by Keith Lubsen

Michael Blackburn, COO of Perfect Home Living (www.PerfectHomeLiving.com) a 501 (C)(3) Nonprofit Corporation spoke about the topic of real estate fraud. Perfect Home Living’s goal is to “eliminate existing and emerging patterns of real estate fraud.”

Michael effectively demonstrated how widespread real estate fraud is in the state of Utah. According to the MARI Index, the state of Utah ranks #1 in the nation for mortgage fraud. Criminals often target college students, returning LDS missionaries and recipients of recent monetary awards (e.g., inheritance or legal settlements) to victimize in real estate scams.

Michael presented a video which showed a college age student sitting on the steps of a million dollar house which he supposedly owned. The student worked as a waiter and was certainly not qualified financially to qualify for a mortgage on such an expensive property. The student admitted that he had provided false information on his loan application which showed him owning a business. He therefore stated his income to be much higher that it actually was. He went on to tell how the accountant he worked with to obtain the mortgage had given him directions to provide the false information on the loan application. The student is left in hot water and the accountant denies any wrongdoing.

The moral of the video is that uneducated victims think that they can either make a fast buck or get themselves into a home far beyond their means. They don’t think they are hurting anyone by bending the rules upon the advice of their advisors.

Michael’s mission is to inform these consumers and he provided the following tips. Where to catch real estate fraud:

• Loan application – never provide falsified information and be very wary of others who instruct you to do so.

• If Truth in Lending Statement, Good Faith Estimate and HUD-2 Settlement Statement reflect different dollar amounts from the borrower. Michael said the amounts rarely match and that this mismatch is a very good indication the something is wrong.

• Beware of the ‘All in One Day’ transaction Thank you to the Utah AG’s office: Mark Shurtleff, Scott Morrill, Rich Hamp, John Kimball and everyone else at the Utah Office of The Attorney General for their tireless and outstanding work in the fight against identity theft.

Thank you to the Utah AG’s office: Mark Shurtleff, Scott Morrill, Rich Hamp, John Kimball and everyone else at the Utah Office of The Attorney General for their tireless and outstanding work in the fight against identity theft.