Was this mortgage fraud?
A person owns a home in Washington, DC and has a mortgage on it. They relocate to Massachusetts. One month later, they refinance the DC home and get a new mortgage, claiming the DC property is still their primary residence, even though they're now residing in Massachusetts. That seems like it was fraud. But there's more.
A year later, while still living in Massachusetts, they buy a home in Massachusetts. They obtain a mortgage to fund their purchase for this newly acquired home. For this new mortgage, they claim this will be their primary residence. They then proceed to truly live in this new Massachusetts home as their primary residence.
The question is, has this person comitted any wrongdoing with respect to the mortgage they acquired for the Massachusetts home? Did they defraud the Massachusetts lender, or have they only defrauded the DC lender?
It is a cool looking old house, and may have some history... however it seems like the historical society route was a dead end. At this point I would be looking for similar other homes nearby to try and obtain.
at this point, you should at least feel validated that you've done your part, can you do more sure... but focus on a replacement IMO.
@John Jackson
Wow, that is an amazing property. I can completely understand the heartbreak. I too am intimately familiar with finding a delightfully unique antique house, in a most perfect location, which has suddenly despite the odds fallen into the correct price range, only to have it grabbed up by someone else.
The lucky thing is, in the location where you are looking there are so many historical beauties. It’s just a matter of time before something else wonderful appears. If you look at recent sales in the area you will see what I mean. I’m in the more eastern part of the state and the pickings are comparatively slim. Also, you can set your searches on Trulia and similar to only show houses built before a certain time period, to better target what you want. I do so wish you had been able to get this house. It looks absolutely amazing.
@Vera Kirrane Thank you Vera. I think one of the parts of this that hurts most is I've uncovered information about the house's early history. It's pre and post revolutionary war stuff. And the house survived and stayed in the same family from 1754 all the way until 2012. And no one spoiled it in all that time. I don't think that could have happened without the lineage of family members it passed through all recognizing its importance and its irreplaceable value. And then finally it landed in the hands of a family member who fell down in protecting his heritage and his legacy. It's a real life tragedy. There definitely isn't anything else like it anywhere in the vicinity. Yes, there's lot's of old homes, some as old as this one. But they are not nearly as significant in the role they played back in that early history. I've seen two separate references to this house talking about how it had a wooden stockade built around it, in the mid 1700's sometime, so that people from the surrounding area could come there to take refuge from indian attack. I'm not sure if there was any aspect of that associated with the revolutionary war or not, too. It just blows my mind that the home sat and say, without ever successfully gaining the attention and preservation it deserved.