Realty World – Dave Thurman

 
Lenders are using a variety of tools to prevent mortgage fraud
Borrowers considering inflating their income, even just a tad, checking the box to indicate they plan to live in the home when they’re not, or exaggerating their job description better think twice. Lenders are turning to websites and other tools to help nab fraudulent borrowers and perjurers looking to bilk lenders out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Making sense of the story

During the height of the market, borrowers could get away with lying about their income, debt obligations, and the like to obtain financing.  But not anymore.  According to a representative from the Mortgage Bankers Association, there are “more fraud checks than ever, and it’s on every loan, not just a sample.”

More important, perhaps, the focus now is on preventing fraud rather than dealing with it after the fact.

Sometimes the fraud check is as simple as a quick call to the customer right before the loan is closed to verify information supplied on the loan application.  Such a call to an otherwise unsuspecting borrower can sometimes uncover a lie perpetrated by a corrupt loan officer who’s in it for the commission – or more.

In other cases, lenders are using sophisticated databanks to spot fraudsters.  One website, for example, provides salary data on various industry positions so the lender can determine if the borrower is overstating his income.

Another site provides historical wage data, and yet another checks the information supplied by self-employed borrowers, including whether the borrower’s company exists, who the principals are, the number of employees, and the annual revenue.

There are also sites that will tell lenders where there are judgments against the borrower or liens against other properties the borrower might own.

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Stockton Real Estate – Dave Thurman
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C.A.R. Newsline is a weekly e-newsletter covering vital industry information including economic reports, legislative developments, and new real estate products and service.
Asking prices on for-sale homes rose 0.5 percent in April compared with March on seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest report by Trulia’s Price Monitor. Together with increases in March and February, asking prices in April rose nationally 1.9 percent quarter over quarter, seasonally adjusted.
Within the largest metro areas, asking prices rose year on year in some neighborhoods, but fell in others. Rents, however, rose in nearly all parts of these major metropolitan areas.
In Los Angeles, asking prices increased only in the downtown area. Prices fell elsewhere throughout the region, most of all in Long Beach, where rents also fell.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, prices rose most in San Francisco and fell furthest in Alameda County.
Dave Thurman Real Estate

Here is an interesting story I found in my email inbox recently.  I hope you enjoy it! Hey Investors! Check out the latest from ForeclosureRadar…
Foreclosure Sales Continue to Plummet
For the second month in a row we’ve seen a dramatic drop in the number of properties sold at foreclosure, or “trustee sale”, auctions. Foreclosure sales in California are down 16.7 percent from February to March 2012 and down 53.1 percent from March a year ago. A total of 86,487 sales were scheduled to occur in California, but of those 80.0 percent postponed, and 10.6 percent were cancelled, leaving just 8,392 that were actually sold. Third parties, typically investors, purchased a record 38.6% of the properties that did sell in California.
Foreclosure starts rose in most states, with the largest increases occurring in Washington, California and Nevada. This, at least temporarily, reverses a downward trend, but even with the increase the volume of new foreclosures remains significantly down year-over-year in all the states we cover.
The increase in foreclosure starts is especially interesting in Nevada. Bank foreclosures came to an almost complete halt there after the passage of Assembly Bill 284, which made significant changes to Nevada’s foreclosure laws. The increase this month is directly attributable to new foreclosure starts by Fannie Mae, which is one of very few lenders to have filed any new foreclosures in Nevada since September 2011. Even with the increase by Fannie Mae it is still homeowner associations that are initiating the vast majority of foreclosures in Nevada.
ForeclosureRadar
Has the Market Stabilized?
Stockton Real Estate – Dave Thurman

Location…Location…Location! Have you ever read or heard those 3 words? The real estate market will vary from state to state, from SoCal to Northern California, from the Bay Area to the San Joaquin Valley. Also, every city has it’s best and worst neighborhoods. Finally, my MLS (MetroList) is working with Top Producer’s Market Snapshots. I have been requesting, waiting and hoping for this program for my clients and customers for several years. Get This Week’s Local Market Conditions!