There are many financial predators out there now that so many homeowners have fallen on hard times, please beware and avoid them like the plague. These criminals and scammers work in all different neighborhoods around the country, I have heard of these scams occurring in suburban areas like Santa Clarita, Valencia, Canyon Country. I have had reports of attempted scams reported by a client of mine in the most affluent area of Stevenson Ranch and by another client in the gated community of Valencia Westridge, who has a view of the TPC Golf Course. I was told by a Realtor friend about a client of hers that was approached by a scammer in Castaic at the mobile home park where her client lives. My point being here that these unethical criminals will take advantage and target distressed homeowners in all socioeconomic levels and in all different neighborhoods. If you gain nothing else from visiting my website I hope that at least I have helped to make you more educated and aware, especially of scam artists who often disguise themselves as investors and sadly enough realtors or mortgage brokers who claim to “help” unsuspecting distressed homeowners and for sale by owners.
An investor or (unethical agent) asks you to sign over the deed to your home so that the investor can invest his own time and money and stall the foreclosure process. NEVER do this! Although you are giving up all of your legal rights to your property you are still 100% on the hook for your mortgage. You will have no other options nor will not be able to accept any other offers if that investor does not buy your property. He wants to “flip” the house and is trying to get it from the bank at a VERY cheap price, quite possibly cheaper than the bank is willing to sell it and often much less than a normal acceptable short sale would have produced.
An investor or (unethical agent) will ask you to sign over “power of attorney” so that they can negotiate with your lender on your behalf. Don’t do it! You will no longer have any rights to decide what should be done with your house and they can sell it right out from under you, and you will be the one still on the hook for the mortgage. All that is required in order to negotiate on the behalf of a homeowner is a form called a “3rd party authorization” which allows another person, such as a realtor to negotiate and share information with the lender but the final decisions and terms of the sale will ultimately be with the owner, as it should be.
An investor or (unethical agent) will tell you that in order to get a short sale approved you should let them basically destroy your house so that the appraisal will come in low for your lender thus allowing them to buy your home at a rock bottom price. This however is highly illegal and is considered loan fraud , and the lender can hold you financially responsible for the damage and/ or the lower sales price.
An unethical mortgage person tells you that they can get you a “special” loan although you have no equity in your home. Usually they inflate the price of your home and take a lot of money for themselves leaving you holding the bag for even more debt on a terrible loan and you run the risk of being prosecuted for mortgage fraud since the value was illegally inflated by the mortgage person and most likely an unethical appraiser partner in crime.
This one happened to a now client of mine in Palmdale. His personal injury attorney had unknowingly referred him to an unscrupulous Realtor and attorney. A Realtor lists the house. The Realtor sends a listing agreement for the seller to sign but never signs it himself, the homeowner does not notice this since quite often clients will sign a contract prior to the Realtor and just assumes that the Realtor also signs it. The Realtor keeps telling the seller that everything is going fine with the short sale listing and to “ignore” the bank notices, but in actuality never lists nor markets the house and never contacts the lender. The house goes to foreclosure and the lawyer contacts the owner and tells him to spend thousands of dollars on a bankruptcy so he is not thrown out onto the streets and possibly responsible for the amount of his second mortgage. When the Realtor is questioned it is then brought to light that the Realtor had never signed the contract and therefore the Realtor claimed he had “no duty” to attempt to short sell the house. It is unclear whether in fact the Realtor actually may have a duty since he did give verbal but not written acceptance, but in Real estate law everything is supposed to be in writing according to the “statute of fraud.” The story does have a happy ending however. The client with two weeks left prior to foreclosure was referred to me by the personal injury attorney and I was able to explain the horrible situation to the lender and short sale his home and avoid the bankruptcy which although it had temporarily been filed, was dismissed in court.
If you have any questions about possibly listing your home as a regular sale or a short sale or are trying to help someone who you care about who is in distress, please feel free to contact me directly for a complimentary phone consultation and online market analysis.
I understand that this is a very personal and sensitive issue for most people and for that reason I can promise you that any information provided to me will be kept in the strictest of confidence. No information will be shared with anyone. I am here to help you.