No, this isn’t a late night infomercial with the “Worlds Sexiest Realtors” showing off their assets. This is a sick and not so new phenomenon I call “Real estate agents gone wild.”
Take this article I picked up today in my Google Alerts:
Elias Escobedo, 41, lost his house earlier this month when it was foreclosed on, but not because he didn’t pay his mortgage.
Instead, he’s the victim of a real estate agent who is accused of forging the deed to his home and embezzling $40,000 in a scheme to raise his credit score and pay his monthly mortgage payments, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office.
This story and ones similar to this are being played out all over our country. I know, because I speak to the actual victims of these foreclosure scams all the time.
Desperate times, call for desperate measures, and real estate agents are no different than any other down on his luck, broke American trying to make ends meet. They used to be fat cats, now they are ally cats looking for thier next meal.
Yes, Realtors hold a fiduciary duty of utmost care in dealing with their clients and they are supposed to be held to a strict code of ethics. But, when little Johnny has no food on the table, Mary can’t get her nails done, and the 750 Beemer payment is now 3 months past due, some men and women will do what it takes to make ends meet.
More from the article:
“I feel stupid because I put my trust in him,” he said. “I invested all my life savings with him.”
His agent was the same real estate agent that sold the home to Escobedo in 2004. Escobedo said that Bullard told him his credit was bad and he could come up with a way to clean it up and invest the money, he said. Using a straw buyer to hold the property, or someone paid to park the deed, they would refinance the home, take money out, and pay the mortgage.
The agent, Rodney Alonzo Bullard, has been charged with grand theft and two felony counts of forgery by the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office.
Homeowners beware of the agent with the fake grin and matching Realtor pin. You could be their next victim!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Morning Moe,
I read this yesterday. This happened in my area. Just one of many cases.
I just finished an evaluation and we filed a complaint with the DA in on another case. This was a realtor who took a person for $120k on the purchase of her home. Barbara Hernandez will be writing about this one as soon as the charges are filed.
Amazing the fraud in this area. And it is on-going.
While I “feel sorry” for this poor guy, if he hadn’t been out to “beat” the system, he never would have lost his home. That is what got the industry in trouble in the first place, and it will continue as long as the sleeze balls are allowed to be in the industry, buyer/seller/broker/loan agent etc. It used to gall me that people with bad credit were rewarded with the subprime loans, or not having to payoff collections etc. Ethics and morals are certainly out the window.
Wow, this is terrible. They are suppose to be held to the upmost code of ethnic. My husband is a realtor, no we did not buy a 750 (whatever type car that was), no we do not live in a million dollar home, no I don’t get my nails or hair done ,no I don’t buy name brand and NO, my husband does not LIE, CHEAT or STEAL. That’s why we are still BLESS even through the hard times. Those that do will have their turn, and it’s dbl folds. I’m a true believer of Karma. I’m sorry to say this, the people that were con usually completely trust the other person because they are of the same ethnicity. My husband caught a loan officer trying to scam a lady out of $40k. She showed him her loan docs and the numbers didn’t match, even though she had already signed the loan docs because my husband caught it, she was able to cancel on time. And NO he didn’t make anything from it. It was all in the goodness of his heart.
I’m sorry to hear about all these poor people being con. When times are hard and people begin to feel squeezed people go into survival mode. Unfortunatley, they choose the easier route to hurt people. Gosh, go get a job…beware people are now stealing gas from parking lots now….All my husbands real estate friends also have regular jobs also…..