Senate Looks To Allocate $200 Million For Real Estate Fraud Prosecution
Are you living in the gray area in the real estate world? Or worse, are you in the midst of all out mortgage fraud? Bet you are thinking that the police and prosecutors have much bigger fish to fry and you are safe ripping off the banks and other people.
You may have guessed wrong.
Prosecutors may be getting a $200,000,000 fund to draw from to prosecute those who are committing real estate fraud. That is one heck of an incentive to go after those that purposely are making a mess out of our real estate industry.
I am not a big fan of the government throwing money at problems, this one may make sense. Consumers do not have faith in real estate as a stable investment yet. We all know there are hundreds of thousands of homes that could be foreclosed upon tomorrow across the country that could push the market back into chaos.
But if consumers would know that those who try to rip them off would face a severe a quick punishment, it may help restore some trust into the market, and that is not a bad thing.
Sens. Charles Schumer, a Democrat, and Jon Kyl, a Republican, proposed legislation on Tuesday that would award up to $200 million to state and local prosecutors to go after real estate fraud.
The money would be awarded as competitive grants to prosecutors’ offices to hire new investigators, accountants and attorneys. Advocates say states have been unable to prosecute many troubling cases because of a lack of staff and other resources.
“The housing crisis has spawned a cottage industry of refinancing and foreclosure prevention scams,” Schumer said in a statement. “This bill will put a stop to the criminals who are trying to swoop in and take advantage of desperate homeowners.” via Google News
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Comment by Bob on 30 September 2009:
It is amazing how brazen some of these people are. I wish theyt would also go after the poeple stripping houses before the bank forecloses on them. We have seen situations where a person living in a home that is being sold “Short” has systematically removed everything during the time they are living there and by the time it closes there is no less than $100,000 worth of damage or stolen fixtures. In one case that we were representing the buyer on we wanted to check on the house and were told that the seller did not want anyone to come through, even though we were in escrow. When we finally were able to get in, the house had been stripped and the seller had a brand new BMW SUV in the garage.
Comment by Portland Real Estate on 30 September 2009:
Well I hope they catch them, and I really hope that the courts punish them. For some reason this sort of fraud seems to be punished fairly inconsistently. The guys who steal the most money end up just getting a slap on the wrist or a few years at most in a comfy prison. It’s just like the Enron guys, they all got off really easily compared to what they deserved.
-Tyler
Comment by Matthew Rathbun on 4 October 2009:
Only one question… The “bandit” graphic – is that Congress or the Loan Fraud-ers? Sometimes I have issues telling the difference.
Comment by Chris Robinson on 7 October 2009:
I agree that these people need to be stopped. Much of the fraud that has gone on out there has gone unpunished. I myself was made a victim when I first got into buying apartments and there seemed to be no where that I could turn to get any help.
Many of these people have elaborate schemes put together so that the person that is being played may not even now that they have been scammed. They may just think that they had bad luck in a legitimate investment.
Next I would like to see the government put together a task force to stop people from sending me spam in my inbox all the time. These people seem to be way to concerned with my virility.
Chris Robinson
Real Estate Investor/Mentor/Speaker