Today I found another Realtor involved in short sale scams.  I wish I could publish names without risk of libel suits. A friend of mine is looking for a home, and as an agent I have been helping them through the process.  (Lucky them that I am a short sale EXPERT!  and they don;t even know!  lol).  We submitted an offer on a property in Utah County and when I called to verify receipt the agent gave me some lame excuse for requesting that my buyers use his title company.  His main slip was saying that the property is in a trust, and thus necessitates the correct title company.  That rose an immediate red flag, so I probed a little further.

"Why do you need a specific title company to handle a trust?"

"Is this offer going to be submitted to the sellers bank?  or an investor?"

"Are you using a trust to circumvent detection of property flipping?  Are you aware that could constitute loan fraud?"

The only answers I got were "I can not verify that, and even if it was the case why does it matter?"

I am really tired of all the dishonest people out in the world.  I guess that we just have to be as knowledgeable as we can, and help people who don;t know what is going on avoid these scams...   We wrote an article about this in July.  You can see it here.

If you are buying a home make sure you know if your offer is being submitted to the bank or not.  That is a good starting point.

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Comments (5)

• |SAdministrator |2009-09-10 17:10:48 micahols  - User Comment
  I received an email from a user saying that the comment system has not been working. We looked into this, found it to be true, and have replaced the comment system with a new, working, system!
  
  Here is his comment on this article.
  ------
  re "Another Cheap Scam Artist"
  
  I was unable to post a comment because the verification image didn't show.
  
  My comment:
  Instead of calling them "scam artists", just say that they are businesses that use "dubious practices" and describe what should happen.
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• |SAdministrator |2009-09-10 17:23:33 micahols  - What is a Scam Artist?
  To Thomas (the person who sent the above comment)...
  
  After reading your comment I decided to see if I have misunderstood, and/or been misusing the term "scam artist."
  
  I went to allwords.com and looked up their definition. It is as follows;
  
  "A person who attempts to defraud others by presenting a fraudulent offer and pretending that it is legitimate; a con artist."
  
  To better understand I looked up the legal definition of "Fraud". I wanted the legal sense of the word, as it would be used in a court of law. Go to http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Fraud for the full report.
  
  Here is the first part of the legal discussion;
  

  Quote:

  A false representation of a matter of fact—whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of what should have been disclosed—that deceives and is intended to deceive another so that the individual will act upon it to her or his legal injury.

  
  
  So, my conclusion? People who represent themselves as being able to "help" a seller, by defrauding that seller, the sellers bank, and quite often the buyers, can appropriately be called a "Scam Artist"
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• |98.202.254.xxx |2009-09-10 19:07:27 Thomas W. Clay  - Of course - I know that
  But the point was libel and slander laws and lawsuits.
  
  By staying away from inflammitory words like "Scam artist", "criminal", "scum of the earth", and "politician", you would be able to do more good for more people.
  
  I would like to know the names of businesses that engage in what you consider dubious behavior. Just telling us that it exists is ok, but telling us who the company is, what they do, and what a reputable company should do would be so much more helpful.
  
  And it would keep lawsuits away. Kind of like a legal apple
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• |SAdministrator |2009-09-10 21:21:08 micahols  - Good Point...
  Well I agree with you on that 100%. If I am going to give names I would certainly not use "scam artist!"
  
  At this point when we find someone engaging in this behavior, if they are licensed by some state agency (such as a Realtor, Lender, Title company) then we file a complaint with the licensing agency.
  
  I would be concerned giving names under any conditions, even if I was saying something like "Many people question the kind of business that so-and-so is engaged in." These days you can get sued for just about anything.
  
  We are working with Brad Daw, Howard Headlee, and John Velentine to try and figure out how to addres the problem, without restricting free trade. We tried working with the Board of Realtors, but actually were called lazy, and told that if we had a problem we should file a complaint, and not ask them to investigate situations when there is a reporting mechanism in place to complain. (I could write a whole book on my thoughts about associations who claim to promotr ethics, but then are unwilling to prevent problems. I could even go as far as calling them scam artists, but again, I would hesitate at such an action for the reasons already mentioned.
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• |120.40.57.xxx |2010-08-21 01:23:38 awfawf
  The main glasses features of wholesale kids sunglasses are cleaning clothes, solutions and protective cases are considered the best sold accessories along with cords and retainers that helps in preventing eyeglasses any type of damage or accidents to the kid sunglasses.
  
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