Thousands of people visit this site each week, which makes for some interesting comments. From Cindy Schnackel of Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings, commenting on "Cash Back at Closing Deals Lead to Mortgage Firm's Closure in Arizona":

IMO [in my humble opinion] the housing industry needs to be investigated for all the deceptive business practices going on. Not only lenders but builders, real estate agencies, title companies"all of it. There has been a ton of news over the past few years of fraud, kickbacks, etc, going on. The people left holding the bag have been home buyers. When banks started to get burned, law enforcement suddenly took the view that this is a crime. When it was just mere consumers getting harmed, it was "a civil matter," and people were told to get a lawyer even though that was prohibitively expensive, often fruitless, and suing was often cut off as an option thanks to arbitration clauses in contracts.

From Tim, commenting on "New Study Finds Fraud Linked to Early Loan Default":

What is your recourse if your property was over appraised during refinance? Greentree is the lender and won't change the rate. We are "upside down" because of them and no other bank will refinance us because of this. Can we sue?

From Chris Lengquist of the Kansas City Real Estate Blog, commenting on "The Elephant in the Room: Looming Foreclosure Epidemic":

Sadly, the enemy is in the mirror. So long as the deal closes many agents, mortgage brokers and sellers simply "don't see" what is going on.

Fiduciary duty seems to track back to the REALTOR's finances. Clients don't seem able to stop themselves. And the real estate industry as a whole has looked the other way for too long. While NAR predicts a rebound 2007 I predict more of the same as record high foreclosures here in KC will drag down any minimal increases the neighborhoods and cities may experience.

Happily, the issue seems to be getting more and more attention and maybe loan standards are beginning to tighten.

And from Joba, commenting on "Real Estate Fraud in Virtual Space':

Not to justify the actions of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, but didn't he describe our technology-driven society as doomed to failure? His manifesto doesn't specifically describe the deleterious effects of fraud fueled by technology, but this is another way in which technology has encroached on human freedom" one more way in which the technologically savvy can exploit the less sophisticated members of society.

Anyone else care to comment?