Identifying And Avoiding Mortgage Fraud

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Recent financial industry distress publicly attributed to widespread mortgage loan defaults has generated mounting pressure on federal prosecutors to increase investigations into incidents of mortgage fraud across the nation. On February 6, 2004, CNN reported that the FBI warned that mortgage fraud was becoming so rampant that the resulting epidemic of fraud could trigger a massive financial crisis. Mortgage fraud has now become so prevalent that the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been forced to create an entirely new category for tracking these cases. According to a CBS news report, the number of FBI agents assigned to mortgage related crimes increased by 50 percent from 2007 to 2008. Prosecutors and investigators on both the state and local levels are also feverishly organizing task forces and creating real estate fraud departments to counter this burgeoning wave of crime.

CRIME & PUNISHMENT

The primary focus of these investigations appears to be on borrowers, investors, mortgage brokers, appraisers and real estate agents. Some of the charges levied against these perpetrators have included making false statements on loan applications, bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to launder funds and a number of applicable state laws. However, the primary legal vehicle implemented by federal prosecutors has been section 1014 of Title 18 of the United States Code which declares mortgage fraud as a federal crime encompassing anyone who willfully overvalues any land or property, or knowingly makes any false statement, for the purpose of influencing a financial institution upon a loan application, purchase agreement or other related documents. A violation of the federal mortgage fraud law (18 U.S.C. 1014) alone is punishable by up to thirty years imprisonment and a one million dollar fine.

MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEMES

The most effective way to avoid prosecution for mortgage fraud is to identify mortgage fraud schemes prior to any actual involvement. Most mortgage fraud offenses fall into one of two general categories: fraud for housing and fraud for profit. Fraud for housing often involves fraudulent acts committed by a borrower, often coached by his or her mortgage broker or real estate agent, to obtain a loan for the ultimate goal of acquiring a home. These fraudulent facts generally pertain to the falsification of facts and documents during the loan application process to enable the borrower to obtain financing that he or she would otherwise not be qualified to receive. Conversely, fraud for profit typically involves a more concerted plan to abuse the entire real estate transactional process for pecuniary gain.

FRAUD FOR HOUSING

Income Fraud

This occurs when a borrower inflates his or her amount of income to qualify for a loan or a larger loan amount. Although recent reductions in the use of stated income or no-doc liar loans has somewhat curbed income fraud, daring borrowers are increasingly generating more fraudulent documents to falsify income. Information technology and photocopy equipment have become so advanced that very convincing documentation, such as income statements, savings accounts and tax returns, can be produced on demand.

Employment Fraud

In order to justify overstated income in a loan application, borrowers will claim self-employment in a non-existent company or represent having a higher position in a company than the borrower actually holds.

Failure to Disclose Liabilities

The debt-to-income ratio is an important part of the loan underwriting criteria used to determine a borrowers eligibility for mortgage loans. Consequently, borrowers will conceal financial obligations like newly acquired credit card debt, other mortgages, and private loans to artificially reduce their debt-to-income ratios.

Occupancy Fraud

Generally occurs when a borrower states on a loan application that he or she intends to occupy a property as a primary residence to secure a lower interest rate when the borrower actually intends to obtain the loan to acquire an investment property.

FRAUD FOR PROFIT

Equity Skimming and Cash-Back Schemes

A straw buyer is typically implemented as the buyer of the property due to his or her creditworthiness and resulting ability to obtain favorable financing. Unknowing straw buyers can be manipulated by mortgage brokers and real estate agents to purchase a property as a primary residence with the broker or agent later serving as a property manager to collect anticipated rental income. After the escrow closes and the mortgage and real estate brokers collect their commissions, they proceed to collect rental income and fail to make the mortgage payments.

Complex schemes can involve a knowing straw buyer, an appraiser who intentionally overstates the propertys value, a dishonest seller that intentionally inflates the selling price, and a dishonest settlement officer that makes undisclosed disbursements from the loan proceeds. All of these conspirators collaborate to collect portions of the proceeds of an inappropriately large loan before eventually letting it go into default.

Appraisal Fraud or Price Inflation

This fraud occurs when a dishonest appraiser intentionally overstates the value of a property or when an existing appraisal is altered to reflect a higher value. When a home is overvalued, more money can be obtained by the seller in a purchase transaction or by the borrower in a cash-out refinance.

The New Appraisal Fraud: Price Deflation

When done legitimately, a short sale occurs when a borrower that owes more than his or her property is worth sells the property below market value and the lender agrees to accept the lower repayment amount and forgive the difference. A new hybrid of fraud has emerged where an appraiser or a real estate agent drastically devalues the property in an appraisal or brokers price opinion (BPO) so that the home will sell with ease at a price well below market value. Of course the new buyer is in collaboration with the seller, agent and appraiser, so all of the conspirators proceed to sell the home at a higher price for a big profit.

Identity Theft

Identity theft fraud occurs when a victims identity is assumed by another to obtain a mortgage without ever intending to make any payments on the loan. The perpetrators often abscond with a portion of the loan proceeds and sometimes are daring enough to lease the property and collect some deposits and rental income before disappearing.

The Buy and Bail

This completely new scheme is perpetrated by a home owner who cannot sell the home because more is owed on the property than its worth. Because no lender will provide the owner a loan for a second primary residence, the owner tells the lender that he or she plans to rent out the current home despite having no intention of doing so. Sometimes a falsified rental agreement is used to further support the falsehood. Once the second home is purchased, the owner bails on the original home and fails to make any further mortgage payments.

AVOIDING & PREVENTING FRAUD

Mortgage fraud frequently emanates from groups that complete an abnormal amount of similar transactions or churn out many offers to purchase at once. These outfits may appear disorganized or unprofessional due to the large amount of transactions they are attempting to manage. It is also no coincidence that mortgage fraud has significantly increased as housing values have decreased since most fraud schemes involve a financially distressed or otherwise vulnerable seller. It is equally important to remember that agents owe a very strict fiduciary duty to act in their clients best interests. So before reporting a client to your local authorities, speak with legal counsel or your state real estate licensing department to ensure that your proposed actions dont constitute a breach of your fiduciary duty to your client.

Real estate agents are in a unique position that enables them to identify and even prevent the occurrence of fraud by recognizing the red flags, asking appropriate questions, and giving the principals in their transactions the full picture of what consequences are associated with participating in mortgage fraud. While a lot of damage has been done in the real estate market, we can prevent more of the same from occurring in the future.

Cyprus Home Property

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Cyprus is a hotspot for real estate opportunities it is a premier tourist destination with its natural beauty and friendliness, drawing people to invest in Cyprus property. While the recession has affected many countries negatively, Cyprus has enjoyed a relatively unaffected steady growth over the past decade.

Why is Cyprus such a wonderful place to invest in property? –

It is a popular, warm and sunny island, ideal for those who want a summer home. With its friendly folk, relaxing ambience, pristine beaches and sandy shores, what else is there to be desired in a Cyprus property? Cyprus has one of the most agreeable climates in the world warm summers and mild winters and is consistently bright and sunny for 11 out of 12 months.

In addition to the gorgeous coastlines and ancient archaeological sites across the island, Cyprus has plenty to offer to would-be home owners. Cyprus boasts an advanced economy, a booming infrastructure and a stable government. The cost of living is relatively low compared to its European counterparts, whilst the quality of life is healthier.

The excellent news for an investor searching for Cyprus property is that English is the second language spoken there, so it is not essential to learn the native language Greek to communicate with the locals and negotiate for the best properties available. Cyprus has also adapted the British-based banking and legal system, so the paperwork is quite similar to that used in English property transactions. Ever since 2004, Cyprus was included as a member of the European Union (EU), and adopted the euro as its currency in 2008. This makes it easier for EU citizens without permanent residency to buy properties in this wonderful island.

Cyprus is an extremely safe place to live, and boasts a very low crime rate. It has excellent medical, educational and communication facilities, making the decision to buy property easier, knowing that you will be living in a safe and developed environment. Even if you do not want to live in Cyprus, purchasing property is still an excellent investment and is quite lucrative for those looking to make money. One can buy property and be assured that its value will increase as the years go by.
Searching for the right property to buy in Cyprus is no easy task, and it is best to get the services of a Cyprus realtor to get the best advice on your investments.

The Failure Of Unions And Big Government

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Unions cripple companies. They thwart efficient government. They drive up prices and drive down service levels. They are anti-technology, anti-productivity, and pro-wage growth. They live in a virtual reality where price points, product-market pressures, and capital returns dont matter. They need to be abolished.

A truism in the global economy is that the country with the highest rate of unionization loses. No sane person is going to invest capital, take risks and innovate if they are handing out money to union members who cant be fired, disciplined, or force to use profit enhancing technologies. Companies that are nimble, highly productive and innovative will produce enough wealth to pay people properly. There is no need in the modern era for unions. There is no need in the modern era for large unionized government either.

Put it this way. Employment rates, wealth per capita, productivity and innovation are directly and negatively correlated with the size of government and the % of the population which work in unions. Europe? 45-50% of Europes GDP is eaten by unionized government. European union rates run at 3 x US levels and are 10-20% higher than Canadian levels. The result? Lower living standards, less people working, dead economies, no productivity, 8 week vacation periods and ever escalating union backed demands for higher wages.

Worse the OECD concludes that practically all [97 percent] of European civilian job creation has been in the government sector in the past few years. As government size increases, including government backed monopolies and oligopolies, unionization grows, and hours worked fall. Unions are adept at demanding the highest dollar for the least amount of time worked. As worker costs escalate firms cut back on technology, plant investments and business process improvements. Eventually these firms might fail.

According to the OECD, Research has clearly established a remarkable fact: namely that the sizable U.S. advantage in real GDP per capita is largely due to differences in total hours worked per capita.

Such commonsensical observations apply to Canada. Union rates in Canada are more than double US rates [32 % vs. 14 %], though lower than in Western Europe which ranges from 34%, to 45 %. Canada has a 30% lower standard of living, less productivity and less income per head than the US. High union rates and over-government are key reasons for this differential. The same can be said of EU-US comparisons.

One reason for Europes and Canadas high union rate is their higher marginal tax rates. When taxes become too onerous people respond by trying to hide money; dropping out of work and going on welfare to access rich welfare schemes; or they unionize and demand that wages rise faster than inflation and taxation increases. US Federal Reserve and EU economic studies confirm this fact. Europeans are not prone to be lazy. But when the system punishes work, then they respond accordingly. Same applies to Canada.

You can see the destructive power of unions at work at the company level. Witness Chrysler a once proud emblem of American manufacturing genius. Now it is a hollowed out firm headed for bankruptcy. In both the US and Canada during the past 30 years literally billions of tax dollars were given to Chrysler in direct and indirect hand-outs. Yet the firm is heading towards oblivion and most likely will have its various assets sold off. It is not hard to see why.

Thanks to high union rates, over half of a Chrysler cars production cost is labor and health care. The firm is simply uncompetitive. Thanks to its unions, new models, new ideas and new business improvements cannot be made at Chrysler and productivity and profit enhancing concepts cannot be employed. The firm cannot respond to the challenge of East Asian auto manufacturers, many of whom have union free plants in the southern US.

The fallout from the demise of Chrysler is quite huge. If no one buys the assets and turns the firm around it might either die, or be sold off in chunks with grave consequences. Now imagine if all of the large North American car firms, thanks to unions, were to go bankrupt.

Whole areas of the world are dependent on the auto industry. Detroit, southern Canada, the US deep south, Stuttgart, parts of Germany, France and elsewhere have entire economies and societies built around the extended supply and parts chain which feeds into the auto sector. Those with union-free plants will survive. Those with union-worker elite plants will either reform or perish. Close to one million jobs in the Detroit-Toronto corridor are dependent on the auto sector almost all of them in union shops or feeding union controlled companies. Consider if all 3 big US firms claimed bankruptcy. The economic and social consequences would be vast.

But so would be more government interference and subsidies for failed union shops. The last thing we need is more government support of failed businesses like Chrysler, Ford or GM. For too long have unions in auto firms created an unaccountable working elite. It is time to destroy the unions and let the market set wages, prices and product-customer matches.

The auto industry is indicative of the Marxist fantasy world inhabited by unions. Big governments with their unionized worker elite amplify the failures of Chrysler or GM. Toyota and smaller government nations exemplify the utility of market dynamics. Kill off the unions and increase company and national wealth. The time of unionized Marxism is long over. Chrysler and big government incompetence are the obvious manifestations of that fact.

Internal Rate of Return Understanding the Difference Between IRR, MIRR and FMRR

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Internal rate of return (IRR), modified internal rate of return (MIRR), and financial management rate of return (FMRR) are three returns used to measure the profitability of investment property. Each method arrives at a percentage rate based upon an initial investment amount and future cash flows, and in each case (of course) the higher the better, but the procedure for making the calculation varies significantly as do the results.

By definition, internal rate of return is the discount rate at which the present value of all future cash flows is exactly equal to the initial capital investment. To make the calculation, negative cash flows are discounted at the same rate (i.e., the IRR) as positive cash flows.

Let’s consider the following investment with the initial investment as CF0 (always a negative number because it is cash outflow) and subsequent cash flows as CF1, CF2, etc., with some negative and some positive.

CF0 -10,000
CF1 -100,000
CF2 50,000
CF3 -60,000
CF4 50,000
CF5 249,300

IRR = 30%

Seems all well and good, but the problem here is that the calculation assumes that the cash generated during an investment will be reinvested at the rate calculated by the IRR, which may be unrealistically high and therefore will overstate the return on initial investment. Likewise, since negative cash flows are also discounted at the IRR, if that rate is fairly high, the investor might not accurately estimate the cash required to meet those future negative cash flows.

To deal with this shortcoming many real estate analysts use a method known as MIRR (i.e., modified internal rate of return). In this approach, the assumption is that positive cash flows the investment generates during its life can be reinvested and earns interest at a “reinvestment rate”, and negative cash flows must be financed at a “finance rate” during the life of the investment. In other words, rather than simply using one rate (i.e., IRR) to deal with both negative and positive cash flows, MIRR introduces the option to use two different rates.

By applying a finance rate of 5% and a reinvestment rate of 10% here’s the result using the same investment criteria as we did earlier.

CF0 -10,000
CF1 -100,000
CF2 50,000
CF3 -60,000
CF4 50,000
CF5 249,300

MIRR = 18.75%

Okay, then along came the financial management rate of return (or FMRR). Though it also provides two separate rates to deal with negative and positive cash flows known as the “safe rate” and “reinvestment rate”, FMRR takes it a step further. The assumption here is that where possible, all future outflows are removed by using prior inflows. In other words, negative cash flows are discounted back at the safe rate and are either reduced or eliminate by any positive cash flow that it encounters. The remaining positive cash flows are compounded forward at the reinvestment rate.

We’ll apply a safe rate of 5% and a reinvestment rate of 10% to our investment criteria to show you the result. But this time we’ll also include a table to show you the adjusted cash flows.

CF0 -10,000
CF1 -100,000
CF2 50,000
CF3 -60,000
CF4 50,000
CF5 249,300

CF0 -111,717
CF1 0
CF2 0
CF3 0
CF4 0
CF5 304,300

FMRR = 22.19%

The financial management rate of return is difficult to compute, which is why most real estate investment software solutions opt for the modified internal rate of return (MIRR) calculation. But after learning about it from CCIM, I considered it a beneficial return for real estate investment analysis, so I included FMRR my ProAPOD real estate investment software as well as my ProAPOD mortgage calculator software. To learn more please visit the link provided below.

What are Your Options To Paying off your Mortgage Early

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In the real estate market, there are plenty of ways to pay off your mortgage so that you are not saddled with debt for a long time. If you are looking to avoid thousands of dollars in interest, then investigate ways of getting rid of your high house payment.

Americans pay millions of dollars in interest each year due to mortgage payments. Remember that the amount of interest you pay is proportion to the principal balance of the money you borrowed. This means that if you get your principle down, then you will not have to pay as much in interest.

To pay the amount you owe early, many people pay their mortgage payment every two weeks instead of every month. Since there are fifty weeks in a year, then you will be making twenty six half payments or in other words thirteen full payments. You will then be paying an extra payment each year because with two months you are paying three half payments. This can shed years off of the loan.

You can also take your payment and divide it by twelve and then you will be paying extra at the end of every month. This allows you to reduce the principal balance of your account every month. You will end up paying less interest every month. You may also want to investigate the structure of your loan to see if it is cost effective. You may want to go around to other banks to see if you can find one that offers better terms and conditions.

Other people use unique ideas to also save up money and pay that mortgage early in the real estate market. For example, if you find some money that you did not anticipate getting, then you should put that into your account and use it for household bills Every little amount counts. This means that if you find thirty dollars on the street or get a raise, then you should use some of this money to pay off your house.

You can also get a little job on the side to make a little cash. You can also change your lifestyle a bit and save more money so that you can use that money for your house payment.

Paying off your mortgage early is not as difficult as it may seem. There are many options available for you so keep an open mind and investigate ways of achieving financial freedom.

If you are looking for property in Asheville, North Carolina, real estate agents will advise you to pay off your real estate loan as soon as possible. To save money and learn about real estate buying tactics, visit http://www.preferredrealestatecenter.com