Michael Regan

Mortgage broker Christopher Jared Warren confessed to $75 million dollar in mortgage fraud while working at Ameriquest. After working there for 2 1/2 years and committing $75 million in fraud he hacked into the company customer data base stealing info on 680,000 customers. He left the company with that info and started WLT Financial were he made $2.25 million dollars in less than 3 years using similar fraud techniques. When New Century went under so did WLT Financial. He then moved on the AFG Holding Company where he started a ponzi scheme. He was fired from that company for starting his own separate title and escrow company. He went on to start the company Triduanum Financial which folded just last month. The company website is http://www.Triduanum.com He as been charged with bank fraud, mail fraud and conducting a financial crimes enterprise. You can find the guys confession posted here:

http://www.triduanum.com/memo.pdf

He says he's looking for a job to help fight mortgage fraud!

Here is a news story about Warren which includes his photo: News Story. And his email address is: cwarren@triduanum.com

BTW: they guy just left the country this past monday and no one knows where he is.

HOW MANY OTHERS LIKE THIS GUY ARE OUT THERE?

As an appraiser I am seeing more foreclosures which are ready to hit the market. This will continue to but downward pressure of home values. The home owner vacancy rate hit a record in the 4th quarter of 2008 at 2.8%. And there was a 9% rise in vacant homes that are being held off the market. According to realty trac 70% of the bank-owned homes were not listed for sale on the multiple listing service.

Don't forget to visit our appraisal site at: http://www.coralspringsappraisers.net

I went back and read a story from 3/2007. It was about a strawberry picker in California who was making $14,000 per year but was able to qualify for 100% financing on a $720,000 home. No, that's no typo, $720,000 home with no money down making $14,000 per year! The guy defaulted on the loan a year and a half later. How did he last that long? He says he didn't speak english and didn't understand the terms. Come on. You make less than $300 per week and you didn't realize you can't afford a 3/4 of a million dollar home because you don't speak english. Is it too late to find a lender to loan this guy more money so I can sell him the Brooklyn bridge? Sorry if I sound a little harsh but this senerio mutiplyed thousand and thousand of times created the bubble and now the mess the market is currently in. Many people simple can not afford the home they are in and trying to figure out how to keep them in there homes is the wrong way to go. Do we really want to find a way to keep people who earn $14,000 per year in $750,0000 homes! I am not only blaming the borrower here. The borrower and lender are both at fault. I wonder where the guy is who approved the strawberry pickers $750,000 in the first place. I hope the only job the loan officer can now find is as a strawberry picker.

http://hollisterfreelance.com/news/contentview.asp?c=213141

Don't forget to visit our appraisal site at: http://www.coralspringsappraisers.net

Three banks in Florida, Maryland and Utah were closed yesterday. Home values continue to decline. People are afraid to buy a home now for fear they may lose there jobs. Home prices doubled in a five year period in Florida but wages didn't double. The doubling of home values was induced by the demand of buyers who could never afford the homes they purchased without the artificially low adjustable starter rate. The monthly payments many of these buyers were paying weren't enough to cover the mortgage and the deferred balance was put on the back end of the loan each month. The starter rate ended after 2 to 5 years and its time to pay the piper. Many people lied about there ability to pay - no doc liar loans - and now the scheme is up for a lot of these buyers. Just because home values have declined does not mean that you shouldn't be able to pay your mortgage. Its risky to assume the home you just purchased, which doubled in value in the five years prior, will continue to go up and be worth more when your adjustable comes due. Many people gambled and lost. Many made a lot of money selling at the top of the market. Risk and reward. Its no surprise that home values are now declining and home value to wage ratios are returning to historic norms. The fact that the government is trying to keep home prices artificially high is a joke. Pull the band aid and lets get it over with.

I've read several blogs that have tried to blame the housing bubble on appraisers. Appraisers did not cause the real estate bubble. It was lacks loan requirements originally pushed by politicians who complained that lenders weren't lending enough to low income individuals with bad credit. Solution - no income verification liar loans. More people were able to buy homes they couldn't afford due to low 2 to 5 year adjustable starter rates. This pushed housing demand up and prices with it. Add to that illegal aliens who were also able to get these type of loans. Some were buying 2 and 3 homes with no income verification. Buyers were willing to pay whatever the asking price was because they figured they would just flip the house and make a profit. Wages and home price ratios went out of whack. Now the adjustable rates are coming due and many who lied about there incomes and ability to pay are being brought to light. The liar buyers are being forced out of there homes and those homes are flooding the market. Since no income verification loans are no longer available (unless you have a very low LTV ratio) home value to income ratios are coming down to historic norm which is forcing home prices back to historic norms. Appraisers did not caused the bubble. If they did why aren't they able to keep the bubble up? Why didn't appraisers create a bubble prior to the availability of liar loans? Fraudulent appraisers? - There are fraudulent people in all different business not just appraisers. Fraudulent loan officers, realtors, lawyers, doctors, politicians, etc. A totality of buyers and sellers in any given market determine market values. Not the appraiser. The appraiser only reports what price buyers and sellers are willing to buy/sell a home for in a certain time period in a given market. Property values doubled in a 5 year period in Florida. Now the politicians are trying to figure out how to keep home prices from dropping (so they can keep that huge unwarranted windfall in there own homes and keep high taxes pouring into the government) by pumping trillions of taxpayer dollars into the economy. Only thing is if they are able to keep home values artificially high young people just coming out of school will now be paying 600k for a home that was selling for 300k just 5 years ago (more like 8 years ago now). Having these first time home buyers pay an extra $300k for the next 30 years through manipulated markets just isn't right. Let the market decide. Not the politicians. And stop blame the appraiser. Why didn't appraisers create a housing bubble in the 1990's ? People are lossing there life savings because housing prices are declining? I don't think anyones life savings plan was to buy a home, work for a number of years and then gain $300,000 in five years on the home they lived in. Those that were planning for that sold there home at the top of the market and downsized into a smaller home.