Mortgage Fraud is a serious problem in this country and will continue to be. How can a Western New York Borrowers protect themselves against it? Education is the first place to start. So what does Mortgage Fraud look like?
Here is a brief run down of the various ways Mortgage Fraud can happen:
- Property Flipping – A type of real estate investment strategy in which an investor purchases properties with the goal of reselling them for a profit. Not all property Flips are fraud, it is just a red flag. An illegal flip usually centers around the appraisal.
- Chunking – Another common scam, which basically there is a get rich quick seminar to convince attendees to become investors. They portray that they will identify the property, purchase it, rent it out and then sell it for a profit. What happens more times then not these properties go into foreclosure and the investors are left holding the bag.
- Nominee Loans/Straw Buyers – Which involves a person who agrees to lend their name and credit but does not intend to actually be responsible for the property..
- Fictitious/Stolen Identity – Same problem as straw buyers, but in this instance the identity is stole or created out of thin air.
- Foreclosure Rescue Schemes, Silent Seconds, Inflated Appraisals, Equity Skimming, Air Loans and Money Laundering are all forms of mortgage fraud.
Hope that this assist you with your questions on Mortgage Fraud.
If you enjoyed this Buffalo Real Estate article, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed! You can also follow me on Twitter here. This site is provided to you by Colleen Kulikowski, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson at Turning Key Realty. Colleen specializes in the sale of homes in the Greater Western New York Region of New York state selling homes and condos in all eight WNY counties of Allegany, Cattaragus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming counties.