Friday, September 21, 2007
New site
Our blog is now hosted through our website at www.871cope.com/blog.asp. Come check it out & find some great Bakersfield links along with the MLS search & find your homes value features. See you there!
Monday, August 20, 2007
2 bucks to chuck cheaters?
The following is a Bakersfield Californian Editorial opinion forwarded to me by a commercial real estate advisor Kayole Bradford.
The young real estate tycoon had impressed everyone with his flair, his extravagance and his generosity. He drove an exotic Italian sports car, wore Rolex watches, pledged $1 million to the Cal State athletic department and boasted of billion-dollar sales years to come.
When it all came crashing down, prosecutors from the District Attorney's office publicly wished they'd had better resources in place to track cases of alleged real estate fraud. Only then, taking advantage of a 10-year-old state law that allows counties to fund real estate fraud enforcement units with a small fee associated with certain property-transfer filings, did they go out and get themselves those resources.
The flashy real estate entrepreneur in question was Tony Daniloo, chief financial officer of Turlock-based DreamLife Financial. The District Attorney's office in question was in Stanislaus County, which added the new fraud-fighting fee in July 2005.
Daniloo, who was arrested in December 2004, pleaded guilty in December 2006 to 122 felony counts related to various shady real estate dealings and was eventually sentenced to seven years in federal prison. The Modesto Bee first alerted law enforcement to the shenanigans of the one-time Cal State Stanislaus athletic department booster.
"Perhaps if we had a real estate fraud unit up and running, maybe we would have seen it first," Stanislaus Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley told The Bee at the time.
If the Daniloo story sounds at least a little bit familiar, that's because it is. You've read about allegations of dubious transactions in the Bakersfield market, too.
The two stories have their differences, though. One is that no Bakersfield Realtor has been charged with real estate fraud on a scale approaching Daniloo's. Another is that the Kern District Attorney has not shown much interest in funding a real estate fraud prosecution unit in this way, despite allegations deserving of the department's concern.
A $2 fee -- tacked on to every deed of trust, mortgage agreement or notice of default -- would generate $150,000 to $175,000 annually for the DA's office and other law enforcement agencies. Two bucks seems like cheap insurance against fraudulent brokers, agents, appraisers and loan officers.
Kern County Assessor-Recorder Jim Fitch, whose office would administer the fund, says it's been informally discussed, but the District Attorney has shown no interest. Prosecutors say it would be more trouble than it's worth.
The fee wouldn't generate enough money to hire the right people, prosecutors are going after real estate fraud just fine already, and they haven't seen all that much additional need, anyway.
But Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney Marlisa Ferreira says the program -- which has no local-match funding requirements -- has been an invaluable resource.
"It hasn't been so much a benefit to our office as it's been a benefit to our community," she said. "It's had a huge impact. People are out there committing fraud, and there's nothing worse than losing your house. I can't believe you don't have this (program) in a county the size of Kern."
Larry Roberts, lead deputy district attorney in San Bernardino County's real estate fraud division, believes the extra funding program -- implemented in his county in 1996 -- has led to convictions that wouldn't have been achieved otherwise.
"If you want to commit crime and you don't want to get caught, white-collar crime, such as real estate fraud, is a good one to try because there aren't enough judges, prosecutors or courtrooms to handle it," Roberts said. "But for that (extra) funding, a lot of bad guys would get away. Most of them would, in fact."
At least 14 California counties, including Los Angeles and Fresno, have created or beefed up their real estate fraud units using the $2 transaction fee, which must be authorized by their respective county boards of supervisors.
County Counsel Bernie Barmann, the man Kern County supervisors would likely consult, said he was not familiar with the provision of state law that provides for the real estate fee.
Vulnerability to real estate fraud -- especially foreclosure fraud -- is high these days, given the spike in foreclosure filings. Kern County is fourth in the state in that category, behind only San Joaquin, Riverside and Sacramento counties -- all of which have enacted the $2 fraud-investigation fee.
It's time to beef up enforcement of real estate fraud in Kern County. Start by adopting the 10-year-old state-authorized fee designed to help fund it.
The young real estate tycoon had impressed everyone with his flair, his extravagance and his generosity. He drove an exotic Italian sports car, wore Rolex watches, pledged $1 million to the Cal State athletic department and boasted of billion-dollar sales years to come.
When it all came crashing down, prosecutors from the District Attorney's office publicly wished they'd had better resources in place to track cases of alleged real estate fraud. Only then, taking advantage of a 10-year-old state law that allows counties to fund real estate fraud enforcement units with a small fee associated with certain property-transfer filings, did they go out and get themselves those resources.
The flashy real estate entrepreneur in question was Tony Daniloo, chief financial officer of Turlock-based DreamLife Financial. The District Attorney's office in question was in Stanislaus County, which added the new fraud-fighting fee in July 2005.
Daniloo, who was arrested in December 2004, pleaded guilty in December 2006 to 122 felony counts related to various shady real estate dealings and was eventually sentenced to seven years in federal prison. The Modesto Bee first alerted law enforcement to the shenanigans of the one-time Cal State Stanislaus athletic department booster.
"Perhaps if we had a real estate fraud unit up and running, maybe we would have seen it first," Stanislaus Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley told The Bee at the time.
If the Daniloo story sounds at least a little bit familiar, that's because it is. You've read about allegations of dubious transactions in the Bakersfield market, too.
The two stories have their differences, though. One is that no Bakersfield Realtor has been charged with real estate fraud on a scale approaching Daniloo's. Another is that the Kern District Attorney has not shown much interest in funding a real estate fraud prosecution unit in this way, despite allegations deserving of the department's concern.
A $2 fee -- tacked on to every deed of trust, mortgage agreement or notice of default -- would generate $150,000 to $175,000 annually for the DA's office and other law enforcement agencies. Two bucks seems like cheap insurance against fraudulent brokers, agents, appraisers and loan officers.
Kern County Assessor-Recorder Jim Fitch, whose office would administer the fund, says it's been informally discussed, but the District Attorney has shown no interest. Prosecutors say it would be more trouble than it's worth.
The fee wouldn't generate enough money to hire the right people, prosecutors are going after real estate fraud just fine already, and they haven't seen all that much additional need, anyway.
But Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney Marlisa Ferreira says the program -- which has no local-match funding requirements -- has been an invaluable resource.
"It hasn't been so much a benefit to our office as it's been a benefit to our community," she said. "It's had a huge impact. People are out there committing fraud, and there's nothing worse than losing your house. I can't believe you don't have this (program) in a county the size of Kern."
Larry Roberts, lead deputy district attorney in San Bernardino County's real estate fraud division, believes the extra funding program -- implemented in his county in 1996 -- has led to convictions that wouldn't have been achieved otherwise.
"If you want to commit crime and you don't want to get caught, white-collar crime, such as real estate fraud, is a good one to try because there aren't enough judges, prosecutors or courtrooms to handle it," Roberts said. "But for that (extra) funding, a lot of bad guys would get away. Most of them would, in fact."
At least 14 California counties, including Los Angeles and Fresno, have created or beefed up their real estate fraud units using the $2 transaction fee, which must be authorized by their respective county boards of supervisors.
County Counsel Bernie Barmann, the man Kern County supervisors would likely consult, said he was not familiar with the provision of state law that provides for the real estate fee.
Vulnerability to real estate fraud -- especially foreclosure fraud -- is high these days, given the spike in foreclosure filings. Kern County is fourth in the state in that category, behind only San Joaquin, Riverside and Sacramento counties -- all of which have enacted the $2 fraud-investigation fee.
It's time to beef up enforcement of real estate fraud in Kern County. Start by adopting the 10-year-old state-authorized fee designed to help fund it.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
1 out of every 47
That's right, Bakersfield made another top ten list. We are eighth among the nation's 100 biggest cities for foreclosure activity during the first 6 months of the year according to an article featured today on the Californians website. It goes on to say that 1 out of every 47 households has had a foreclosure filing. Hey we are better off than Stockton where it is 1 out of 27.
That is definitely not good news but I don't think it is as bad as everyone has expected or as bad as what many have predicted. Heck if you took out the hundreds of homes and affected homes that one self proclaimed "Real Estate Mogul" personally screwed up we might not have even made the top 50! I heard the other day from an owner of a mortgage company that we would be looking at a 50% foreclosure rate. REALLY??? Because if that happens we might as well shut down Bakersfield and try again down the road.
I think the important thing to keep in mind here is that the old saying of "everyone has an opinion and they all stink" holds pretty true. No one knows exactly how things are going to play out but it does not look like the doom and gloom scenario's are all that likely. I will do a little research on this but I think there have been times in recent history that the foreclosure % was even higher than it is now. Please let me know if anyone has any details on this.
That is definitely not good news but I don't think it is as bad as everyone has expected or as bad as what many have predicted. Heck if you took out the hundreds of homes and affected homes that one self proclaimed "Real Estate Mogul" personally screwed up we might not have even made the top 50! I heard the other day from an owner of a mortgage company that we would be looking at a 50% foreclosure rate. REALLY??? Because if that happens we might as well shut down Bakersfield and try again down the road.
I think the important thing to keep in mind here is that the old saying of "everyone has an opinion and they all stink" holds pretty true. No one knows exactly how things are going to play out but it does not look like the doom and gloom scenario's are all that likely. I will do a little research on this but I think there have been times in recent history that the foreclosure % was even higher than it is now. Please let me know if anyone has any details on this.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
West Nile, Realtors, & Deadbeats
The Bakersfield Californian had an article on Tuesday's front page about pools in vacant homes being a concern for mosquito breeding grounds. Gov. Schwarzenegger mentioned working with the real estate community to help ensure these vacant homes do not become cause of West Nile virus outbreaks due to standing water. Kern County currently has 38 of the 64 cases of West Nile in the state of California and so this is a cause of concern in the local real estate community. Basically if Realtors see any issues at a vacant home they can call vector control and they will send someone out to treat the standing water and the issue is done. There is no charge, they do not need any permission from anyone to go, they just need to know where the problem is. It sounds very easy right? No problem? If as a Realtor you see standing water anywhere, just make a phone call?
You would think this would be a done issue and would not even be worthy of any more discussion- until the Californian decides to call the Bakersfield Association of Realtors for a comment. That's where the best and the brightest start making comments that affect the public opinion of all local Realtors.
Ray Karpe the association president took the stance of -WELL, THIS COULD LEAD TO A POTENTIAL LAWSUIT and -WELL, IS IT REALLY OUR JOB TO DO THIS and -WELL, THE ASSOCIATION CANT MAKE ANYONE DO ANYTHING.
I can definitely live with these half hearted responses that really don't say anything at all even though I think he would have been better off with a "no comment". The real problem is when they get Real Estate broker Darrell Sparks on the line and one of his printed comments is "IF YOU'RE UPSET WITH SOMEBODY, MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE UPSET WITH THE DEADBEAT WHO DIDN'T MAKE THEIR PAYMENTS" referring to people who have been through a foreclosure and now are out of their home. So according to Darrell people who have lost their homes are "DEADBEATS". I think that may be a little extreme.
So now thanks to the association of Realtors and Darrell Sparks we have taken a very minor issue where we could have said "Yeah sure, no problem, we're here to help" and turned it into a large front page article making us all look like we are insensitive and afraid to commit to help with anything.
Thanks guys, I appreciate you stepping up and speaking out for our behalf again and leaving such a good impression with our community.
You would think this would be a done issue and would not even be worthy of any more discussion- until the Californian decides to call the Bakersfield Association of Realtors for a comment. That's where the best and the brightest start making comments that affect the public opinion of all local Realtors.
Ray Karpe the association president took the stance of -WELL, THIS COULD LEAD TO A POTENTIAL LAWSUIT and -WELL, IS IT REALLY OUR JOB TO DO THIS and -WELL, THE ASSOCIATION CANT MAKE ANYONE DO ANYTHING.
I can definitely live with these half hearted responses that really don't say anything at all even though I think he would have been better off with a "no comment". The real problem is when they get Real Estate broker Darrell Sparks on the line and one of his printed comments is "IF YOU'RE UPSET WITH SOMEBODY, MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE UPSET WITH THE DEADBEAT WHO DIDN'T MAKE THEIR PAYMENTS" referring to people who have been through a foreclosure and now are out of their home. So according to Darrell people who have lost their homes are "DEADBEATS". I think that may be a little extreme.
So now thanks to the association of Realtors and Darrell Sparks we have taken a very minor issue where we could have said "Yeah sure, no problem, we're here to help" and turned it into a large front page article making us all look like we are insensitive and afraid to commit to help with anything.
Thanks guys, I appreciate you stepping up and speaking out for our behalf again and leaving such a good impression with our community.
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