When will real estate crooks be locked up (Phoenix, Surprise: housing, rent)

[altus2006]

There are always a lot of threads that talk about the comeback of the housing in the Phoenix metro area. Prosecuting and imprisoning the crooks that made this mess possible will help the buyers feel confident to begin seriously looking at houses again.

So far I have only seen one article in the Arizona newspaper talking about the State Attorney General going after the Realtors, appraisers, loan companies and Title companies that scammed the buyers and homeowners in Arizona. There was an article today in the Arizona online paper detailing another mortgage company that is nationwide, also with a location in Arizona, which scammed millions of $$$.

Until I can feel relatively secure that the house I purchase will be fairly appraised and the comps for the area are not inflated by a former hustler, I will be sitting on the sidelines.

Until the crooks are taken out of the industry, the housing situation will not get back to normal because one thing we need when making the biggest purchase of our lives is trust in the system. Right now neighborhood Comps, the Gold Standard for house prices, are worthless.

altus2006

[Bette]

Just an FYI - I heard and read this somewhere but there were 89,000 licensed mortgage brokers in 2006 in Florida with licenses expiring 08/31/07. After that date, only 39,000 renewed their licenses. Big drop, right?

As someone who owned a credit reporting agency and served the financial industry and operated under a very strict code of ethics, I have been severly stressed by what I have seen. I swore I would never get into the mortgage business but here I am. I am honest with my clients and appreciate them. I really work hard for them and disclose all info.

I know the Fed is trying new ideas but the rates need to be low so people can adjust and they will adjust. Lenders offered these programs so they need to work with their customers to prevent them from losing their homes if that is the case.

We have all been affected, however, this is a great country and we need to hunker down and solve our problems. Homes will sell again and in a few years, this time will have a name put to it.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by altus2006

one thing we need when making the biggest purchase of our lives is trust in the system.

Afraid you'll have to wait for Godot...

[altus2006]

Originally Posted by Bette

We have all been affected, however, this is a great country and we need to hunker down and solve our problems. Homes will sell again and in a few years, this time will have a name put to it.

I agree with your post. We also need to sweep out the crooks and start anew as much as possible.

Letting these people who have so crippled the housing industry off the hook and allowed to remain in our midst is a mistake.

altus2006

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by altus2006

I agree with your post. We also need to sweep out the crooks and start anew as much as possible.

Letting these people who have so crippled the housing industry off the hook and allowed to remain in our midst is a mistake.

altus2006

It appears that they are reinventing themselves:

Mortgage bankers cleaning up mess they made - BusinessWeek.com - MSNBC.com

[ivanabacowboy]

Until I can feel relatively secure that the house I purchase will be fairly appraised and the comps for the area are not inflated by a former hustler, I will be sitting on the sidelines.

I am in the commercial lending business-we finance the developers/builders of new construction. Actually we are seeing the REVERSE problem now. Apparently the appraisers are running scared knowing folks like you are furious and are now seriously UNDERvaluing properties. For example, a deal we made 2 years ago appraised at say $100 million. On that value we were very conservative and only lent say 50% or $50 million. We recently reappraised. They tried to feed us $20 million TOTAL. Which means our property lost 80% of it's value and we are now at 250% loan to value (needless to say that would blow the regulatory guidelines way out of the water lol)?!?!?!?!?! Come one now. The market is down not DEAD-huge difference..... Needless to say we ourselves are contemplating legal actions against the appraisers.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

It appears that they are reinventing themselves:

Mortgage bankers cleaning up mess they made - BusinessWeek.com - MSNBC.com

I was just about to mention the same thing. PennyMac is based in my area, just down the road from Countrywide. Interesting article on how the former President of Countrywide Stanford Kurland, left the business in 2006, he claims over a disagreement with the board on lending practices. In an article in our local paper in Ventura County California, Kurland states that he had nothing to do with the mess that the country is in and that he played no part in the current situation at Countrywide. Apperently over the 30 years he was with them and during his tenure as president of the company he knew nothing about how the business ran. I am sure that didn't stop him from cashing out his stock options just before the place went south. Now Kurland has a plan to save everyone by purchasing the distressed loans at a discount, restructuring them and riding out the downturn with the new PennyMac company that he and many of the top brass at Countrywide formed. What to do? Do you go after these guys for creating the mess? Or do you see if they can fix the problem that they caused? Then there are people like me that this housing downturn is benefiting. We are buying a home now and prices are great.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

I was just about to mention the same thing. PennyMac is based in my area, just down the road from Countrywide. Interesting article on how the former President of Countrywide Stanford Kurland, left the business in 2006, he claims over a disagreement with the board on lending practices. In an article in our local paper in Ventura County California, Kurland states that he had nothing to do with the mess that the country is in and that he played no part in the current situation at Countrywide. Apperently over the 30 years he was with them and during his tenure as president of the company he knew nothing about how the business ran. I am sure that didn't stop him from cashing out his stock options just before the place went south. Now Kurland has a plan to save everyone by purchasing the distressed loans at a discount, restructuring them and riding out the downturn with the new PennyMac company that he and many of the top brass at Countrywide formed. What to do? Do you go after these guys for creating the mess? Or do you see if they can fix the problem that they caused? Then there are people like me that this housing downturn is benefiting. We are buying a home now and prices are great.

You're benefiting more than those who need to sell or bought at a higher price, that is for sure. But you are paying for the crisis in many ways as well. Your fuel costs and prices paid for commodity goods and imports have skyrocketed on a dollar driven down by the liquidity crisis. The wages at your job are depressed by the recession and the job itself may be threatened. Your local and state governments are strained and valuable services are being cut due to falling tax and fee receipts. Your retirement savings have lost as much value as they gained over the past several years. The increase in the national debt caused by various stimulus packages will need to be repaid at a time when social security payback comes due. More and more of our companies are being taken over by sovereign funds and offshore investors and our critical infrastructure like highways and ports are being sold to the highest bidding foreign government. These issues are not due entirely to the housing crisis, but it has played a key role. So, on a macroscopic level, the housing bust has not been good for you, me or the US of A.

[Greatday]

"Real Estate Crooks? Interesting.

In Arizona, the Department of Financial Institutions has primary jurisdiction over mortgage lenders. Currently, they have over 100 open cases being investigated. Some complaints have been referred to the Az AG's office - and Atty General Goddard has acknowledged on-going investigations and prosecutions.

The Az Department of Real Estate has primary jurisdictions over real estate licensees. The ADRE responds to complaints from consumers to open investigations. The ADRE has received a number of complaints about R.E. Licensees and has opened a number of complaints. You can go to the ADRE website and see the actions being taken against licensees.

Not all of the complaints being filed rise to a criminal level. Hence why not everyone is being "locked up".

But, the State of Az is investigating complaints, filed by consumers - and is taking the appropriate, and legally allowed, actions when licensees are found culpuable.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

You're benefiting more than those who need to sell or bought at a higher price, that is for sure. But you are paying for the crisis in many ways as well. Your fuel costs and prices paid for commodity goods and imports have skyrocketed on a dollar driven down by the liquidity crisis. The wages at your job are depressed by the recession and the job itself may be threatened. Your local and state governments are strained and valuable services are being cut due to falling tax and fee receipts. Your retirement savings have lost as much value as they gained over the past several years. The increase in the national debt caused by various stimulus packages will need to be repaid at a time when social security payback comes due. More and more of our companies are being taken over by sovereign funds and offshore investors and our critical infrastructure like highways and ports are being sold to the highest bidding foreign government. These issues are not due entirely to the housing crisis, but it has played a key role. So, on a macroscopic level, the housing bust has not been good for you, me or the US of A.

I have the next 30 to 35 years to wait it out before I will need my 403B retirement account to start kicking in and my other investments. I am positive that the social security system will finally collapse in the next 15 years and hopefully they will stop taking money out of my check to fund the retirements of those that didn't save on their own, Many more great companies within the new information and knowledge based economies are cropping up and taking over the old line that is being sold to other offshore bidders. Personally I am doing great. My thought is that we look for the benefit to every turnaround and change within an economic cycle. Many people lose and many people win. Not that it is a zero sum game, but those that are set up for it will benefit in any condition. Some benefit in an upswing, and others find a way to benefit in a downturn.