Foreclosures High; Crisis Creates Many Controversies

The US economy is in the grip of a recession. Unemployment is at the peak of 10%. As people lost jobs, even those with sound credit history are faltering on mortgage payments. Hence, foreclosures have become common. The mortgage crisis has indeed spawned many controversies.

The county had settled a lawsuit with a developer Rancho Cucamonga for $102 million. The county also shelled out $6.4 million for a property where the co-managing director of Colonies, Jeff Burum had a stake. The building was supposed to act as office space. The real estate meltdown was at its peak and the county was interested in buying the building instead of leasing. County administrative officer Mark Uffer said that he came to know from David Slaughter who is a real estate official that Burum had financial interest in the building.

“I told them there’s no reason that we should be getting involved in real estate with Jeff Burum, considering what we had just gone through with the Colonies spectacle, and that the public perception could be bad,” Uffer said. The property was purchased by the county in October 2008 for a sum of $6.4 million.

The Board of Supervisors had approved it and even authorized a sum of $500,000 to be spent on furniture. The district office of Biane is lodged here. There are also satellite offices of the assessor, environmental health officers in this building. Burum also happens to be the chairperson of the Diversified Pacific Opportunity Fund. This company had bought the property at $5.5 million. This was before the county had bought it.

The spokesperson of the county, David Wert refused to comment. “This crosses the line into an `Uffer says this - the county says that’ story, which is tantamount to trying Uffer’s case in the newspaper rather than in court, which is where it might end up,” said Wert. “The county will respond to these kinds of contentions in legal documents at the appropriate time,” he said. Even Slaughter refused to comment.

Uffer says that he had asked the board not to buy the building because there could be a “very significant conflict of interest.” “The board ignored Mark Uffer’s advice, and the Jeff Burum building was purchased by the county,” in accordance with the claim. The spokesperson of Burum, Jason Kinney, however, said, “As I understand it, the county bought it from the owner, First Magnus, in foreclosure.”

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