REAL ESTATE - Huffington Post Investigative Fund

MONEY AND POLITICS: Texas Governor Scrutinized for Favoritism in Real Estate Deals

Kevin Liptak — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:38:37 +0000

Gov. Rick Perry has made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling real estate in Texas, but new data indicates he may have received unfair deals from people looking to buy influence or garner political favors. In one instance, Perry bought land for well under the appraised value, and subsequently sold it at a price experts say was too high. The particular plot in question was sold to Perry at a reduced cost by a Texas state senator. Read more »

Investors Made Millions from People Facing Eviction

Fred Schulte — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:00:37 +0000

‘Crime of Greed’ Deprived Local Governments of Revenue, Prosecutors Allege

A six-year conspiracy by veteran real estate investors to rig bids and stifle competition at tax sale auctions made two chief organizers at least $10 million, largely from fees homeowners paid to keep from losing their properties, according to federal prosecutors.

Though many details remain under seal in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, prosecutors allege that from 2002 through 2007 the pair acted to corrupt nearly two dozen municipal tax sales in Baltimore and five other Maryland jurisdictions, including Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. Read more »

Hard Times Update: Readers Share Tales of Foreclosure Schemes, Mortgage Misfortune

Amanda Zamora — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:34:57 +0000

Last month, we put out a call for stories and photos to help document the effect that "Hard Times Profiteers" are having on distressed borrowers and others suffering financial hardship because of the recession. The response was robust. We received more than 100 tips from borrowers, tenants, real estate brokers, investors and others who have experienced or observed misfortune amid the current housing crisis. We also collected dozens of photos documenting bandit signs from California to Maryland. Read more »

HARD TIMES PROFITEERS: Help Us Investigate 'Signs of Deception'

Ben Protess — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:36:53 +0000

Drive through most any city in America and the offers will leap out at you: "Repair Your Credit!" "Modify Your Loan!" "Sell Your House Quick!"

The creators of these signs -- Hard Times Profiteers, as we at the Huffington Post Investigative Fund have dubbed them -- are moving to capitalize on the financial troubles of others. They are posting advertisements on walls, street lamps and bus shelters. The ads range from handwritten cardboard cutouts to printed plastic signs. Read more »

Victim of a Real Estate Scheme? Tell Us Your Story

Amanda Zamora — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:08:45 +0000

It’s a no-brainer: As people lose their jobs and struggle to pay the mortgage, they are increasingly vulnerable to those looking to make a quick profit off their troubles.

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund would like to shine a light on real estate schemes going on around the country. How widespread are these activities? Who is behind them? And who is getting hurt? Read more »

Additional Authors:

Ben Protess

Lagan Sebert

At Top Subprime Mortgage Lender, Policies Were Invitation to Fraud

David Heath — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:20:36 +0000

Long Beach Mortgage Employees Say Firm Routinely Ignored Warnings

First of two articles about the roots of the subprime lending bubble.

Diane Kosch had one of the most thankless jobs in the subprime lending craze.

Sitting elbow to elbow with colleagues at a conference table in a northern California office building, Kosch’s job was to review a huge stack of loans each day at Long Beach Mortgage for problems, including evidence of fraud. She was given 15 minutes per file. Read more »

How One Bank Failure Illustrates Lapses by Regulators

Keith Epstein — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:25:41 +0000

Overseers of Florida Bank Noted Risky Lending But Failed to Act

Even by the distorted standards of the national housing bubble, north central Florida was a hot market. Between 2004 and 2006 new houses and property markers spread across cow pastures and horse farms, their values soaring so fast that bankers and builders could hardly believe their good timing, or keep up with the workload. Read more »

Follow Up: Troubling Numbers on Commercial Real Estate

Christine Spolar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:55:00 +0000

A new industry analysis today shows that the default rate on U.S. commercial real estate loans jumped to the highest level in 16 years.

As the Investigative Fund reported last week, the problems in commercial real estate are threatening hundreds of small and medium-sized banks because the oversupply means developers can’t fill their “zombie” buildings and pay back their loans. Read more »

VIDEO: Are 'Zombie Buildings' the Next Economic Calamity?

Lagan Sebert — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:05:16 +0000

While the overall U.S. financial system is showing signs of stability, a rapidly rising tide of troubled loans for commercial real estate threatens the survival of hundreds of the nation’s small and medium-sized banks. Read more »

VIDEO: Are 'Zombie Buildings' the Next Economic Calamity?

Christine Spolar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:55:30 +0000

Bad Loans for Commercial Real Estate Threaten Regional and Community Banks

Home Loans Brokered by Nonprofits Helped Fuel the Housing Crisis

Jeff Horwitz — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:22:52 +0000

Billions of Dollars in Defaults on No-Money-Down Mortgages Weigh on FHA's Books

Before the housing boom got underway in the late 1990s, a California nonprofit group hatched an idea to help families who qualified for government-backed mortgages but still couldn’t raise the down payment. Read more »