com

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