Foreclosure and Fraud Distorting Home Values

Homeowners who want to appeal their property taxes based on distorted home values are having a hard time. Before the peak of the market, many properties were under contract with not only overinflated prices. Fraudulent groups were contracting properties much higher than the actual purchase price. If you look at MLS data from three years ago, it is easier to pinpoint. All you had to do was see for example a tax record sale of say $400,000. But when you look at the list price in the MLS at that current time, it was much lower.

Of course, this  mortgage fraud was being done without notice and now in the past year it is all being revealed. Condo associations bring these properties to the attention of the FBI and in the past year some mortgage fraud rings were arrested. Check out the story here in the Miami Herald.

Combine that with the speculation in this Miami Real Estate market that went fizz and now most are in foreclosure.

Technorati Tags: Foreclosure, Miami Real Estate, mortgage fraud