A bit about contruction and mortgages…
Toby Goss, Hinds County, Mississippi, a mortgage broker doing business as Consolidated Mortgage and Mississippi Mortgage, pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud charges and was sentenced to nearly three years in prison. Goss was indicted in 2005 for a mort…
Preferred Mortgage, 21 Eastbrook Bend, Suite 214, Peachtree City, Georgia, 30269, was issued an Order to Cease and Desist by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance after it obtained evidence that Preferred Mortgage engaged in mortgage broker/len…
As the mortgage industry sheds bodies like water droplets from a wet dog (24,000 since Aug 1) we came across this little gem from a recently let-go mortgage industry IT worker:The mortgage business isn’t dead — there’s just going to be less people in it,So true. And, though some quality people will be displaced, and there will be some pain as a result of this contraction, those of us who’ve been around the industry for the last 10 years will uniformly argue that this is a good thing, and should have happened 2 or 3 years ago.Mortgage Job Losses Surpass 38,000 [AP via Yahoo]…
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Click for larger ImageAmong the myriad disclosures a home buyer is asked to sign when purchasing a home (which may or may not include a diagram of the digestive system of a badger) is an addendum regarding arbitration. This is where one can decide whether to settle any claims (seller hid or did not disclose a property defect, for instance) via binding arbitration, and forego the right to bring anyone to court. Now, to the casual observer, arbitration sounds OK, and it is mostly described to home buyers this way: Arbitration is conducted by a neutral third party who will sit everyone down and come to a fair decision, avoiding all those messy, costly, and time consuming lawyers, and courts, and whatnot. So what are the risks then, in signing an arbitration agreement? Behold Jordan Fogel whose ordeal (chronicled in detail at Consumerist) with a builder and the arbitration process got so bad that she was invited to testify before congress earlier this year. From her testimony:Arbitration is an atrocity; and until you experience it or see the aftermath of its devastation, you cannot even imagine. Yet, some people still believe the spin that arbitration is as fair, cheaper, and faster than going to court. Arbitration is not fair; it is not cheaper; but sometimes, it is a whole lot faster. I have known people who were filed on by their builder, shoved through fast track arbitration; and came out the other side in less than 90 days owing the builder money! Arbitration companies will tell you don’t need to have a lawyer, but the builders have a stable of them.Many more great links and info over at the Consumerist. A must read.Tremont Homes Sells Rotten Lemon, Provokes Victimized Homewoner into Five Year Consumer Crusade [Consumerist]…
IndyMac Bank, F.S.B. filed a civil complaint in New York District Court against the following defendants for breach of contract, fraud, conversion and breach of fiduciary duty, among other things: National Settlement Agency, Inc., New York, NY; Stev…
Saundra McFadden-Weaver was convicted by a federal jury in Kansas City, Missouri, of conspiracy and wire fraud for her role in a $400,000 mortgage fraud scheme. As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, The indictment alleges that McFadden-Weave…
Ronald Steven Williams, II, 32, Severn, Maryland, today to 75 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. Williams is also to make full restitution and to forfeit any remaining assets.&nb…
If you’ve ever struggled to understand how exactly real estate agents are paid, and where the incentives are, check out this Dynamite post over at a Funmurphys, by regular guy and recent home seller Carl Drews, who unpacks the four essential weirdnesses of a real estate transaction. The whole post is worth a read, but it really boils down to the fact that through practice, custom, and sometimes law, the real estate commission system under which the industry operates - where all commissions are paid by the seller - is one very few consumers truly understand, and results in all manner of perversely misaligned incentives.Weirdness #1: Commissions are not split 50-50 by the buyer and seller agents. Weirdness #2: The Sellers pay the buyers agent to intentionally, deliberately, professionally negotiate against them. Weirdness #3: Absent a written agreement otherwise, the Licensed Agent that first physically shows you a home has all rights to the commission should you buy it. Does not matter if you were just looking and wanted to pick your own agent later. Weirdness #4: There is no discount for unattached buyers in the typical listing contract, and all commission goes to listing agent. (So much for the theory that you will have more negotiating power if you work directly with the listing agent rather than using your own agent.)How Real Estate Commissions Work [Funmurphys, via Bloodhoundblog]…
By Randolph C. Visser and Olivier F. TheardIntroduction: The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has proposed a new regulation aimed at reducing emissions of diesel particulate matter (PM), oxides of nitrogen and greenhouse gases from in-use, on-road diesel-fueled vehicles….