Real estate fraud seminar coming to Hamilton

Back in the heyday of the Bitterroot Valley’s housing boom, Bitterroot Valley appraiser Darwin Ernst said one local mortgage broker used to say: “You show us the house, we’ll show you the money.”

Real estate fraud was more common than people realize, Ernst said.

“In some cases, people just didn’t know,” he said.

During the housing boom, the valley had about 10 unlicensed mortgage brokers. Today, two licensed brokers remain in business.

Inflated home prices, creative financing, and misrepresentations on loan documents weren’t issues that just happened somewhere else in the country, Ernst said.

New regulatory requirements that followed the housing market bust has changed the way people do business.

A two-day seminar on real estate fraud coming to Hamilton Monday is designed to help real estate agents, appraisers and lenders avoid the pitfalls of becoming an unsuspecting participant in mortgage fraud, Ernst said.

The seminar is hosted by the Bitterroot Valley Board of Realtors. It will be held at the Bitterroot River Inn on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 18 and 19.

The first day focuses entirely on the kind of scams that can occur in real estate transactions and how to avoid them.

The second day is set aside for appraisers to consider issues of adjustments, independence and mandatory reporting requirements.

Anyone interested in attending the seminar can call the Bitterroot Valley Board of Realtors at 363-2000 to register.

The same seminar attracted nearly 200 in Missoula last month.

Ernst spent close to a year helping to design the course, which focuses on issues specific to Montana’s real estate market.

The course will examine 20 common frauds that occur during the purchase and financing of real estate transactions.

Nationally known fraud profiler Richard Hager will teach the course.

Hager will examine several actual real estate and mortgage fraud cases. He will point out the failures of the sellers, buyers, real estate agents, appraisers, mortgage loan originators and lenders.

And he’ll explain how their actions violated state and federal laws.

“On a daily basis, real estate professionals violate numerous laws, often without knowing it,” Hager said in a press release. “The course is designed to provide the basic education for real estate agents, appraisers and loan originators, attorneys and consumers regarding real estate fraud, ethics and the law.”

Ernst said the very same pressures that led to widespread fraud in the housing market that helped collapse the country’s economy is already beginning to well up again in some markets.

“We are seeing rapid 10 to 15 percent increases in the housing market in some major cities,” he said.

Those rapid increases and the potential for making lots of money can drive people to commit fraud.

“A person shouldn’t get into a house that they can’t afford,” he said. “We don’t want to see any more foreclosures. ... These classes are designed to help people fix the problem so it doesn’t happen again.”

Layna Lyons, executive officer for the Bitterroot Valley Board of Realtors, said everyone is invited to attend the course, which will offer education credits for Realtors and appraisers.

“It should be a good course,” she said. “This is the first time that we’ve ever offered classes for Realtors and appraisers for credit.”

With the new regulations that followed the national economic downturn, Lyons said it’s important that people understand the potential for fraud.

“People can get into a problem and not even realize they are doing something wrong,” she said. “I think this is going to be a great class for a lot of different people. We want everyone to know what fraud is.”

Read more: Police Warn of Online Real Estate Scam, Dorota Dyman & Associates Real Estate

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More funding is now available to fight real estate fraud

Upset with the rise in property crimes, and concerned about desperate home-owners--especially seniors--being victimized by scams, officials from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said last week that they are taking a more active approach to real estate fraud and now have the resources to fight these crimes.

Deputy district attorneys Kim Connors and Mike Fitzsimmons asked real estate agents for their help in fighting real estate fraud.

Realtors are in the trenches and know what is happening to homeowners. "You are our eyes and ears," said Connors.

Real estate fraud has been on the rise since the mortgage meltdown. "Desperate homeowners are ripe to be victims of loan modification and other scams," said Fitzsimmons.

The good news is the district attorney's office now has more funds to fight property crime issues. Fitzsimmons explained financing to fight real estate fraud comes from recording fees. Before this year, $3 from each recording fee went to the unit; this year, $10 will go to toward real estate fraud prosecution.

The increased funding has allowed the office to beef up its real estate fraud unit with four prosecutors, three full-time paralegals and seven investigators. One paralegal is solely engaged in reviewing changes in titles, sending out letters to homeowners verifying authenticity, and letters to homeowners who have received notices of default, with information on what they can do and victim prevention tips.

"We have a lot more money to work with and will be hiring more attorneys and investigators. If you see suspicious activity, report it to us. With new funding, we now have the ability and higher capacity to deal with these crimes," said Fitzsimmons. Continue reading..

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Dorota Dyman & Associates

New condominiums put up for sale in greater Tokyo grew 6.1 percent from the year before to 1,826 units in January, climbing for the ninth consecutive month, the Real Estate Economic Institute said Thursday.

The figure was the highest for a January since 2,320 units in 2008 and topped the boom-or-bust line of 70 percent for the 12th consecutive month. Purchase contracts were concluded for 78.6 percent of the total. The data covered Tokyo and its three neighboring prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba.

Demand peaked in September 2013 as buyers rushed to lock in the current consumption tax rate of 5 percent for contracts concluded that month specifying delivery on or after April 1, when the rate jumps to 8 percent.

Still, demand remained solid throughout and after October, thanks to policy measures that included extended tax breaks for those taking out mortgages, an official of the think tank said.