Archives

La Jolla, CA - March 14, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Bay Area home sales eased back a notch while prices continued their upward off-bottom bounce last month, the result of a slow rebalancing act in a market environment of constrained supply and finicky mortgage lending, a real estate information service reported

Washington, DC - March 14, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, reintroduced the FHA Emergency Fiscal Solvency Act. The legislation, co-sponsored by Representative Michael E. Capuano, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, is designed to strengthen FHA and to help ensure its long-term solvency. In recent years, the agency has stepped into the void, providing crucial liquidity as private firms have retreated from writing mortgage insurance policies, particularly for key groups such as first time homebuyers.

SACRAMENTO, CA - February 26, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb sentenced Joel Blanford, 44, of San Ramon, California, to 30 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for a mortgage fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. On September 19, 2012, following a seven-day trial, a jury found Blanford guilty of six counts of mail fraud

LOS ANGELES, CA - February 18, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- In an effort to provide California home buyers with up-to-date information about available home buyer assistance programs, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) today launched California Mortgage Resource Directory (http://mortgage.car.org), a powerful search tool that identifies current mortgage programs in communities throughout the state.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 8, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- A Fountain Valley native who earned his bachelor’s degree at USC, Albert Del Rio has a passion for Southern California, which is evidenced by the incredible amount of work he’s done from the Southern border all the way up to Ventura County.

Washington, DC - February 7, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, the House Financial Services Committee convened a hearing about the role of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) in the mortgage insurance market.

SACRAMENTO, CA - February 1, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced today a 35 percent rate reduction for lender-placed (also called force-placed) homeowner insurance coverage offered by QBE Insurance Corporation. The rate reduction will result in an estimated $19.4 million savings to QBE policyholders, with an average savings of $626 per policyholder annually.

SACRAMENTO, CA - January 23, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- After a 10-day trial, a federal jury found Hoda Samuel, 60, of Elk Grove, guilty of a conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud and of 30 individual counts of mail fraud.

January 17, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) release of National Mortgage Servicing rules, the California Reinvestment Coalition’s Associate Director Kevin Stein released this statement

SANTA ANA, CA - January 11, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Federal authorities have arrested five people allegedly involved in a “builder bailout” real estate scheme that fraudulently purchased more than 100 condominium units around the country with mortgages that mostly went into default, resulting in foreclosures and millions of dollars in losses

LOS ANGELES, CA - January 08, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- In an effort to conform state law to a federal law passed last week that extended mortgage debt forgiveness, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) is sponsoring Senate Bill 30, so that California homeowners on the brink of foreclosure can get much-needed debt relief.

SACRAMENTO, CA - December 21, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that the California Homeowner Bill of Rights, a landmark package of legislation that extends key mortgage and foreclosure protections to California homeowners and borrowers, will take effect on January 1, 2013

LOS ANGELES, CA - November 29, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- A Glendale man has agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud charges, admitting that he ran three separate scams, including a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 30 families out of more than $8 million.

RIVERSIDE, CA - November 21, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- An Australian man who once worked as a jockey has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for concealing the proceeds of a loan fraud scheme that caused victims to lose more than $5 million in less than eight months

Washington, DC - November 19, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-35) released the following statement in response to the Federal Housing Administration’s annual financial status report issued to Congress today:

WASHINGTON, DC - November 12, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- A Las Vegas mortgage agent was found guilty today for participation in a mortgage fraud scheme that netted $1.2 million in fraudulent mortgage loans, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden of the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Kevin Favreau of the FBI’s Las Vegas Field Office.

November 1, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- A former Southern California resident pleaded guilty today in federal court in Portland, Oregon, to mail fraud charges for orchestrating a mortgage fraud scheme that used fraudulent loan applications and supporting documents to convince lenders to fund more than $20 million in loans on approximately three dozen properties in Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties

October 10, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced today that Orange County attorney Stephen Kenneth Chrysler was sentenced to serve 37 months in prison for his role in an $8 million mortgage fraud scheme involving 16 homes in Oceanside, Escondido, San Marcos, Lakeside, and Menifee. His mother, Aida Agusti Castro, a Carlsbad real estate broker who was also sentenced for her role in the scheme, received a 33-month prison sentence. United States District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller also sentenced each defendant to forfeit over $350,000 in illicit proceeds.

LOS ANGELES, CA - October 10, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, Attorney General Eric Holder, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, FBI Associate Deputy Director Kevin L. Perkins, and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Jon Leibowitz announced the results of the Distressed Homeowner Initiative, the first-ever nationwide effort to target fraud schemes that prey upon suffering homeowners. The yearlong initiative, organized by the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force’s Mortgage Fraud Working Group, resulted in 530 criminal defendants charged in 285 federal cases filed in U.S. District Courts across the country. These cases involved more than 73,000 homeowner victims and total losses by those victims are estimated by law enforcement at more than $1 billion.

LOS ANGELES, CA - October 3, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- A 50-year-old resident of Tujunga was sentenced this morning to 37 months in federal prison for his participation in a home equity line of credit (HELOC) scheme that resulted in losses of more than $1 million.