Are You Unknowingly Involved In A Short Sale Fraud?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIWJcb3tkWQ&feature=youtube_gdata
Short Sale Flip Fraud – While not yet a law or an official policy, problems loom on the horizon thanks to a new take on short sales. Freddie Mac’s new short sale opinion – for lack of a better word – could create serious legal and practical issues for real estate investors.
On Friday, April 16, 2010, the organization posted an educational article titled “Emerging Fraud Trends: Short Payoff Fraud.” Essentially, the article stated that a short payoff or a short sale can be considered fraudulent if the lender agrees to a short sale that already has a third-party buyer in place that is paying a higher amount than the agreed-upon loan payoff amount. This could mean problems for investors who have been short sale flipping, or negotiating short sales with banks and then selling the properties at a profit.
The rest of the article detailed scenarios and red flags for “short payoff” fraud. The scenario involved a facilitator, whose description matched that of a real estate short sale investor, who negotiated a deal with a lender to short sale a home worth $80,000 with a debt of $100,000 for $70,000. The facilitator does not let the bank know that he already has a buyer ready to pay 95,000 for the property. The second the facilitator puts his profits in his pocket, Freddie Mac considers him guilty of fraud because his negotiations caused Freddie Mac to ultimately take a “larger than necessary” loss on the sale of the property.
The posting encourages buyers, sellers and lenders to look out for short sale fraud red flags. Freddie Mac considers entities buying property, borrowers who are suddenly in default and borrowers who have not reneged on all of their loans to be red flags for short payoff fraud. The article also says that resale options in contracts can be a red flag.
Finally, sellers, buyers and lenders are all encouraged to report this short payoff fraud if they are aware of a second purchase contract for a higher price. Short sales may not be breaking the law, but Freddie Mac’s PR team certainly wants the process to be as difficult as possible for all real estate investors.
