Man, years after the cat got out of the bag, the Colorado AG finally wakes up to the massive mortgage fraud that is crashing the Colorado economy and has already led to thousands and thousands of foreclosures and ruined lives.
Whoopsie. Sorry that took us so long folks. My bad.
Now if the US congress would just get their heads out of their corrupt asses and tackle this problem at the national level, we'd be getting somewhere. 2008 is my guess for the hearings to start.
New bill targets appraisal, mortgage fraud - Measure could put deceptive mortgage brokers out of work
Attorney General John Suthers on Monday unveiled proposed legislation targeting appraisal and mortgage fraud that is fueling record foreclosures in the state.
"Just as homeownership is the American dream, mortgage and foreclosure fraud has become an American nightmare," Suthers said at a news conference.
Last year, a record 19,425 real estate foreclosures were filed in the seven-county Denver area, although the foreclosure rate was worse when the previous record was set in 1988.
It gives the Division of Real Estate the authority to put mortgage brokers out of business if they have been convicted of deceptive practices and cracks down on anyone who contributes to appraisal fraud, Suthers said.
January 09, 2007
Incompetent Colorado Attorney General FINALLY goes after corrupt mortgage brokers and appraisers
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Corruption? Collusion? Deception?
Shocked! Shocked I am!
I thought everyone on commission was looking out for us!
Suzanne!!!!!!
What? Are they coming up to election time in Colorado? I thought they were over already?
Or is he the new attorney general?
Just the start of the fun in 2007!
Someone on another blog brought up the fact that it is harder here in California to be legally able to cut someone's hair than it is to help (sub. screw) them with (for most) the biggest financial decision of their lives as a loan (oops I mean lying) officer / agent. Hopefully after all the whining. crying and tragey hearings that will be paraded about this time, the real estate agent will go the way of the Edsel, Fotomat and travel agent. The information they once had exclusive access to will be free on the net. Buyers and sellers can meet in a competetive marketplace and set pricing - instead of agents setting commisions for each other. Some legal advice / help regarding title etc.. will be needed but that's really it in 90% of the residential work that I do. The other 10% does have a need - relocation, no time, etc. and that will be handled by a few agents in that niche and I would guess their commission structure will be a whole lot different. Many of these beautiful self important people without college degrees that have been making money despite themselves will soon be asking "would you like fries with that?" and that makes me smile!
And why the hell isn't Casey wearing an orange jump suit yet?
They aren't making any more land! Land prices in desirable places like Aurora and Thornton will continue to rise, while renters will find themselves paying more and more in rent as they are priced out forever.
Well, you're right, he's way late getting started.
But at least the CO. AG is doing something. That's more than you can say for 49 other states AG's.
I wish him godspeed on this.
information they once had exclusive access to will be free on the net. Buyers and sellers can meet in a competetive marketplace and set pricing - instead of agents setting commisions for each other.
LOL! If you believe that I have a bridge to Brooklyn you might be interested in. Take a look at some research done on people's attitudes regarding shopping online. There is a considerable majority out there who won't even book an airline ticket online for fear of security or a general technophobia. You're dreaming if you think these people will buy and sell their homes online.
There is no reason why I shouldn't be able to order a car directly from Toyota.com. But I still have to go to a dealer to buy one.
There are so many millions of people dependent on the status quo of middlement / wholesalers / distributothat. It's not going to just vanish overnight because you wish it to.
Same with real estate. There are billions of dollars invested in the status quo of realtors, brokers, MLS, etc. It's not going anywhere for a long long time, if ever.
I remember oh, back in 1998 hearing how retailers were finished. Why would anyone go to Best Buy if they could buy a TV online went the thinking of the "experts".
Two new big box malls just opened near me, one 2 miles to the east, one 3 miles to the west.
Now if the Nevada AG, NV Real Estate Commissioner and Invetigator, Nevada Mortage Division and their Commisioner, Nevada Board of Realtors, Reno-Sparks Association of Realtors, Reno/Sparks Police, Reno/Sparks Realtors would just do the same thing!
To Anonymous posters,
I from Brooklyn and the bridge has been bought and sold a few times to a few people - by useless used bridge salesmen i.e. real estate agents. I do not believe that people will buy and sell their houses on line sight unseen. Rather I know that the information that once was only available to the typical person via a used house salesmen, is now readily available to all and will continue to put great numbers of them out of work - oops I mean commissions.
As for the Best Buy vs. Internet example - do you need a used TV salesmen to tell you what TV to buy?
Some people maybe, but you can now get a ton of information and pricing before you walk into the store via the net at a huge time savings. And Best Buy does not have a stranglehold on that information. Now the NAR no longer has its stranglehold.
In my business specifically, I used to have to go to the Fotomat, drop off a 24 exposure roll of 35mm film on which I had only taken 15 photos, & pay for 3 sets of each photo at an express rate. The worst was when one of the subject or comp photos did not come out. Then I would have to drive back to hopefully get it again. Needless to say the store-owners loved me. We also used to have 4 full time typists and an answering service.
As digitals first came out I used to ask the photo shop owners, how do you think it will turn out? The answers were all uniform, "film is far superior", "people like the ceremony of looking forward to see how their photos turned out" , etc... Well most of them are all gone. There are a few who adapted in the marketplace and opened digital processing places but the profits are not close to what they were. Technology gave me the choice to do what I needed to do much cheaper and more efficiently. The same will be true for housing, people will connect with each-other more directly, choose and delegate the necessary parts of the transaction (escrow, appraisal, loan, title, etc.) and get it done at a fraction of what the typical 6% commission cost is now.
The question "what is the cost/benefit ratio for the typical buyer/seller to use these used house salesmen?" Up till now people did not have a choice they had to go the used house salesmen Fotomat. There will be a need for some agents but not in the numbers or at the cost to the consumer that they are now. On an average priced SoCal home of $650k is there room for market forces in a $19k commision for the amount of work that is actually needed?
As you can tell my opinion of them (used house salesmen) is not very high. I have been in this game a while and I have met some good agents, but as a rough figure 75% of them are useless. All they represent is their commission not their client. When they're representing the seller here's an example. They take the 100% financing offer because its offering price was 40k higher than the 80% offer. One could argue that getting their clients 37.6k after commission is the right thing to do. In this case the seller NEEDED to sell and the deal blew up 3 weeks down the road in underwriting because even though the agent had a "friendly" appraiser cherry pick the comps to hit the price, I (review appraiser) blew it up with 4 closer, more applicable comps. The 80% financed buyer was no where to be found - have they helped anyone? When they're representing the buyer and put in an offer 25k over what other comps are running - I ask them how they formulated the offer? "Well they really want the house" is the standard BS I get. Well they're trying to use the bank's money and if they really want to pay 25k extra let them come in with more cash.
The future does not look good for this type of used house salesmen. Technology, changing attitudes, falling market and the whining and crying congressional hearings that will be taking place at the state and federal level in late 07 to 09 will help usher in the future faster.
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