Many people who bought their homes using FHA loans in the last few years in Arizona are now in a situation where they owe more on their mortgage than their home is currently worth.
And they are worried that they cannot refinance.
The good news is that if you currently have an FHA loan and owe more [...]

John Stewart Morrison IV, 55, Columbia, Maryland has been indicted on two counts of mail fraud as well as Clifford Michael Seibert, 57, Berlin, Maryland; and Seibert‘s company, Modular Homes Wholesaler, Inc. was indicted on two counts of wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme. Each indictment also seeks the forfeiture of the proceeds of the scheme, alleged to be $431,317 for Morrison and $363,808 for Seibert. The indictments were returned on August 19, 2010 and recently unsealed.

According to their indictments, Morrison was a mortgage originator and Seibert owned and operated Modular Homes Wholesaler, Inc., Berlin, Maryland. Modular Homes arranged the construction and delivery of pre-fabricated modular homes.

According to Morrison‘s indictment, on November 17, 2005 Morrison contracted to buy Lot #1, Rexwood Dr., Glen Rock Borough, Pennsylvania from the original owner which disclosed to Morrison at least two documents detailing significant problems with the steeply graded parcel of land. In order for a home to be built on Lot #1, extensive soil and engineering work had to be done. The indictment alleges that Morrison failed to follow through on his purchase of Lot #1 and instead recruited P.H., who wanted to have a modular home installed on the site, to purchase the lot. Morrison allegedly failed to disclose the problems with the lot to P.H.

The indictment alleges that Morrison and another individual prepared a loan package in P.H.’s name to apply for a loan from a mortgage lender in the amount of $431,377, to finance the purchase of Lot #1 and construction of a home on the land. The package falsely represented P.H.’s monthly income. Morrison allegedly failed to disclose the problems with Lot #1 to the appraiser, thereby causing the lender to rely on a materially deficient appraisal. Still believing that the land could be built-upon without additional preparatory work, P.H. paid $115,500 for the purchase of the lot at the closing held on June 14, 2006. Morrison allegedly received $36,800 as a result of P.H.’s purchase, which amount was actually paid to the “Atlantic Group,” an entity that Morrison created and used to ensure that his name did not appear on the closing documents.

According to Seibert‘s indictment, he arranged for the construction and delivery of a modular home to Lot #1 on P.H.’s behalf. Seibert prepared a draw schedule in which the lender was to pay Modular Homes a percentage of the loan funds as various stages of completion were reached in the construction and delivery of P.H.’s home. Seibert listed the total price of all services related to the modular home as $363,808. After the closing, the title company mailed a check to Seibert for $35,380 payable to Modular Homes, in accordance with the draw schedule, to begin work on P.H.’s project, including preparing the lot for construction and delivery of the home. The indictment alleges that Seibert did little work, if any, on P.H.’s behalf during this time.

The indictment alleges that on or about August 7, 2006, Seibert requested that funds from the construction escrow account be wired directly to Modular Homes, rather than to P.H. Shortly thereafter, in order to persuade the lender to exempt him from the company’s general policy of paying for construction work only after receiving proof of an approved building permit, Seibert is alleged to have falsely advised the lender that Glen Rock Borough would not issue a building permit until after the foundation for the home was poured. Soon thereafter, in early August 2006, Seibert allegedly submitted his first draw request which falsely represented that the clearing and filling of the lot was complete, when in fact, no work had been done. Seibert then falsely advised the lender that the construction project had overrun in costs because the lot’s community development association was demanding that substantial engineering work be done. The indictment alleges that on August 30,2006, Seibert requested an advance payment of $18,575 for additional costs that would be incurred to meet the demands of the lot’s community development association, when in fact, the development association had made no such demands. Seibert‘s request resulted in the lender agreeing in late October 2006 to fund $16,675 of this request.

Morrison and Seibert each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each of two counts of mail fraud and wire fraud, respectively. Morrison was arrested today and had an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Seibert is expected to have an initial appearance on Monday, August 23, 2010.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

The indictments were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Special Agent in Charge Ken Taylor of the Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General – Office of Investigations.

The Maryland Mortgage Fraud Task Force was established to unify the agencies that regulate and investigate mortgage fraud and promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of mortgage fraud schemes. This case, as well as other cases brought by members of the Task Force, demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement agencies to protect consumers from fraud and promote the integrity of the credit markets. Information about mortgage fraud prosecutions is available http://www.justice.gov/usao/md/Mortgage-Fraud/index.html.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s Division of Financial Regulation for its assistance in the investigation and commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Sujit Raman, who is prosecuting the case.

DRI Management Systems Inc., a provider of default process management software, has announced its new Web-based loan servicing application for the mortgage industry, Rincon. The Rincon platform sets new standards for performance in default management software, a technology segment virtually created in 1985 by DRI and its Chief Executive Officer Duke Olrich, during the savings and loan crisis. Back in those pre-Internet days, the levels of functionality now available in Rincon could only be imagined.Read more

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Altisource Portfolio Solutions, a provider of knowledge process services related to real estate mortgage portfolio management, asset recovery management and customer relationship management, announces the addition of short sale and deed-in-lieu services to its line of services available to mortgage lenders and servicers. The expansion leverages Altisource’s 20 years of experience in default and asset management to provide lenders and servicers with another essential component to enhance their loss mitigation programs.Read more

Countdown To Buy, an innovative online real estate marketplace that offers fair and effective solutions to buy and sell properties, has announced it has received a silver Connecticut Quality Improvement Award Innovation Prize for the company’s unique online real estate transaction model and marketplace. “We are honored that Countdown To Buy was recognized alongside some of the best companies in the state by the Connecticut Quality Improvement Award committee, not only for vision and innovation but execution as well,” said Jim Hodson, chief executive officer of CountdoRead more

TMS Funding, the wholesale residential lending platform of Total Mortgage Services LLC, has announced the hiring of Robin Buttner and Stephen Jaser as wholesale account executives. Buttner and Jaser are being hired to develop new business relationships and consult, educate, train and support high quality mortgage brokers in their respective markets.Read more

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The July 2010 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices, released by the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), addressed changes in the supply of, and demand for, bank loans to businesses and households over the past three months. The survey included a set of special questions that asked respondents about lending to European firms and their affiliates and subsidiaries. This summary is based on responses from 57 domestic banks and 23 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.¹Read more

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (D-PA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises have released letters to the White House calling for the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) to use all of its powers to recover money from companies that used fraud and deceptive practices to shift losses on to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.Read more

A group of homeowners has filed a class-action lawsuit against Aurora Loan Services LLC, claiming the mortgage company duped them into paying tens of thousands of dollars each to have troubled mortgages reviewed by the company with promises of loan modifications, only to have their property foreclosed with little or no notice. The suit states that Aurora reaped more than $100 million in what the court documents call “illicit profits” from the alleged scheme.Read more

First, in recent foreclosure news:
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•  Report: Minorities worst hit by foreclosures
• ‘New wave’ of foreclosures to come?

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Every week, homes throughout Orange County go to foreclosure auctions. The owners can be millions of dollars in debt, or owe just a few thousand.

Often these homes revert to the lenders, who eventually put them back on the market. Sometimes the homes are bought by investors and resold.

Foreclosures affect more than the homeowners involved. They can impact entire neighborhoods. At the very least, they can affect nearby home sales.

All of these homes and addresses have been listed in the public notices, as required by law.

Auction dates are frequently postponed and can be checked through trustee sale and phone numbers. Some auctions could be cancelled. Also, some homes may be on the market.

For homes, click on city:

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• Aliso Viejo
• Anaheim
• Coto de Caza
• Irvine
• Huntington Beach
• Ladera Ranch
• Laguna Beach
• Laguna Hills
• Laguna Woods
• Lake Forest
• Mission Viejo
• Orange
• Rancho Santa Margarita
• San Clemente
• Tustin
• Yorba Linda

Read more:

How foreclosure auctions work

Trustee, trustor … what’s the difference? Click here for foreclosure terms and definitions

Top tips for buying investment properties

Note: There are foreclosures in other Orange County cities but so far we haven’t had enough available writers to regularly compile foreclosure information from them. We hope to add more in the future.

For a map with a partial list of other real estate listings around Orange County, click here

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FORECLOSURE HEADLINES…

Homes facing foreclosure in 16 cities is a post from: Mortgage Insider