Short Sale Fraud - Freddie Mac Drops A Huge Bomb On Real Estate Investors

Short Sale Fraud - The newest problem in real estate is not yet a law or an official policy, but it is definitely going to create issues in the market. Freddie Mac’s new short sale opinion – for lack of a better word – could create serious legal and practical issues for real estate investors.

On Friday, April 16, 2010, the organization posted an educational article titled “Emerging Fraud Trends: Short Payoff Fraud.” The article stated, in short, that short sales could be fraudulent if the lender does not have information about a pre-arranged flip of the property after the short sale to another buyer. This could mean problems for investors who have been short sale flipping, or negotiating short sales with banks and then selling the properties at a profit.

The rest of the article detailed scenarios and red flags for “short payoff” fraud. The scenario was set up around a short sale negotiator or facilitator that engineered a short sale of an 80,000 dollar home with outstanding debt of 100,000 for 70,000 dollars. The facilitator does not disclose that he already has an outstanding offer for $95,000 from a second end-buyer. When both transactions close and the facilitator pockets his profit, Freddie Mac considers him to have committed fraud since Freddie Mac has now taken a “larger than necessary” loss on the sale.

The writer encourages everyone involved in short payoffs to look out for short payoff flags. Freddie Mac considers entities buying property, borrowers who are suddenly in default and borrowers who have not reneged on all of their loans to be red flags for short payoff fraud. Additionally, they encourage people to look for an option clause in their purchase contracts that allow the buyer to resell the property.

Everyone involved in a short payoff is encouraged by Freddie Mac to report potential short payoff fraud the second they become aware of a second purchase contract for a higher price. Short sales may not be breaking the law, but Freddie Mac’s PR team certainly wants the process to be as difficult as possible for all real estate investors.

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