Well I cannot comment on whether it was fraud or not. The listing history details are as follows.
Initial list price was 850k and then reduced to 750k but not until after the property was moved to contingent status. Listing agent was not the selling agent BUT the selling agent was within the same company, MAXUM Realty. The remarks also indicate the appraisal came out to 760k and that the second lender required a cash contribution including fees not paid for by the first lender. So my guess is that they paid 720k for it and threw in another 20 or 30k (maybe more maybe less) to the second lienholder at close of escrow. No appliances conveyed and the outdoor grill did not convey as well. The comments also said multiple offers were received. The financing was conventional so if you include the cash to the second and financing costs the buyer probably came in with 25 or more percent down.
Hard to say this is a case of fraud. The appraisal came in at 760k. Yes there was cash that was received that went to the second lien holder but that is on the HUD.
Now what some may claim, and this could be true, is that not all of the offers that were received were not presented to the seller. However as we have discussed MANY times, it is up to the listing agent to advise the seller to select the offer that will have the best chance of success. While there may have been higher offers, there may not have been higher offers where the buyers were willing to commit cash to the second lien holder.
This is a fundamental problem with short sales. I am not a fan of the system but there are agents that are much more adept then others with regards to getting short sales completed WITHIN THE CURRENT FRAMEWORK of how things are today. Can one argue that the first lienholder got hosed, perhaps even defrauded? Yes they probably can. Does this hurt overall comps in the neighborhood and piss off other homeowners there and even buyers who did not pursue the home aggressively? Yes.
