Short Sale Fraud – Freddie Mac Drops A Huge Bomb On Real Estate Investors

Short Sale Fraud – It’s not a law; nor is it an official policy, but it’s definitely going to be a problem regardless. The latest opinion released from Freddie Mac on short sales presents legal and practical issues for short sale investors.

On Friday, April 16, 2010, the organization posted an educational article titled “Emerging Fraud Trends: Short Payoff Fraud.” The article described a new trend in short sale fraud that happens when a short sale buyer flips a newly acquired property to another buyer and “pockets the difference.” This could mean problems for investors who have been short sale flipping, or negotiating short sales with banks and then selling the properties at a profit.

The rest of the article detailed scenarios and red flags for “short payoff” fraud. The scenario was set up around

a short sale negotiator or facilitator that engineered a short sale of an 80,000 dollar home with outstanding debt of 100,000 for 70,000 dollars. In the scenario, the facilitator fails to notify the bank he has a higher offer, 95,000, on the house. The second the facilitator puts his profits in his pocket, Freddie Mac considers him guilty of fraud because his negotiations caused Freddie Mac to ultimately take a “larger than necessary” loss on the sale of the property.

The article urges buyers, sellers and lenders to be on the lookout for short payoff fraud red flags. These flags include sudden borrower default, a borrower who is current on other obligations and the buyer of the property being an entity rather than a person. The article also tells readers to keep an eye out for resale options in their purchase agreement.

Finally, sellers, buyers and lenders are all encouraged to report this short payoff fraud if they are aware of a second purchase contract for a higher price. Short sales may not be breaking the law, but Freddie Mac’s PR team certainly wants the process to be as difficult as possible for all real estate investors.

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