According to FBI Special Agent, Scott Hunter Las Vegas is called mortgage fraud ground zero.

This problem is becoming so wide spread that special task forces have been created to combat the problem.  Every week you read in the paper or view the news about another real estate industry professional being arrested for some type of real estate or mortgage fraud.  Just this month, Cindy Birkland was arrested for alleged mortgage fraud.

According to the FBI, mortgage fraud is becoming one of the fastest growing white collar crimes in the United States.

Mortgage Fraud is usually committed by several individuals who all have a certain role within the scheme.  Usually a loan officer, borrower, real estate agent and/or an appraiser.  The most common type of mortgage fraud is a “straw buyer”.  This is where the bank lends hundreds of thousands on a home that is way over inflated due to an appraiser setting an unrealistic value.  The group splits the money and never has any intention on making any payments on the home.

More to follow…

For the 4th straight month, Las Vegas Home Sales are up. We have seen an increase in home sales over the same month from the previous year for the first time since September 2005.

Are these signs that the Las Vegas real estate market might be turning around? 

Let’s not get to excited just yet; we still need to see how the rest of spring and summer goes before we can really access indications that the market might be rebounding.

We should continue to see a rise in Las Vegas Foreclosures as the adjustable rate mortgages continue to – well – adjust.  As more foreclosures enter the market, home prices will continue to fall as banks drop the prices to move inventory off their books. So there is a good chance Las Vegas Home prices will continue to fall.

However, the Las Vegas Strip is expected to create over 113,000 jobs over the next 5 years starting with the opening of Project City Center in 2010. With the creation of these jobs, we will begin to see an influx of people moving to Las Vegas filling these new job opportunities.  This will help the Las Vegas Housing Market as the influx of people relocating here will need housing. It will be interesting to watch how the Las Vegas real estate market evolves over the next 9 – 12 months.