The ins and outs of Real Estate

Awareness Test. Are you being taken advantage of?

On April 5, 2008, I wrote (and posted a video) of Jiffy Lube being caught on tape by hidden cameras charging customers for services that they didn't perform!   

http://cbrkelvinrealestate.typepad.com/the_ins_and_outs_of_real_/2008/03/test.html

On March 18, 2008 I posted that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is investigating both Countrywide Home Loans and Wells Fargo Financial Illinois for illegally steering Blacks and Hispanics into high priced mortgage loans, in violation of civil rights and equal lending laws!

Several national studies have proven that just because a lender is large, reputable, has a huge staff, luxurious building and lots of money to lend, and just because you may not be aware of it, and even though racial discrimination in lending is illegal, that doesn't mean that banks and lenders both large and small aren't illegally discriminating against African Americans and Hispanics, or any other racial or ethnic group!

http://cbrkelvinrealestate.typepad.com/the_ins_and_outs_of_real_/2008/03/blacks-hispanic.html

It's physically and emotionally draining to think that everyone we come into contact with, in a business situation, wants to take advantage of us!  Still, this awareness test could be a metaphor for doing business in general, Caveat Emptor".... Let the buyer beware....because "it's easy to miss something you're not looking for!"

Jiffy Lube caught on tape cheating customers!

An undercover California news team caught Jiffy Lube cheating their customers by charging for work that they never did! The investigative reporters retrofitted several cars with hidden cameras and found that five out of nine shops tested charged for work they didn't do!

Spread the word!

Republican congressman Rick Renzi has been indicted In Real Estate Land Deal

Republican Congressman Renzi Indicted for Embezzlement, originally uploaded by noveltimes.

Arizona Republican congressman Rick Renzi has been indicted on federal extortion, conspiracy, fraud, and money laundering charges for pressuring companies to buy land from is business partner; James Sandlin.

Authorities say that Renzi pocketed $733,000.00 from the 4.6 Million dollar deal, but did not disclose the payment as required of all congressmen.

Renzi's Attorneys are vowing to fight the charges, saying that they are false. Renzi has stated that he will not seek reelection.

Closed real estate markets and secret real estate deals are bad for consumers. The group that purchased the land would have been well advised to seek good real estate representation and full disclosure of all fees!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-22-ariz-congressman_N.htm?imw=Y

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/22/renzi.indictment/index.html?iref=newssearch

Big Lenders Cross Ethical Line!

Fifth Third Bank Building, originally uploaded by code poet.

An ever increasing wave of law suits are accusing some large lenders of acting with independent mortgage brokers in loan scams by falsifying loan documents, inflating home values and overstating the income of the borrowers!

Additionally, the FBI has stated that mortgage fraud had reached $1 billion by 2006, and that mortgage brokers and underwriters were responsible for 80% of the illicit lending.

Yet, Damien Weldon; a vice-president for risk analytics at First American Loan Performance says that “the true level [of fraud] will be closer to $6 billion,” suggesting that large lending institutions and banks have played a role.

Lender fraud has included everything from (Ameriquest’s) creating fake tax returns, employment records, and even 401k[s], and even forging documents in some cases, to make loans appear affordable!

After Lorna Reddy of Pataskala Ohio, realized that her income had been overstated and reported it to her lender, Fifth Third Bancorp, she received signed loan documents from them in the mail that included signatures that a forensic expert proved were forged!

Apparently, inflating borrower income accounts for roughly 25% of all mortgage fraud! In fact, a recent study by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute found that 60% of stated income loans made to borrowers inflated their income by as much as 50%!

Click the link below for the entire story!

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_34/b4047043.htm

Death of a Real Estate Developer

As most of us know, especially with the current Real Estate recession plaguing the industry, the Real Estate business isn’t always rosy.

Some of the best dressed, most successful 'practitioners' are in fact crooks.  Take for example the case of Andrew Kissel, a commercial real estate agent turned developer, who’s Widow (and Olympic skiing Medal winner) Haley Kissel once confided that she felt like pummeling her husband to death!

Kissell had stolen millions from his condo association while he was treasurer.  He made a fortune in real estate while riding the wave of the 90s.

Banker Robert Kissell; Andrew Kissell’s brother, was pummeled to death by his then wife Nancy Kissell, who spiked a milk shake with barbiturates and had his six year old daughter deliver it to him!

This is a really interesting story about …… greed, and why it isn't always a good idea and doesn't always pay to cheat people nor be a greedy real estate …. ‘practitioner’.  Still, a sad story none the less. 

Click below for the full story at New York Magazine

http://nymag.com/news/features/16861/

More on Nancy and Robert Kissell below

http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/family/nancy_kissel/4.html

Update - Former Coldwell Banker Parent Company CEO, Walter Forbes

On November 19, 2006 I reported on a massive $500 million dollar accounting scandal at Cendant Corporation, which was the largest in the country before Enron and Arthur Anderson.  Walter Forbes, the former Chairman of Cendant; was found guilty of conspiracy, and former vice Chairman, E. Kirk Shelton, was sentenced to 10 years in prison (in 2005) for fraud and conspiracy.

Forbes was sentenced earlier this month to 12 1/2 years in prison for his role in the scandal and ordered by U.S. District Judge Alan Nevas to pay $3.275 Billion in restitution!  Forbes' attorney argued, unsuccessfully, that he should be given the same 10 year sentence that Shelton got.   

Again, Cendant Corporation was the parent company of Coldwell Banker and a host of other real estate companies, and has been sued by shareholders and the federal government.

Cendant used to own the following real estate franchises…….

• Century 21 Real Estate
• Coldwell Banker
• Coldwell Banker Commercial
• ERA Real Estate
• Sotheby‘s International Realty
• Corcoran
• Citi-Habitats

After news of the accounting scandal broke, in 1998, Cendant’s stock plummeted from around $35-5/8 dollars a share to a mere $19-116 dollars a share, at a one day loss of nearly $14 billion dollars!

Subsequently, Cendant’s shareholders changed the name of the corporation to Avis Budget Group; rental car ‘outfits’ which were also owned by the former Cendant.  They also spun off their Real Estate and hotel companies as stand alone companies.

U.S. Attorney for New Jersey; Christopher Christie, said that the sentence "sends the correct message that everyone in our society should be held accountable for criminal conduct."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2007-01-17-cendant-sentencing_x.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-10-31-cendant_x.htm

http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=5898548

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/housing/2006-11-12-execs-house-sales-usat_x.htm

www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20061101/index.htm

http://www.fool.com/Features/1998/sp981217YearInReview_loser01.htm

http://money.cnn.com/1999/12/07/companies/cendant/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cendant

Corruption

I have reported on many scams, schemes, and frauds since I started my blog at the end of September.  I have to admit that I even find the level and number of scams reported, and others that I have found but not reported, disheartening and exasperating at times.
 
But, I have a huge problem with scams and people exploiting other people for a profit.  Because ‘forewarned is forearmed,’ (and even though my attempts at humor may fall flat, and my sarcastic whit may often not be appreciated) Real Estate Agents take an oath to protect the public and I feel it my ….. ‘duty’ to continue reporting on scams, especially when they pertain to real estate and mortgages!

4 Scams to Beware of!

Several years ago, I had someone who contacted me by e-mail, "Mistakenly" send me a $6000.00 cashier's check for two puppies, out of my Dutch Imported Certified Police dog; Basco PH1 (met lof) and my female XENA, that were valued at $800.00 each or for a total of $1,600.00.

That was a $4,400.00 dollar mistake!  I was already suspicious, as he claimed to be from England and had an English last name; Johnson, yet his writing was that of a foreigner new to the English language!  He confused male and female genders of the dogs, didn't use pronouns where appropriate, and seemed confused when using the past and present tenses.   

Of course I was immediately suspicious.  I was even more concerned when he insisted that I wire the overpayment to him via Money Gram or Western Union!  He insisted that he was a businessman and had written many checks that day and became confused about the amount.  [Right, and I've got some prime real estate for sale in the Florida Everglades!]

He also insisted that it was a cashier's check, as good as cash, and that he had trusted that I'd ship him the puppies even after getting the cashier's check, and needed for me to be as honest as he was.

I refused to either ship the puppies, or send the $4,400.00 balance due on the overpayment, until after the cashier's check had cleared.  I called my bank and reported the possible fraudulent cashier's check and asked if they could put a stop payment on it.

I was told that they couldn't stop payment on a cashier's check and had to wait to see if the Federal Reserve would return it or not.  Sure enough the Federal Reserve returned the check to the bank as a fraudulent check.

I was lucky, as I didn't send him any puppies or money, and only lost some of my time e-mailing and going to the bank, etc.  I was also inconvenienced by the bank red flagging and freezing my entire account due to a fraud alert caused by the false cashier's check!

Because I reported the check and possible fraud before it was sent back by the Federal Reserve, and forwarded the e-mails from the scammer to the bank, they reactivated my account and made my money that I work so hard for, available to me. 

Here is a link to four other families that have been victims of four common and popular frauds, including the one that almost happened to me.  Learn them and be prepared to send the sometimes sophisticated scam artists packing!

http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/moneymag/scam/index.html

Hackers in my space!

Hello Readers.  I recently learned that someone had hacked into my e-mail, amazon.com and weBlog accounts!  They may have also hacked into my E-bay account.  Furthermore, they also tried to hack into my personal checking and savings accounts!

I learned this because I was forwarded a e-mail by a friend who asked what it was that I had send and I hadn't sent it, even though it came from my e-mail address!

When I opened it, it linked to a page that showed books that I hadn't ordered from Amazon. Com, etc.  I also tried to log into my bank account and was denied access due to too many previous attempts to log in, even though I hadn't tried to login in over two weeks, and then didn't have a problem.

So, someone had gone to aol.com and tried several, or many passwords until they got it right, and entered my password and were granted access!  I used to use the same password for all of my accounts, except my bank account, just so that I wouldn't have to remember 20 different passwords!

Well, once they were in my AOL account, they went to different sites that I hadn't been to, and copied and pasted, and created e-mails that were then sent from my e-mail address!  I'm still going over my bank statements to find out if they were able to order things by using the password they learned and logging on to say e-bay or Amazon. Com, and then using auto fill for the credit card info! 

Remember that I posted "Chicago Area Hotels Steal Credit Card Info"! on November 5, 2006, about  owners and employees in Joliet and other south suburban hotels using the credit card numbers and other personal information from patrons to order and purchase large ticket items!  Unfortunately, this scam isn't limited to hotels.

I hope that none of you reading this, and not too many of you in my buddy list were affected by this malicious act.  I have changed all of my passwords and made them more intricate, so that they will be harder to break, crack.  And I now use different passwords for each account.

Lesson learned, the hard way.  I know that it's a hassle, but change your passwords frequently and make them intricate, no kids or pets names , etc., and hopefully you won't have to go through the same nightmare! 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227237,00.html

Medical Insurance Fraud!

Yes, I'm sounding the credit fraud alarm yet again! It seems that Medical Identity Theft is the fastest rising type of consumer fraud!

Thieves buy or steal your medical insurance information and use it to obtain benefits and services, which include prescriptions, treatment and even surgery! Yet, you get stuck with the bill! A bill that can range anywhere from a $10.00 prescription co-pay, to $10,000, even $40,000 or more! Yikes!

And, while the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) gives us strong privacy rights and the right to scrutinize and examen our medical records, it doesn't guarantee us the right to correct errors nor prevent them from being reported to other medical professionals and credit bureaus and agencies! And correcting the errors is usually costly, time consuming, and not foolproof.

Your credit rating and score will determine the interest rate that you get on a mortgage loan, and ultimately how much the loan will cost you on a monthly basis and over the term of the loan. This is just one more reason to be vigilante with our medical records and information, especially with medical identity theft on the rise.

Six ways to protect yourself are.....

1.  Guard and treat your insurance card like a credit card.

2.  Watch out for and be suspicious of free medical offers!

3.  Examine and scrutinize the Explanation of Benefits letters from your Insurance company.

4.  Request, check, and review your yearly benefits usage statements.

5.  Request an accounting of disclosures that your Dr. has made to other Drs. and Companies.

6.  Review your credit report at least once a year.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com

http://www.worldprivacyforum.org/medicalidentitytheft.html

http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do;jsessionid=A2E9237375562E22DEDF877ED96AC37D.app1_rd1?contentId=30232