Real Estate News – September 28, 2011




Mortgage fraud soared during the second quarter, as debt elimination scams and cases of misrepresenting income, occupancy, or debt led the pack, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reports. Another common mortgage fraud scam found in the second quarter involved fraudulently using Social Security numbers on loan documents (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/q832PV


Seattle developer Wright Runstad has defaulted on its loan on the PacMed building — Amazon.com’s former headquarters on Beacon Hill — and the lender has begun foreclosure proceedings, according to a recent loan servicer’s report (via seattletimes.nwsource.com): http://bit.ly/nLnFzY


A Bay Area mortgage broker has been charged with conspiring to arrange more than $10 million in fraudulent home loans for clients who included two leaders of the Hells Angels, federal prosecutors said Tuesday (via sfgate.com): http://bit.ly/nGiNFu


Hundreds of Nevada homeowners will be eligible for financial relief totaling tens of millions of dollars under a settlement with Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital Holdings, the state attorney general announced Tuesday (via BusinessWeek.com): http://buswk.co/rlRbjA