Comments on: Beware of Fraud Peddling Real Estate Scam Artists, Consultants, and So Called Experts

By: Thomas Bartke

Thomas Bartke — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:41:59 +0000

Michael:

This is a great post! Thanks for sharing! I continue to run into frustrating experiences with scam artists. It seems like whatever you try to put together a win-win deal with a seller and/or buyer as an investor, there is already a scam that “beats” our solution in a one-up-man-ship way.

The next wave in this seems to be “mortgage elimination” scams…

Best,
Thomas
Thomas Bartke´s last blog ..Instant Investor Cash Cycle – FREE Webinar

By: Michael Creel

Michael Creel — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:35:14 +0000

They will always be around, but they’re having a feeding frenzy on this mortgage crises. Credit repair and foreclosure specialist are popping up everywhere.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:33:36 +0000

I’ve seen some of this in my real estate career. I have a real estate institute in New York. The best thing for consumers is to find an agent they trust.

By: Foreclosures Way Up In 2007. A Time For Professional Advise | www.About-Everything.net

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:46:45 +0000

[...] If you happen to be one of the lucky few with golden credit and an eye toward buying a chunk of real estate, there will probably be bargains to be had. But, when there is so much pressure, as there is, to unload all those vacant houses, there is also a greater chance of getting caught up in a host of fraudulent practices. [...]

By: Foreclosures Way Up In 2007. A Time For Professional Advise | Real Estate Investing for Real Blog

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:49:07 +0000

By: Michael Creel

Michael Creel — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:10:26 +0000

I’m certainly not going to claim there are no crooked Realtors in the world, but a majority of your crooks prefer to be unlicensed realty “investors”. The license carries much oversight, fiduciary obligation, and legal repercussions for fraudulent activity. An agent must carry his license with a Broker, and that Broker must carry a hefty insurance bond. Brokers must keep records on all transaction for 3 years in their office files and are audited fairly frequently. So as you can imagine, if your out there doing shady real estate transactions and victimizing people, that’s not really an ideal way to go about it.

The mortgage officers had no such oversight, and anyone with a heartbeat could write loans for a broker. Statistically, most mortgage fraud has been committed via FSBO’s due to the lack of oversight on that type of transaction. Most crooked deals are closed by attorneys because they are not required to be licensed escrow agents. Your big name escrow companies such as Ticor, Talon Group, and Chicago Title, etc. are pretty on the ball and will not let shady deals pass through their office.

By: Allen

Allen — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:02:42 +0000

I have also been telling friends and associates for many months that I feel the bulk of the mortgage crises blame falls on scam artist (many posing as mortgage consultants), and the other posing as real estate agents!! Increasing sale price values of neighborhoods for that all mighty commission that they might miss out on and if the value of property is listed too low then they purchase the property from the seller to then in turn resell at a higher price. Have you ever noticed the initial crime seems to be thought up on the west coast and then prefected on the east coast (Florida were the average home is upside down $100k per Chase in house figures)? Is this crooked mortgages specialist or crooked realtor? Maybe a combination of both?