The Sail on Brickell Penthouse 2 Bedroom/2 Bath Foreclosure – $299,900

Finally Got it!!!! Where’s is my Free Lunch?

Though you might be 100% correct in your assessments, publicly accusing someone of fraud is dangerous. You of all people know the dangers of blog postings. Let’s be careful out there.

That said, your service to the community through this blog is very much appreciated.

One day, through trial and a hell of a lot of “come to jesus” moments, the sellers in Brickell will come to their senses, and prices will be affordable again. Look for $150 square foot in some buildings in the not-to-distant future.

Cheers.

Is this really a good price? The sail is not such a great building.

damn, if only i had 300k. come on guys, say what you want but 300k for a fully finished unit with a big balcony that has views of the bay for 300k? thats a good deal no matter how you look at it. i wonder what you guys think a good deal would be? maybe a 5bed. penthouse south of fifth for 200k? haha come on, this is a good deal and if i had the money I’d buy it.

This is just one of the FIRST of many many many SUPER GOOD DEAL’S that will be available over the next few month’s.Raffi….you may only need a 150K to buy this unit soon…so keep saving.I also agree with MORETROOPS.a $150 a sq. ft. will be the norm shortly.

let me tell you that seeing this building the photo just makes me wana go to the bath.

i guess it should be a prision in brickell.

buy i will buy there anyways if it gets to 200’s LOL.

I wonder what makes a building have a high mortgage fraud rate and the who actually decided all this. Is there a Fraudulent Buyers Convention and they decided they were going to do it on the Sail, Clubt at Brickell and Jade since they are all across the Street from each other? Maybe they wanted tobe all in Walking distance so they could go out to lunch together.

When will MLS listings reflect the market? In particular I see a unit at Ten Museum 2808 listed for 560K 1 bed, 1.5 bath. Is this not ridiculous?

The way the mortgage system functioned during the boom, fraud was almost guaranteed. Underwriting standards literally disappeared. The fallout from this mess will be far worse than the S&L crisis. Back then, at least they had SOME standards. Shame that the US taxpayers are going to have to foot the bill for all these fraudsters’ gains, and bail out all these Wall Street investment banker douchebags who collected billions of dollars in bonuses scamming just about anyone they could. If justice were to prevail, there would be thousands and thousands of people going to jail over this. Instead, we’re going… Read more »

Everyone, As a realtor in South Beach, I know first hand of all the fraud that went on. I unfortunately had to witness it because no one listened to me in the buildings where I work and because both local and Federal authorities turned a blind eye. I saw so many transactions go on where properties were listed on MLS let’s say at $550K. The fraud buyer would pay full price and would tell the seller he is going to get it appraised at let’s say $800K. Seller agrees because all they want to do is sell the apartment and… Read more »

Generalagic, Thanks for making the mortgage scam as simple to understand, but if you would look from a different perspective, the fingers should be pointing directly at the financial institutions that mortgaged these properties in the first place. Who hired these appraisers that came up with these inflated evaluations? These people (appraisers and fraud buyers) should be prosecuted and jailed. The loan officers who approved these loans need to answer some tough questions to the proper authorities. The point is there will always be criminals and the system will always have cracks. Like the old saying goes….When it’s too good… Read more »

Billy,

I agree. I think what I really want is accountability. People should have been arrested and been on the nightly news. Than people would scared to get involved in fraudelent activities. The fact that nothing was done two years later bothers me. I have evidence yet no one returns my calls. That is what is upsetting.

Generalagic – You should photocopy what you have and forward that to the local FBI field office and your federal congressman and senators….and to Rep. Barney Frank who is the chairman. You could also send a copy 60 Minutes and Fox News. Just a thought.

moretroops,

You are right that me of all people should know better than to publicly accuse someone. I never named names though. I merely presented the evidence that I discovered. I may be slightly out of line but this type of apparent fraudulent activity simply angers me. I just wanted to bring it to everyone’s attention.

Lucas,
I with you man! Fraud is Fraud! It si so obvious when you are a realtor and you know your product.

A dude,

I wish it was that easy. People need to be arrested! That is all I ask! No one cares! Unless t makes head lines. During the two years I contacted everybody to no avail.

Generalmagic, I have also collected a ton of evidence on this and have emailed it to the FBI and several members of the MF Task Force. I finally got some traction on a couple of the “cases” I put together from a detective at the Miami Dade Police Economic Crimes Unit. She recently told me that the larger cases are getting picked up by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The sad thing is that the authorities are totally swamped. They got caught completely behind the curve on this. They get constant calls from people reporting sham transactions. And these sorts of… Read more »

Generalmagic, just saw your last post. Surprisingly, I think you’re off on the headlines thing. I don’t think anyof the political players have any interest in the really big frauds hitting the news wires. If and when that comes out it is going to send two messages:

1. We were really asleep at the wheel there for a while.

2. Boy, fraud may have been a pretty big driver of that bubble that eventually went on to pop…and it was a driver pretty early on. The bottom may be lower than we thought.

Mortgage Fraud,

I wouldn’t mind putting you in touch with each other. However, I doubt your email address is accurate. Leave a new comment with your true email address and I’ll forward it to Generalagic.

Lucas, You have my email and it is accurate and you can give mortgage fraud my email adress. No problem. I just want accountabiltity because my company gave up a lot of money not to get involved yet these people made off with a ton of money. Mortage Fraud, Yo are right, however I tried to prevent mortgage fraud of happening in one bilding and no one listened. Now look where we are at! Feel free to contact me and hopefully we can make something happen. I am passsionate as I really think this has affected the miami real estate… Read more »

Thank you, Lucas. I just sent you an email.

Just forwarded Generalagic your email.

Don’t get me started.. I have posted on this blog in the past but on this matter I must post under a different name to protect the innocent and so I don’t end up with a horse head in my bed. The fact of the matter is that hundreds of millions were fraudulently borrowed in Miami alone. The rings are very organized and very connected. Like Billy K said the financial institution have a responsibility in this and now they are experiencing the fallout. They would not admit it when it was happening and they still refuse to be clear… Read more »

Mortgage Fraud,

Whenever you’re ready to have me blow the lid off this story let me know. Your research is fantastic! We need to let the general public know about this.

Correction.. Tax bills were 15% ABOVE where they should have been for 2007.

Lucas,, you are 100% correct, the public does need to know about this. When I spoke to the FBI this week about the recent unit closing a short sale they said they would work on it. I also asked who to contact to get millions to cover the average homeowners losses. To that I heard laughter. Homeowners need to take this into their own hands to protect their values.

123,

Great point about appraised values, and thus property taxes going up, as a result of the prevalent mortgage fraud. The people living in buildings that were riddled with mortgage fraud likely paid too much in their property taxes. I’m sure owners of condos in neighboring buildings were also victims. You do have the right to question the appraised value of your property. Contact your county appraisal department. I do know of two people who questioned their bill and actually had their appraised value lowered.

The best solution to avoid this problem in the future is to make each party involved in the loan process accountable for their actions. The reason fraud was so rampant during the boom was that the system was basically set up so that each step of the way through the process, the risk of the loan was passed on to someone else. A mortgage broker gets his or her commission, and passes the loan onto the lender. The appraiser (the biggest B.S. job in real estate), who is supposed to verify the value, will not get much work if he… Read more »

I am pretty sure what I sent you is being worked by the Feds…Unfortunately, I have a pretty good hunch that you will probably not see the folks involved (or there $) in the U.S. for many many years. What eats at me, though, is that you get a group of people with the right backgrounds and training, and prosecuting this should be like shooting fish in a barrel. The crime has to be recorded in the public record in order for the money to go from the bank to the straw buyer. It is just a massive amount of… Read more »

unfortunately, this type of rampant fraud further goes to show how corruptly run Miami is. it’s run by criminals for criminals. local gvmt is a joke. this has always happened…and the ONLY time the fraudelent cycle ends is when the federal gvmt has to step in – this has gone on since 1980 when the drug wars started. LUCAS, unfortunately this kind of fraud can been seen in tons of newer bldgs that have gone up and are going up. NO othe major city in american has this kind of rampant fraud – it’s reflective of the crooks that live… Read more »

Most condominium boards could care less about the Florida Statutes that govern condominiums, Fraudulent sales will boost their own unit price. A board member can use the position for financial gain.

Mortgage Fraud, WaMu and Long Beach are name that I saw again and again for these fraud deals. I in fact spoke to fraud departments at both lenders and sent many documents supporting my findings. Lucas, you are right about the appeal process for tax bills and we did have many homeowners submit request for hearings which most attending over that last month. We all know the crooks will most likely walk away with the money in the end but what accountability do Lenders have? Lenders like Countrywide who turned a blind eye and clear evidence that I presented before… Read more »

Wild Bill, Boards did care less but not for personal gain, they just did not understand the scope of the matter or the fallout that will soon be upon them. Had the BOD wanted the gain they would have taken the money and ran last year. Now they are faced with huge delinquency of maintenance, mounting liens and foreclosure that soon will soon be felt in a freefall of values.

Long Beach Mortgage is WaMu…they acquired them (not sure when, 2 yrs ago?)

Lenders will face the music, too:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/business/22subprime.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

Lenders are already getting punished, look at Countrywides financials over the past year, the only reason they are in business is because the government didnt want Americas Largest Home Lender to go down. Short Sales are great in my opinion becuase they in a way forgive part of the debt (You sell the property for less than the outstanding debt on it) and if a person is facing financial hardships and can no longer pay the loan they should be helped in my opinion. Most Realtors do not want to show short sales because sometimes no commision is paid on… Read more »

Alejandro, the only reason Countrywide is in business is because Bank America took on too much of the stock at $22…that when it dropped to $5, it was forced to buy the rest so they didn’t look like the biggest morons on wall st.

today’s WALL ST JOURNAL’s cover has a big article on the expanding inventory in the condo markets around the country … and how it will force pricing down in sales and the rental mkts…specifically names ONYX and QUANTUM in the article. funny thing is…again when metioning the condo debacle, miami once again is at the forefront.

Cyrus I disagree on that I think that there is probably some bill or some sort of government aid to help countrywide that needs tobe announced. I followed the stock when it was at $15 and then shot up to $23 when bank of america put 2Billion in it. Bank of America bought it at 7.70 which was way too high for that sifilis of a stock it makes no sense for B of A to buy it that high unless there is some bill on parlieamnet or they got some other sort of assurance to buy it. I have… Read more »

The WSj article is online http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120614027637056019.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news

the boa/countrywide deal is not nearly as bad as you guys think. yeah, countrywide is in the crapper right now…long term, though it gives boa one of the largest and strongest mortgage lenders in this country. countrywide’s servicing business alone is worth the current merger price.

Alejandro,

I’ve heard from two contract holders at Avenue at Brickell who have had problems with appraisals. One of them had 2 appraisals that came in $50K too short. She was waiting on a third appraisal to come back when I last spoke to her.

btw, alejandro, what do you mean by “because the government didnt want Americas Largest Home Lender to go down.” what bailout are you talking about? the fhlb lending? i don’t think that constitutes a “bailout.”

Check out PHII-20 at Neo Vertika. Clear fraud involved on that one.

Generalagic,

If you need to reach Mortgage Fraud Department and they are not returning your call, I understand they can be reached Monday-Friday’s during lunch time at Capital Grill. Look for a large table with on the right as you enter. As the head waiter Raul.
Good luck.

jcrimes, I am just expressing my opinion, sorry if I explained it the wrong way. It is my opinion that while it hasnt been released my guess is that the CFC buy/merger came with some sort of backing or some sort of new bill that is going to pass that is going to help out Lenders and thus make it a logical move for Bank of America to buy it at almost 8 dollars when the timing was at the brink of the recession and it is my opinion they could have waited and gotten it cheaper. All of these… Read more »

jcrimes you said: “the boa/countrywide deal is not nearly as bad as you guys think. yeah, countrywide is in the crapper right now…long term, though it gives boa one of the largest and strongest mortgage lenders in this country. countrywide’s servicing business alone is worth the current merger price.” I agree with this Countrywide is great at closing a ton of loans in a month, they are good the best at pushing volume. They are also the best at getting anyone aproved. I have seen them approve Janitors with 2 pay stubs, stated income and no documentation into 500K condos… Read more »

I don’t know why anyone would be upset that the greedy banks were robbed. They are the most to blame, just ahead of greedy uneducated realtors for the housing bubble.

Also, $150 per sq foot is an “ok” deal not a great deal as I’ve said before the smart money is waiting for $125.00 or less per foot.

What?….”$125 or less per square foot”…on which planet did you live in ? The most basic generic condo with nearly zero amenities and 90 minutes from civilization would be your best chance of finding something around $200 per ft.
Please inform me if I am the only one that feels this way.

$125-150 a sq. ft. will be the going rate very soon.Just watch….look at the price drop’s in the last 2-3 month’s already.

When I bought my South Beach Condo in 2002 & sold in 2006 I incurred suprisingly large fees frim the city that ran in to thousands for stamping deeds & confirming ownership. Should’t these type of agencies be in a position to monitor mortgage fraud or at least make the process at least a little tougher for these thieves? We’re talking about the sametype of units being sold many times over in the same buildings. Seems the city was just happy to keep clipping coupons while shirking any goverment focus that could easily highlight these persistent valuation irregularities & scams.… Read more »

I suspect that one of the biggest problems in the market right now is the natural desire of the government to keep the tax rolls high in order not to lose tax revenues. Over the last 6 years the county has benefitted from the inflated values of properties occasioned in no small part by the fraudulent schemes delineated in your comments. As several of you have said, you can appeal tax valuations but you can only do it on a case by case basis that is highly inefficient. Consequently, the overvaluation of properties on the tax rolls will last much… Read more »

The debate on how much cost per sq ft will go down seems hollow without any linkage to the type of product. Property location, unit location, old building, converted, or new creates quite a range for what would be considered valued pricing. Bold statements on price should be backed up with an example property in mind. And in 6 months we can then determine who had the best view of the market. The Ace, Billy K and Insider Info, what is your prediction?