[Cat Damiano]

jean,


What they are proposing to you is a scam and also considered fraudulent......and also please, please, please, look for another agent that is not pressing you to be a party to fraud to list your property...........and the FBI is looking into it.........
The FBI defines mortgage fraud as "any material misstatement, misrepresentation or omission relied upon by an underwriter or lender to fund, purchase or insure a loan."



here is an excerpt of an article that was written on this very practice...........

Phony 'Short Sales'

In a scam on lenders, homeowners have been lowering their mortgage payments by arranging fraudulent "short sales" at prices less than what they owe their lenders. The buyer whom the seller chooses, who may be a relative or friend or a "straw buyer" paid for his service, agrees to transfer ownership back to the seller, who winds up with a smaller mortgage on the same house and never has to move.

In such a short sale, the seller commits fraud by having a side arrangement with the buyer that he does not disclose to the lender. When lenders accept short sales, it is because they think the price is the best they can get. Mortgage industry officials say lenders would reject a sale in which there was a special relationship between seller and buyer on the grounds that the selling price most likely was not the best one available.

A borrower who takes part in one of these scams can be sued by the lender or criminally prosecuted. The real estate agent involved can be prosecuted and lose his or her license.

And a lender who discovers he has been bamboozled into approving a loan with phony information can require the agent or borrower to pay off the mortgage immediately