The
Chicago Tribune's Mortgage Fraud Essays: Mortgage Fraud: New Street Hustle, David Jackson et al, The Chicago Tribune [Homepage] A free registration will be required to view the essays by The Chicago Tribune, if one is not already registered at their website. These were written in November '05. Essays by Staff Reporter David Jackson et al include: Mortgage
fraud is the thing to do now Followup
on Mortgage Fraud, David Jackson et al, The
Chicago Tribune
[Homepage] OIe
Bear, Editor's Commentary The Followup essays are generally not nearly as long as the original essay series at the Chicago Trib, but do offer some candid insight into this "perfect financial storm" quoting from the last essay in the series. Some new terms are introduced for our readers including "rescue fraud" and "identity theft." We also learn that the Division of Professional Registration in Illinois is not equipped to investigate appraisal improprieties, in house, and that they have to use the investigators from the DPR to ferret out the carpetbaggers and scalawags! Missouri is in the same boat, and dudn't have an in house investigator[s] either, although I offered to go to work for them down there in Jefferson City twice, with the ex-CEO and the new-CEO. That was like hitting a brick wall, Twice! Kentucky is the only state I know of that has an in house appraisal impropriety investigator, but there may be a few other states that are really in the swing of things like the Bluegrass State. Generally State Divisions of Professional Registration investigators ferret out Beauty School Drop-Outs as well as dishonest appraisers. Something tells me it requires a lot of expertise to investigate a crooked, shall we say criminal, real estate appraiser, as compared to a Beauty School Drop-Out. It is my position that folks who are investigating crooked realty valuation appraisers, need to be professionally designated realty valuation experts in their own right, and not just folks from the criminal justice venue. A form residential or a commercial narrative appraisal report may pass the smell test from a desk review, but it takes a real field review to figure out what is fact, and what is fiction. I had one reader email me that back in the 1970s she was a witness in a FBI sting on mortgage and appraisal fraud, and although the FBI made big promises to her to put the critters in jail, and all her testimony was going to Congress, the Big Boy Lender got it all covered up. Some folks were fined, but nobody got sent to the slammer. Nothing got sent to Congress, that was effectively investigated. This is what we call "Whack the Mole!" just to make it look like someone is doing something, but nothing will really change. This is the way the Banking Cartel works. Whack that Mole, Boys, and cover-up the really bad stuff so all the Big Boy Lenders can profiteer! In the 1970s during the investigation, the lender involved was small potatoes. This particular lender is now one of the Fat Cat Big Boys. Go Figure! I believe that is the current status quo in the mortgage fraud business. Whack the Mole! and Cover-Up! We are only scratching the surface here at the Chicago Tribune on banking cartel fraud and what's really going on. Most of the big news is the lenders themselves getting scammed. Big Laugh! The mortgage lending industry has asked for, and now demands appraisers to email appraisal reports in pdf files, if they want to work and get paid. This is the major mechanism for appraiser identity theft, and it is bad. Five cases or so of identity theft are before the Kentucky Real Estate Appraiser Board, where a lender acquired the appraisers' software, unlocked the appraisal on the email, and changed the numbers and prostituted those appraisers' work, stealing his or her identity, seal, and signature. I suspect each of them are honest appraisers that got caught up in the Smoke and Mirrors Scam. Those appraisers are still accountable in Kentucky -- that means on the hook, line and sinker! If an appraiser says he or she does not email reports, or refuses to, he or she is dropped like a hot potato, and dudn't get any honest work. It is a rigged gambling casino for the honest realty valuation professional. Yeah, there are a great number of 'em left! But more and more of 'em [realty valuation experts] are getting out of the rigged casino, and driving UPS Trucks for a living! At least these older guys and dolls can read a street map, and know where all the UPS deliveries are. It is the newbies coming into the appraisal valuation gig who are going to be in a rude awakening when all of us smart appraisers find jobs at UPS. These newbies will be so mind controlled and over-regulated, they will never make good appraisers, because they will be not be allowed to appraise property properly, or think for themselves. That is what's coming! If real estate should melt down, there will be less and less qualified folks to help sort out the mess. That ain't good. Bibliography and Related Essays on How to Follow the Money:
Seasons Greetings! and Happy Holidays!
Ole Bear, Editor © 2005 Realty Reality |
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