The Future of the Foreclosure Market - "Are we there yet"
As goofy as these guys can sometimes be, this one makes a lot of sense to me.
http://tbwsdailyshow.com/2011/05/04/department-of-justice-sues-major-bank-for...North Coast San Diego Real Estate
The Taylors - Prudential California Realty - Carlsbad
Filed underHousing foreclosure scam
Do you know what to do when an Earthquake Hits, this is a very interesting article. This one is a "Game Changer"
Where to Go During an Earthquake
Remember that stuff about hiding under a table or standing in a doorway? Well, forget it! This is a real eye opener. It could save your life someday.
EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON 'THE TRIANGLE OF LIFE'
My name is Doug Copp I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI ), the world's most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.
I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries. I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years, and have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.
The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones. They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene -- unnecessary.
Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them - NOT under them. This space is what I call the 'triangle of life'. The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the 'triangles' you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building.
TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY
1) Most everyone who simply 'ducks and covers' when building collapse are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed.
2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a bed, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.
3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created. Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.
4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on the back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.
5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.
6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed!
7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different 'moment of frequency' (they swing separately from the main part of the building). The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads - horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn't collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.
8) Get near the outer walls of buildings or outside of them if possible - it is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked.
9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.
10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.
Spread the word and save someone's life...
Nooshin Khosh
What You Can Do to Protect Yourself from Getting Ripped Off in Real Estate and Home Loan Relief Scams
The New Year has unfortunately not brought about the end to real estate and mortgage
relief scams. While a deep recession continues to affect the national and California economies, the business for swindlers is very good. They continue to sell false hope to and prey on vulnerable and unsophisticated consumers, and the bad players far outnumber those of us in the government who prosecute them. They advertise and cast their nets widely, using the Internet, newspapers, magazines, mail pieces, and radio and television,
This alert is written to remind you to be continually cautious and vigilant, and to give you
some important tools and red “warning” flags so that you do not fall victim to real estate
and home loan relief scammers.
The California Department of Real Estate (DRE) has issued prior topical warnings and
alerts to consumers about the rise of fraud in connection with pre-foreclosure and
foreclosure-related rescue, forbearance and forgiveness services, including loan
modifications, forensic loan audits, and short sales.
This is very informative, pass it on so others do not fall victim to the scams
Case-Shiller as interpreted by Piggington.com
FTC clamps down on mortgage modification scammers - LA Times
The agency plans to ban almost all upfront payments, institute mandatory disclosure rules and place new restrictions on lawyers.
Reporting from Washington —
You've probably seen the pitches on TV and the Internet or found them stuffed in your mail: official-looking communications complete with logos and letterheads that look vaguely like those used by the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies.
They are instead criminal enterprises posing as do-gooders who promise to get you out of the mortgage jam you're in. They claim they can persuade your lender to cut your monthly payments, forgive all penalties, slash your interest rate and even get your loan balance reduced. If your lender won't cooperate, they say they'll perform "forensic audits" on your mortgage and convince a court that your entire loan transaction should be canceled because of technical mistakes in the paperwork.
Bogus firms always insist on getting your money upfront — often thousands of dollars — and then do little or nothing. But now the Federal Trade Commission is cutting off the main fuel supply for mortgage modification scammers: Under new rules outlined Nov. 19, the agency plans to ban virtually all upfront payments, institute mandatory disclosure rules and clamp new federal restrictions on lawyers who participate in mortgage modification schemes.
Under these rules, companies that offer mortgage relief will have to contact your lender or servicer and give you a written proposal describing the key changes to your mortgage terms that the note holder is willing to make before any money can be collected in advance.
Modification companies also will be required to make clear that they have no connection with any government agencies or program, and that you're free to reject any offer from the lender, with no requirement to pay a fee.
The rule also prohibits modification firms from using one of their most commonplace and destructive ploys: They can no longer instruct clients to stop communicating with their lender or servicer. Many scammers not only urge unwary consumers to let them handle all negotiations but also direct them to stop sending in payments — or worse, to send all payments to the modification company. Typically that has the effect of rendering any modification with the lender or servicer even less likely.
The FTC estimates that bogus modification companies have stolen millions from unwary homeowners in the last two years. Ironically, there's been a huge increase in the number of abusive schemes in the wake of the federal government's efforts to create legitimate foreclosure relief programs. The FTC has brought more than 30 cases against these operations, but the agency has had no way to control the pervasive advance-fee requirements that are so costly to consumers.
Now, when that portion of the new rule takes effect Jan. 31, the FTC will be able to proceed against any firm that collects upfront fees without obtaining the required written proposals at no charge from lenders. It will be a litmus test: If a firm seeks to charge you anything or collects money upfront, it will be in violation of federal law and subject to harsh civil penalties.
The only exception will be for lawyers, who typically require retainers before they begin negotiating on a client's behalf. They will be permitted to collect retainer fees for modification efforts but only if they deposit the money into "client trust accounts" under state bar regulations. Lawyers who charge advance fees also must be licensed by state authorities and be in compliance with state laws and regulations governing professional conduct.
Joel Winston, the FTC's associate director of financial practices and a lawyer himself, said in an interview that "a disappointingly high percentage of fraudsters [in FTC loan modification cases] have been lawyers — they're just fraudsters with law degrees."
Nonetheless, Winston said, the agency recognizes that "legitimate practitioners" can play a valuable role in negotiating modifications for consumers, and the FTC doesn't want to cut this off by banning upfront retainer payments outright.
Distributed by Washington Post Writers Group.
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Washington —
You've probably seen the pitches on TV and the Internet or found them stuffed in your mail: official-looking communications complete with logos and letterheads that look vaguely like those used by the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies.
They are instead criminal enterprises posing as do-gooders who promise to get you out of the mortgage jam you're in. They claim they can persuade your lender to cut your monthly payments, forgive all penalties, slash your interest rate and even get your loan balance reduced. If your lender won't cooperate, they say they'll perform "forensic audits" on your mortgage and convince a court that your entire loan transaction should be canceled because of technical mistakes in the paperwork.
Bogus firms always insist on getting your money upfront — often thousands of dollars — and then do little or nothing. But now the Federal Trade Commission is cutting off the main fuel supply for mortgage modification scammers: Under new rules outlined Nov. 19, the agency plans to ban virtually all upfront payments, institute mandatory disclosure rules and clamp new federal restrictions on lawyers who participate in mortgage modification schemes.
Under these rules, companies that offer mortgage relief will have to contact your lender or servicer and give you a written proposal describing the key changes to your mortgage terms that the note holder is willing to make before any money can be collected in advance.
Modification companies also will be required to make clear that they have no connection with any government agencies or program, and that you're free to reject any offer from the lender, with no requirement to pay a fee.
The rule also prohibits modification firms from using one of their most commonplace and destructive ploys: They can no longer instruct clients to stop communicating with their lender or servicer. Many scammers not only urge unwary consumers to let them handle all negotiations but also direct them to stop sending in payments — or worse, to send all payments to the modification company. Typically that has the effect of rendering any modification with the lender or servicer even less likely.
The FTC estimates that bogus modification companies have stolen millions from unwary homeowners in the last two years. Ironically, there's been a huge increase in the number of abusive schemes in the wake of the federal government's efforts to create legitimate foreclosure relief programs. The FTC has brought more than 30 cases against these operations, but the agency has had no way to control the pervasive advance-fee requirements that are so costly to consumers.
Now, when that portion of the new rule takes effect Jan. 31, the FTC will be able to proceed against any firm that collects upfront fees without obtaining the required written proposals at no charge from lenders. It will be a litmus test: If a firm seeks to charge you anything or collects money upfront, it will be in violation of federal law and subject to harsh civil penalties.
The only exception will be for lawyers, who typically require retainers before they begin negotiating on a client's behalf. They will be permitted to collect retainer fees for modification efforts but only if they deposit the money into "client trust accounts" under state bar regulations. Lawyers who charge advance fees also must be licensed by state authorities and be in compliance with state laws and regulations governing professional conduct.
Joel Winston, the FTC's associate director of financial practices and a lawyer himself, said in an interview that "a disappointingly high percentage of fraudsters [in FTC loan modification cases] have been lawyers — they're just fraudsters with law degrees."
Nonetheless, Winston said, the agency recognizes that "legitimate practitioners" can play a valuable role in negotiating modifications for consumers, and the FTC doesn't want to cut this off by banning upfront retainer payments outright.
Distributed by Washington Post Writers Group.
Brothers charged in foreclosure fraud scheme
Brothers charged in foreclosure fraud scheme
Scott Nunes
SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Two brothers were charged Tuesday in a $1.5 million foreclosure fraud scheme in which they allegedly stole the identity of several notaries and forged hundreds of deeds across five counties, including San Diego.
David Zepeda, 57, and John Zepeda, 59, are each charged with 104 felony counts, including identity theft, forgery, grand theft and rent-skimming.
The "brazen" conspiracy involved more than 300 victims, said San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
"It was huge," she said.
The defendants allegedly purchased gold coins, silver bullion and a Bentley automobile with the proceeds from the foreclosure fraud scheme, which dates back to 2006.
"The scope of this particular real estate fraud and the defendants' purchases from their ill-gotten gains are extraordinary," Dumanis said. "But unfortunately, this is yet another example of the various types of foreclosure scams we continue to see in the county."
In San Diego, more than 40 alleged victims have been identified, with losses totaling approximately $100,000, Dumanis said.
Victims were also located in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, as well as Clark County in Nevada, said Deputy District Attorney Valerie Tanney.
Prosecutors believe there are more victims of the brothers' alleged foreclosure fraud in San Diego. Anyone who thinks they may have been victimized should call the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, Tanney said.
The defendants would hold seminars for people hoping to save their homes from foreclosures, according to the prosecutor.
"It is extravagant. They made a lot of money," she said of the defendants.
Authorities said the Zepeda brothers identified properties in foreclosure and acquired title either by forging a quitclaim deed, which transfers the property into a trust, or convincing homeowners to transfer the property to them by promising the homeowner they would help avoid foreclosure.
Once they had acquired the title, the Zepedas would rent out the property, according to authorities.
In order to forestall the foreclosure process and to extend the period over which they collected rent, the brothers also filed bankruptcy petitions, prosecutors said.
Money was diverted away from the lenders and owners and into accounts, where the cash was used to support the defendants' lavish lifestyle, including the purchase of exotic, high-end cars, prosecutors allege.
The Zepeda brothers were arrested Thursday at a home in San Bernardino.
During a search of the residence, investigators seized $335,000 in uncashed checks; a gold Geneva watch; a gold Rolex watch; diamond bracelets and rings; $33,000 in cash; more than $8,000 silver coins; gold troy ounces; boxes of rolled half-dollar coins; and a Bentley.
The District Attorney's Office sought and received a court order to seize and freeze all of the assets as a source of restitution for the victims, investigators said.
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