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On Musical Chairs and Subprime Lending

post from Housing Wire on 11 May 2007 11:16:13 PM. © Housing Wire

Subprime lending is often a bit like a high-stakes game of musical chairs: everyone knows the loan has a higher (high?) risk of non-payment and/or default, but so long as the cash is flowing, yields are meaty. So the loans are packaged, sold, repackaged and resold, over and over again. It’s not a new game [...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/HousingWire/~3/116050298/

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Earnings That Werent at Impac

post from Housing Wire on 11 May 2007 10:05:56 PM. © Housing Wire

I recall writing back in February — when very few were looking at the fallout of the subprime credit crunch — about my fear that the subprime market problems I was seeing would spill into Alt-A. Of course, by this point, most of us know that fear was realized — but Impac’s first quarter results [...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/HousingWire/~3/116039964/

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Inman News and Active Rain To Ride with Sellsius
on Blog Tour USA

post from sellsius real estate blog - real estate, blogging, business, advertising, marketing, and technology on 11 May 2007 09:20:00 PM. © sellsius real estate blog - real estate, blogging, business, advertising, marketing, and technology

Source: YouTube by arab3002We are pleased to announce Active Rain and Inman News have come aboard as two of our Premier sponsors for Blog Tour USA. Who else wants to come for the ride as a sponsor? Active Rain will celebrate it's first birthday with a party in New York City on June 30th. The [...]

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http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/active-rain/inman-news-and-active-rain-to-ride
-with-sellsius-on-blog-tour-usa/2007/05/11/

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LendingTree Lays Off 20 Percent

post from Housing Wire on 11 May 2007 09:17:18 PM. © Housing Wire

The Orange County Business Journal is reporting that LendingTree — an online search and comparison site for loans, including mortgages — cut 20 percent of its workers nationwide.(Bad joke alert: I guess we now know what happens if there aren’t enough banks competing).

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/HousingWire/~3/116032359/

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NovaStar Losses Continue, But is There a Light at
the End of the Tunnel

post from Housing Wire on 11 May 2007 09:07:27 PM. © Housing Wire

NovaStar — the subprime giant that’s been the subject of numerous posts on this site — saw its woes continue, with the lender saying it will terminate its REIT status by the end of this year. Earnings were pretty ugly once you got past the paper gain generated by the decision to ditch the REIT [...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/HousingWire/~3/116028990/

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Former Title Company Owners Plead Guilty To
Mortgage And Tax Fraud

post from Mortgage Fraud Blog on 11 May 2007 09:00:00 PM. © Mortgage Fraud Blog

Matthew J. Kupic, 37, Clifton Park, New York, and Francis Thomas Disonell, 37, Clifton Park, New York, pled guilty to Bank Fraud and Income Tax Evasion which carry potential penalties, respectively, of 30 years imprisonment and a million-dollar fine, and 5 years imprisonment and $100,000 fine. In addition, Kupic and Disonell agreed to forfeit criminal proceeds totaling over $600,000, each.

The defendants admitted their participation in a mortgage fraud scheme …

Read More...

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MortgageFraudBlog/~3/116027866/

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Friday Fun from The NAR (and Bernice)

post from Blue Collar Agents on 11 May 2007 08:31:30 PM. © Blue Collar Agents

The NAR “Operation Tip Off” was such good fun the first time around, I thought I would throw it up for round 2…Bottom line is that we don?t expect that the segment will make REALTORS happy but it could have been much, much worse. Be glad that it?s Mother?s Day and the show will probably [...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlueCollarAgentsBlog/~3/116023557/

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New search feature

post from Daily Mortgage Fraud News on 11 May 2007 08:12:00 PM. © Daily Mortgage Fraud News

You may have noticed that there is a new search facility on our site, we will be slowly adding bespoke search functionality to all pages but for now you can search the whole site from the search box above, just type in the words and hit the >> button.

The search is provided by Squarespace and is far better than the previous Google seach engine we used. The results are displayed in an easy to read format and you will be taken directly to the relevant page rather than having to scroll through a number of pages.

In addition to the improved results pages the site is indexed within moments of an entry being posted and users will now longer have to wait a few days for Google to index the pages. Please let us know if you encounter any problems.

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http://www.mortgagefraud.org/journal/2007/5/11/new-search-feature.html

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3 plead guilty in foreclosure avoidance scam

In the following press release from Sacramento, CA United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced that CHRISTOPHER CRAIG, 35, of Auburn, pleaded guilty today to Bank Fraud. The guilty plea took place before United States District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. This case was the product of an extensive investigation by the FBI.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Anne Pings, who prosecuted the case, the defendant admitted to a scheme in which he approached homeowners who were on the verge of having their homes foreclosed on by their mortgage lenders. CRAIG promised to loan them money. Instead, he created documents deeding away their residential properties to co-defendants who acted as “straws” and applied for home equity loans from Washington Mutual Bank claiming falsely that they were the true owners of the properties and that there were no pending mortgages on the properties.

Co-defendants DONALD EDGECOMB, 35, of Trevor, Wisconsin, and JACOB ESTEVES, 35, of Auburn, also pleaded guilty today to Misprision of a Felony admitting that they knew of Craig’s felony bank fraud scheme and took affirmative steps to conceal the scheme from detection by law enforcement. That offense carries a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment.

In total, Washington Mutual disbursed $1.2 million which ended up in CRAIG’s accounts. CRAIG paid back only one of the loans, ultimately defrauding Washington Mutual out of $974,452. The homes CRAIG used to perpetuate this scheme are located in Auburn, Lincoln, Stockton, Elk Grove, Sacramento and Manteca.

The maximum statutory penalty CRAIG will face for violation of Bank Fraud is 30 years. However, the actual sentences will be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and will be imposed at the discretion of the court. The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge England on July 19, 2007, at 9:00 a.m.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.mortgagefraud.org/journal/2007/5/11/3-plead-guilty-in-foreclosure-avoi
dance-scam.html

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Tell us 'Are stocks or housing correct about
economic future'

The stock market's been cooking, with various key Wall Street indexes in the ballpark of record high prices. Housing, on the other hand, is in a slump with flat prices and slumping sales volume. But both of these markets generally feed off the strength of overall economy. Which one has the correct outlook for the broader business climate?

Read The Full Article:
http://blogs.ocregister.com/lansner/archives/2007/05/tell_us_are_stock.html

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